Cough Which Drew Much Concern

I hate coughs. Firstly, coughs these days are super long-lived often with a minimal span of 2 weeks. Secondly, to recover from coughs, there are various food that have to be avoided, such as chicken, fried and spicy items, citrus fruits, grapes and even squids. This basically comprises many common ingredients in our every day meals.

Coughs also hampers daily activities because I tend to feel weak and become breathless more easily during coughs. Coughs prevent quality sleep as drier throats in the nights mean more frequent coughs. During the audible nature of coughs, coughs also disturb people around me. Hence, I never take things lightly when I have coughs. I will try all means and go for extreme strict diet which involves avoiding many food I like to ensure a speedy recovery from coughs.

Many colleagues empathised with my recent plight of covering a departed colleague's entire portfolio. When they heard my coughs, many were also concerned that the cough was exacerbated by work stress. Although the work stress and my ailments had made me feel slightly demoralised, I was still determined to bite the bullet and persevere. However, being a softie at heart, what drove me nearly to tears was not the mounting stress and physical exhaustion. My eyes started to tear when I was showered in their concerns about my cough. I felt the tough resolve that I put up to keep it going starting to crumble.

E heard my first coughs and asked if it was just a smattering of a few coughs or it meant something serious catching on.

Tim suddenly beeped me over Sametime. I was prepared for his instruction to me to update templates or to prepare some presentation slides, typical requests of the coordinator for the budget and monthly reporting. Little did I expect his beeps to ask me how I was getting on and that I seemed to have a bad cough for he could hear me from his workstation.

Pink bought me Woods sweets which apparently worked wonders when she had coughs previously and kept urging me to take them to ease the irritance in the throat.

Lala asked me to put some Vicks on my throat before I sleep and cover myself with blanket to keep the throat warm to reduce tendency of cough at night.

My KL room-mate, L, even bought me some strong mint sweets which had worked for her previously - passed down remedy from her mother-in-law. I felt extremely guilty that she still showed me so much concern despite her being heavily pregnant.

With the concerns that my colleagues had showed, how can I not will myself and try to get well soon. With their support, I am sure I will be able to overcome the challenging deadlines and deliver. Thank you for your concern and your support. This is what draws me to office daily despite the heavy workload.