Just what does a brass player do when he's sick? A few days ago, I could tell that something was up: fatigued, not sleeping well, feeling congested upon waking up, headache. It finally caught up to me last night when I got no sleep while dealing with the persistent feeling of a ten-pound weight sitting on my chest. Unfortunately, I've always been susceptible to respiratory illness, and pneumonia nearly killed me when I was age six. As a trumpet player, this kind of thing is really disheartening. I've been making a lot of progress lately with my rehabilitation after not playing for almost two decades. I'm happy with my tone, although I occasionally have my "airy" days, up to A above the staff. My pedal tones have never been better, so that gives me hope that I can stretch my upper register up to E/F above the staff with power (which was my limit in college). I can reach those notes now, but not with what I feel is a good, full tone. Ascending past the A above