Lingering Cough

The scene: outwardly robust-looking person goes about daily business, living life. She speaks in a perhaps slightly rough voice but one outburst outs her; she has a barking, to beat the band, from the nether regions of hell, phlegmy cough that sounds like bits of lung tissue are breaking off.

Why won't it go away?

Does it love me so much that it cannot bear to parted from me? I have been getting looks of alarm from many people around me who cannot reconcile my somewhat healthy appearance with this NOISE coming from me. It's going on 2 weeks now and I am tired of sounding like a bull walrus. Fortunately, I am the only one in my household to be thus afflicted. I send my sincere wishes upward that this remains the case.

I hope all of you are enjoying a healthy autumn.