"Speechless" for the past week

It feels horrible not to be able to say how you think and feel.

Not because you cannot find the right words or because you cannot find the right opportunity.

But when you open your mouth, you struggle with your greatest might, your whole face contorts in redness, but simply no sound comes out.

That was what happened to me last week.

I had a horrible oscillation between sore throat, cough and fever, and in the end, you guessed it, I lost my voice.

I first developed sore throat and fever and took medical leave at home to ease the "heaviness" feel and pain in the head. Feeling better, I returned to work the following day, but I was then struck with cough.

Having to make some important calls to a number of people did not help matters. As my colleagues were busy with their work and there was no one else to lend a hand, I had to struggle with my croaking voice.

"Hel..lo...*Eh-hem* (clears throat)...Can I *Eh-hem* spe...eak...*Eh-hem* to X..YZ?"
"HUH?"
"Sor....r...y...*Eh-hem* to dissssturb...*Eh-hem*...can I speak *Eh-hem* to...XYZ?"
"I cannot hear you, can you please speak louder?"

I was on the verge of screaming in my lungs, but that was the maximum level of decibel that I could manage. I cleared my throat, deepened my voice, and finally managed to struggle through the rest of the phone conversation, in between bits of "Eh-hem"s.

For the rest of the day, I had to repeat my sentence at least twice before anyone could understand what I was saying. It was painful on my throat, and torturous on others' ears.

In the end, I decided to spare them and turned "speechless".

Two days later, while I was outside on an assignment, I started coughing non-stop. At that unfortunate moment, I received an important call. I tried to suppress my cough and talk on the phone at the same time.

If you have ever tried that before, you would have known how horrible the experience can be. It left me coughing worse than before after that. A day later, I was back at the doctor, down with a throat infection, persistent coughing and fever. And another day of medical leave.

I am currently still on anti-biotics but other than that, I feel fine. Whew!

This was my worst experience of falling ill this year. It took me a whole week and two visits to the doctor before I got well.

With the festive season coming, take care my friends, drink lots of water and aviod heaty food!