I stopped writing, really for the past year because I had not motivation, nothing positive or interesting to write about and a lot of negative energy building up in me largely due to the relentlessness of the Covid-19 pandemic.
I wrote several months ago that I was not going to write about Covid again, apparently, I lied. This post, this story is very personal as I am now recovering from Covid-19 myself. I hope this offers a different perspective.
The title comes from a song made popular by Martha Reeves and the Vandellas and as far as I’m concerned, no truer words have ever been written when it comes to Covid-19 and all of its well-known variants, Α (alpha), Δ (delta) and ο (Omicron). Small bit of pandemic trivia, Omikron literally means, little O.
After taking every reasonable precaution for almost 2 years which included significant isolation, family bubbles, hand sanitation, mask wearing, vaccinations, boosters and pretty much everything else, I tested positive to Covid-19 two days after Christmas.
Several weeks before, the coach of the Dallas Cowboys football (American) team had tested positive as had several players on the team. In the Sports section of the Dallas Morning News Coach McCarthy said “once Covid gets in the locker room, it’s almost impossible to get it out”, or something very close to that. I didn’t think a lot about it at the time but clearly it stuck in my brain.
My reality isn’t that different. In our bubble, we all took precautions. We’re all vaccinated, including my grand-children and the adults, excepting my son-in-law are boosted. He’s not 6 months out yet from his 2nd dose of the vaccination.
The weak link in our armor is probably our grand-children, if you have kids or grand-kids, probably yours too. While I can’t prove it, I strongly suspect that one of them was Covid positive but asymptomatic. We have family dinner almost every Sunday and we see both the kids regularly.
I expect that they then infected my wife who had very mild head-cold symptoms which passed quickly. The boy’s mother wasn’t feeling great on Christmas and on the next day, I got hit.
The Omicron variant is sneaky. It presents very much like a cold which if very different than alpha and delta. For me, I woke up on the day after Christmas, rode my Peloton with no problems and prepared for family dinner. Around 5:00, I felt a little fullness in my frontal sinus, nothing to note and especially when the cedar trees here in Texas are dropping pollen all over the place. I have allergies so a little sinus pressure is my norm.
The difference was that in 3-4 hours, I was fully congested and starting to feel some significant pressure. I did though sleep okay. So, from here, this is a synopsis of events up to now, a week later.
Monday, December 27th: Very congested in the morning and felt warm, drinking my morning coffee made be break out in a heavy sweat. We don’t have a thermometer, but I knew I was feverish. The rapid onset of the symptoms and the fever was a real red-flag. Getting tested in Dallas, the entire U.S. actually is not easy. I did get an appointment at a local health center for 6:00 to get tested. Spoiler alert, I was positive. I shared the good news which went over like a turd in the punch bowl. It also caused very negative reactions within my family bubble, that’s another story.
Tuesday, December 28th: While the day began on a reasonable note, it quickly became a bad day. Fever persisted, congestion was heavy, I had aches and headache and I was very tired. My sinuses were not just full but burning. I slept off and on most of the day because I had not slept so well the night before. I hoped this was the worst day, but it was only day 2 after becoming symptomatic. I was thirsty constantly, probably from the fever but maybe from the copious amounts of drainage from my nose but also my mouth was watering and my eyes running. All fluid, I guess.
Wednesday, December 29th: This was by far the worst day for me. My fever persisted as did the congestion and the pain in both my frontal and maxillary sinuses. All the disgusting drainage continued as well. The pain was so bad that besides over the counter analgesics, I was using visualization, a meditation technique, to help. I literally visualized the battle between Covid and my white blood cells on the in breath and on the out breath, I visualized the virus fleeing, retreating. It helped and I know some of you may not get it while others will. No sleep again and I watched the hours go by blowing my nose every 5 minutes it seemed.
Thursday, December 30th: The morning was miserable, I was in and out of bed trying to sleep, nap, snooze, whatever I could get. Later in the day though, I thought I sensed a change. The pain had subsided as had the pressure and I didn’t feel as feverish. To me it was like cresting a hill on a bike. At the top, you don’t instantly get the down hill relief, you have to first sort of plateau and then the coast down the other side begins.
Friday, December 31st: Sleep, glorious sleep! To the best of my knowledge, I slept through the night. My sinuses were clearing, the pain was gone but the fatigue persisted. I’ll take the gain and deal with the lingering effects. I was hoping the worst was over but didn’t know, never had Covid before. No great party but did feel well enough to watch the new (old) 007 movie on Amazon Prime, it was worth the $5.99. Still lights out by 11:00.
Saturday, January 1st: Happy New Year (?), I hope. About the same today as yesterday, a little congestion has returned but nothing like the other, this may actually be the good old rhino-virus taking advantage of a weakened immune system. Drainage again and a cough which I had not had before. When the drainage stops the cough subsides, so I hope it’s non-Covid related. Did a few things around the house, still a bit fatigued but not as bad. Progress is slow, I guess.
As I write this on January 2nd, the day started very cold, our first real cold snap of the season. I slept through the night but woke up early with the cough. I didn’t want to wake Susan, so I got out of bed. By the way, we did not quarantine from each other as we both suspected that she’d already been infected and so far, she’s fine. A little passing congestion along my it’s partner…drainage. I will not miss that.
My thoughts on all of this is that if you’re around anyone with cold like symptoms, suspect Covid. So far, my grandsons have tested negative, but we suspect they were probably positive and asymptomatic 2 weeks ago. Little kids with snotty noses are common now though, more attention should be paid. Their mother is positive. My other daughter and son-in-law are positive and of course, so am I although I’m scheduled to be tested again on Thursday which is 11 days after my symptoms occurred.
No matter how careful you are, there’s no place to run to, no place to hide! I’m now convinced that we will all become infected, and the outcome is directly related to your vaccination status. How sick do you want to be potentially?
My experience was the head cold from Hell, but I survived it with no serious complications. What do you want your experience to be?