Difficult Breathing

A late date with a doctor. It’s breathless.
Hard breathing. Strains. Pains. Cheerless.
It’s as if it’s a poor soul with a runny nose.
Today it’s a sore throat, later a stuffy nose.
Gasping, it laments chest pains, high fever.
Its cough is dull, dry, blocked. It sneezes forever.
A reflex that drives gusts of air through airways.
How can this economy cough into life? Pathways?