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I have been missing from my online presence because I have been sick, and it was no fun at all.

During the last week of March, I noticed a scratch in the back of my throat and over that final weekend of March it grew worse. Since I already had an appointment to see one of my doctors on the 31st as part of my on-going treatment for a chronic cough I planned to bring the issues to her. By that date it had grown more painful and congestion had settled in. They took swabs from my upper nasal cavities and the test showed I had RSV.

I had been vaccinated against this very virus but vaccinations when they do not prevent infection at least reduce the severity of it. Given that I suspect that without the shot I may very well have ended up in the hospital. As it turned out, the doctor ordered me home for a week and I suffered terribly for several of those days, despite the mini-pharmacy of drugs I was taking.

During the illness I had only a limited capacity for rational thought with barely the focus for even simple mental tasks. Luckily, in addition to the precautions we took, my sweetie-wife’s vaccination appeared to bolster her immune system better than mine had done for me, and she showed no sign of RSV.

So, today I return to my day job and I hopefully return to work on my next novel.