LIFESTYLE AUTHOR
Lynne Earle
MY JOURNEY OF FEAR WITH LUNG DISEASE DURING COVID-19 n AFM publisher, Lynne Earle, describes her medical journey during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Journey Begins
I
t was almost 2 a.m. on a cloudy August morning in 2018 when I bolted upright in a fit of coughing. My throat was dry, and I was desperately thirsty. For the next 30 seconds, I was wracked with spasms as I gasped for breath. It had all started, innocently enough, only weeks before — a tickle in my throat, a seemingly
AUGUST 2020
random cough. It was just another year of cedar fever or the standard allergies we all endure living in Austin, Texas — or so I thought. My journey had begun. For the next several weeks, this painful episode repeated itself nightly. Sleep became a gift and NyQuil was my friend. A trip to my internist revealed that a nasty virus was going around. Oh, and the mold and grass counts were high. Maybe not a big problem... unless
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you live on Crackerdog Ranch in Wimberley with five dogs, one cat, one donkey, two horses, two mini-Hereford bulls and a couple of chickens — more on these guys later. After one negative X-ray that revealed nothing, I was on my way home with new optimism and hope that after some rest, fluids and over-the-counter allergy meds, I would ride out the storm soon enough.
