Back from the dead

After being absent from classes for over three weeks, I made it to class today. Several people commented on how long it had been since they'd seen me, and there was some good-natured ribbing about whether I was lost and wandered in by accident.

I hadn't been in this instructor's classes for even longer, sacrificed in the hope of speeding the recovery of my ankle/foot issues. She offered several valid and helpful corrections, but I was having enough trouble with balance and muscle cramps that I wasn't able to absorb many of them. After barre I approached her and explained that I'd been sick, and although I was much better I probably wouldn't make it as far as petit allegro today.

I was a bit worried that after three weeks off I might have lost what I'd learned recently about pirouettes. I was far too unsteady to attempt any doubles, but during the first adagio exercise I did two nice singles en dehor to the right. I aborted the first pirouette to the left due to a muscle cramp in my right calf, but the second wasn't bad. I ended up leaving after the first adagio exercise because I felt tired and my heart rate was up in the range it normally reaches only during allegro.

I may take the weekend off, but I expect to be back in class next week.

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To clear up the loose ends from my last post... I was able to attend the MYB Spring Concert, wearing an N95 mask for others' benefit. I find watching the pre-professional kids perform to be inspirational, though the many of them are already better than I'll ever be.

Although I never had a fever again after the 24th, it seemed like I was only improving very slowly. Late one evening few days after the concert I scheduled a tele-health appointment. The doctor I spoke with and I agreed that my symptoms best matched a bacterial sinus infection, and she submitted an order to the pharmacy for appropriate antibiotics. I asked whether this could also be a mild form of pneumonia, and we agreed that a chest X-ray was appropriate to rule this out.

I was able get the X-ray done and pick up my antibiotics all within an hour that night. By the time I got home the X-ray had been read and the result posted in my records: no signs of pneumonia. This will now serve as a baseline for comparison in the future since I didn't have a previous chest X-ray in my records.

Antibiotics were once called a miracle drug, and used appropriately they still are. I took the first dose at 11pm, and by the next morning I already felt better. Within three days the majority of my symptoms were gone. After three weeks of congestion, coughing, and bouts of laryngitis, this was a major relief. I have a couple more days left to go to finish the series and then I'll watch for a recurrence that might signal a resistant strain.