Coping with Bronchitis During Achilles Rehab: Essential Strategies

I’ve now passed the 12-week mark since my Achilles was repaired. It’s been three whole months! Time flies, even when you’re limping along. Though progress has been great so far, rehab has stalled this past week. Recovery has taken on a whole new meaning.

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On Thursday a week ago, I went to work as usual and I noticed an irritated cough cropping up. I thought it was early spring allergies, so I took a Zyrtec at home and went to bed as usual. Alas, allergies was not the culprit.

It all went downhill

On Friday morning, everything fell apart. I felt like a truck hit me. The cough got worse, burning in my chest and my body was aching. I decided it was best to call in sick, get back in bed, and try to rest. I had a lot to do in the next three weeks. Our school’s spring musical is opening at the end of the month. I have no time for being sick.

Saturday was worse. 102.3 fever, chills, and all the symptoms came crashing down. I canceled the tech meeting that was scheduled for the show and decided to go to urgent care. I needed to know what I was dealing with. My husband got me to the clinic 20 minutes before opening, ensuring I was the first one to be seen.

Inside the exam room, the scribe took down all of my information. She checked my history, vitals, did a combination Covid/flu test, and went to get the doctor. Fortunately, I was negative for both, and the doctor ordered a chest x-ray which fortunately came back negative for pneumonia. She landed on a reactive airway/bronchitis diagnosis. That certainly tracked with my symptoms. She prescribed a Medrol steroid pack, two different cough suppressants, and an inhaler. Keep taking Mucinex, Tylenol, and stay in bed.

My husband asked the doctor how long I should stay out of work. He’s always worried about me overdoing it, especially while I’m recovering. The doctor paused and said that she never understood Americans’ obsession with working while sick. Bronchitis was, at a minimum, a 5 to 7 day recovery period. That’s if everything was done perfectly: bed rest, vitamins, hydration, and no other issues. It would be best to stay home, in bed until at least Wednesday.

Normally, I don’t think that kind of break would bother me. But a few things were weighing on me:

1. This show started late because of my Achilles injury. I was already falling behind on my production timeline. It was three weeks from opening night for our school play. Rehearsal days were a precious commodity.
2. I already canceled one rehearsal and one Saturday tech meeting for this illness. I could already feel the pressure mounting before getting sick, since this group of actors were mostly new performers. They needed more time on task.

Nevertheless, my wise brain took over, told me not to be stupid, and do everything I could to promote healing. That meant taking my meds, hydrating, and staying in bed. I’d be taking a forced vacation for a few days. No amount of being annoyed or stressed was going to help. And, I’d be no use to my students or the show if I didn’t actually get better. So, I set up assignments for my classes, made arrangements for rehearsals without me and then let it go.

Bronchitis hits hard

It’s not like I would have been useful in any way at work. When you are sick with bronchitis, you are completely devoid of energy while your body fights the virus. Coughing felt like I was bringing up the burning fires of hell. I vacillated between fever and chills for a few days. Every time I got out of bed, my body screamed for me to get back under the covers.

I spent Friday and Saturday in bed, in and out of sleep, miserable. I didn’t care what time it was. I didn’t want to know from anything except the insides of my eyelids. There was no thought of Theraband range of motion exercises or BOSU balancing. No rehearsals or classes. It was all about breathing, sleeping, sipping fluids and trying to minimize the suffering.

By Sunday, I realized that I had fallen behind in my Achilles tendon rehab progress. That did not sit right with me. Until now, I had been so diligent doing something every day to strengthen and stretch. Last weekend, my body failed me once again. Health-wise, it’s been a tough 2025.

The realities of recovery

There are some truths that I was reminded of in the first quarter of this year.

1. No matter how dutiful you are in managing your health, you can still succumb to illness and injury.
2. Health issues will always happen at the most inconvenient times in your life.
3. Despite the inconvenience, you must focus on healing yourself. Everything else can wait for you.
4. Homemade chicken soup with matzo balls is a huge healing boost. Especially when your daughter makes it for you, and she makes it better than you do.
5. Spending your well-time practicing good-health habits really goes a long way when you are recovering.

That last point is really important to internalize. The foundation of our well-being is supported or hindered by the regular habits we practice. Whether it’s about my Achilles injury or bronchitis, my habits have created a strong body from the start. That makes it a bit easier to get through the difficult recoveries.

My healthy habits

• No smoking: I’ve never smoked, so my respiratory and cardiovascular systems are in great shape for a 50-something person.
• Minimize alcohol: I have a drink once a week or so. That’s about it nowadays.
• Maximize nutrition: I’ve written a lot about my nutritional habits, which I continue to focus on every day. I don’t know if my diet is optimal, but my choices are mindful. I do enjoy a sweet about once a day.
• Move! I move and exercise often. It’s just part of who I am.
• Hydrate: I drink a lot of water and herbal tea, give or take 8 ounces a day. Coffee is limited to about a cup a day.
• Sleep: Especially during recovery, I prioritize sleep. Going upstairs at 8:30 p.m. is becoming a more regular practice now. It’s the only way I can get through the demands of my work day.

These practices are what will help me to bounce back. I’m not made of steel. However, when you start off strong, you don’t fall quite so far when something breaks down. You have more in reserve for the healing process. And healing takes a ton of reserve power.

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Like the Achilles injury, recovering from bronchitis takes a long time. When you are doing both at the same time, it puts a significant strain on your energy reserves. The cough lingers long after the rest of the body has restored to normal function. The ankle, while it is getting stronger, has months to go before it is functioning properly.

My feel-better strategies

As I return to my work schedule, I am very aware that I must conserve my energy. The demands are getting greater as I’m healing. My game plan is to take each moment as it comes, hoping I don’t exhaust myself. I bring these things to work to help support healing while I’m expending energy:

• loads of tea and water to sip through the day
• bags of cough drops
• a mask in case I cough a lot
• my healing chicken soup for lunch

On my off periods, I sit quietly when I’m not teaching to give me more recovery time. I also work small bouts of ankle exercises in when I can. Some of that is accomplished when I’m teaching. Since I have to demonstrate skills for my students, I can focus on my healing strategies at the same time. Hooray for multitasking!

Through all the struggle, I’m still chasing my goal of feeling at least 1% better every day. It’s happening, little by little. I continue to walk (sometimes limp) tall and keep looking forward. With spring’s arrival, I see more outdoor walks and breaths of fresh air on the horizon.