(Saturday, August 15, 2020)
Since childhood I have had dreams where I am covered by the heavy blankets on my bed. I can’t breathe. I struggle to flip the comforter away from my mouth and nose. It feels like it takes hours to become safe. To breathe again. It is something like sleep paralysis, but not quite. I had the same experience early this morning. When the dream blankets are finally off of my mouth, I have to concentrate on inhaling deeply for several minutes.
As a child it often was a real experience. Sometimes it was a dream. When awake, I would lie in bed wondering if someone had pulled the covers over my face. Or was I so cold I overcompensated with my blankets?
Maybe these are health dreams about my “reactive lung” diagnosis. Maybe this dream is about the stress of COVID-19. My aunt Lois just died last week of pneumonia, at the age of 90.