My voice is back- sort of

I lost my voice again this week. It all started Sunday morning right after I played the prelude in Sacrament Meeting. For those of you who have asthma, you can probably relate... The tickle at the back of the throat followed by the constricting of the lungs... Followed soon after by the hacking coughs that cannot be controlled, merely stifled for a short time... Well, that's how it started. I thought I would do a breathing treatment when I got home, and then I thought maybe I should go to the ER after the sacrament hymn, and let someone else play the closing hymn. I managed to get thru it, but it wasn't easy. I was actually more worried about losing my place on the song or, worse yet, passing out...
That reminded me of a time, about 14 years ago, when I played the piano for opening exercises in the chapel immediately after sacrament meeting before dismissing to classes. I don't know who moved the grand piano or HOW they managed to move it, but it was right near the edge of the ledge. I pushed with all my might, and it did not budge even an inch for me. I quickly realized that I would have to make it work. How bad could it be? We only had one opening song followed by the prayer, and then a practice song. However, we had to run thru that song a few times before we went on to actually sing it, so maybe I should have asked for help in moving the piano.
There was no room for the piano bench, so I had to try to balance it. I was balancing on 3 legs the entire time, praying that I wouldn't lose my balance. I almost hoped that the bench would fall over so that my legs would stop burning! My mom assured me later that it would have been much worse, and much more embarrassing if that bench had actually fallen, but I wasn't entirely sure I agreed. I was sufficiently embarrassed, and dripping with sweat by the time we were done.
Back to the present... I was able to avoid going to the hospital, but I have had a heck of a time with the whole breathing thing. I finally got that under control, but I have been without a voice until this morning. My boys kept saying, "Mom, just go uh,uh,uh (clear my throat), and then your voice will be back." I did that several times to appease them, and they just couldn't understand why I still didn't have a voice after doing that several times. They were pleased today when they realized that my voice had returned to about 85%.
Drew is being a little stinker today, and is going down for a nap in a minute. He wouldn't get into my car for me earlier, but did it with no problem for Amy. Why do our kids do that to us? Is it to humble us? To make us question our abilities as a parent? Or is it something entirely different? I don't know that there is any right or wrong answer to that... it might just depend on the day.
Well, my time here is done for now. Mothering duties abound all day for me. Natalie wants me to hold her, and Drew needs me to put him down for his nap. I still have a full schedule for the rest of the day, but I won't have time to stop and think about it for a while. Such is life... I need to find one of those days where there is nothing to do...