Dry lungs and sinus simple help

The past week has been hectic, visiting hospital and hospice watching and waiting to see what would be happening with Ray's mom,  Momma Marie. She did die peacefully in her sleep on January 19, but all week Ray and I had dry coughs and stuck congestion, but busy and waiting for this to go away. I am out of demucent herbs, like marshmallow root, which I love, and the health food store not very close to obtain any herbs this week.  Not knowing if it is from the wood stove, which we have 2 huge pots of water upon for humidity, or exposure to something, yesterday I felt so dry as if I were suffocating. I was exhausted and did not do anything again, but in the middle of the night had a maddening headache with extreme dryness. I awoke finally with some sense to give me ease by filling my teapot with water, adding some lavender buds to a bowl and creating an herbal steam.  The lavender I do have and figure it could help if this has to do with bacteria, but if not, it sure is nice to open things up and also fragrant and calming.
Face over the bowl with a towel over my head to keep the steam in, I inhaled the steam and felt my breath go deeper after several minutes. Boy was that ever helpful. Ray said, hey I need this too, so he also did a steam which helped him even with his brief time steaming.
If I had no herbs at all, this is something I would still have done with boiled water,  and would encourage anyone that is suffering from that dry suffocating feeling in the chest, to steam. Jumping in a hot shower also helps. If you have small children that cannot steam, close your bathroom door and run a hot shower. You could add a few drops of lavender or eucalyptus essential oil to the back of the tub for some effect as well, but the primary action of this herbal preparation for me today was to get moisture back into my lungs and nasal passages, which soothes and helps get some stuck mucus out.
You should find some relief rather quickly and you can just compost your herbs by pouring the contents out in your pile when done, if you compost. Simple. Boil water and sit over a bowl.