A week ago Sunday my wife started to get sick with Covid like symptoms. It was the fourth time she was sick with those symptoms since the pandemic started. The first two times she tested negative, the third time she was not tested because she had been vaccinated by then. I was not affected any of those times but this time I was. Tuesday evening, while I was taking my German class on Zoom, I suddenly had the urge to cough. It was mild but it was enough to concern me.
I should mention here that I never feared Covid. I have been the polar opposite of those people who drive alone in their cars with the windows up and the masks on. I always obeyed the rules but I never wore a mask when I did not have to and I never got vaccinated. My concern with the vacine was that it was a new technology that had never been properly tested and I did not want to be a guinie pig. Most importantly, I was pretty sure that my imune system was strong enough to handle a bout with Covid so I considered the risk of the vacine was greater than the reward.
The concern I mentioned earlier was less about having Covid and more about missing work. When I woke up Wednesday morning slightly worse than when I went to bed the previous night, I knew I couldn’t go to work. I needed to get tested right away so if it did come up negative, I could get back to work as soon as I felt better. That proved far more difficult than I would have imagined.
CVS and Walgreens both offered drive through testing but you had to make a reservation and the earliest I could get was the next Wednesday afternoon, over seven days away. By then I would be compleatly over it. I called a nearby Med Express and they said they were taking a break intil 10:30, and I should come then. When I got there I called them from the parking lot which they require you to do first, but got a message saying their representitives were helping other callers and couldn’t answer my my call. The message said I should try back in a few minutes. I called 24 times in 30 minutes all with the same response. I decided it wasn’t worth it and went home.
When I got home I tried to find an at home test but had no luck. All the local stores were out of them. I tried Amazon, thinking I could get one delivered the next day but they were all seven days or more for delivery.
I talked to my boss after that and he said he might have a test at home but later I found out that he did not. He also encourged me to try again with the testing. I understood his point. He needed to know my status.
The next morning, Thursday, I felt about as bad as I would feel throughout the illness. My scratchy throat had turned sore and my cough was worse, although still not terrible. I added honey to my coffee in hopes of helping my throat. Sure enough, before my cup was half empty, the pain was barely noticable.
I showed up at Med Express Thurday morning, ten minutes before they opened at 8 a.m., and started calling them at 7:59. I realized that their procedure was not first come first serve but survival of the fittest. The trick was to call them at precisly the time they hung up with another caller. This required both luck and skill. I was pretty sure that either a person would answer or a machine. I didn’t think there would be a message first and a real person second so I dispensed with listening to the message. As soon as I heard the message, I hung up and redieled. It took 106 calls but finally at 8:30 someone answered. She took down some basic information and said she would call back. It took a long time but someone finally called back, got more information from me, then said they were waiting for a room to become available. During my wait an ambulance showed up and took someone away.
When I was finally able to go inside someone took my vitals and did the Covid test. About twenty minutes later a doctor came in to tell me my test result was positive for Covid. The test didn’t reveal if it was Alpha, Delta, Omicron or Unicorn. If an animal is attacking you, do you care if it’s a lion or a bear?
The doctor asked me some questions about how I was feeling and I had not even thought about it until then but I was feeling fine. I told him I felt bad that morning but was much better. He seemed to think the worst was over and said I could go back to work on Tuesday if I was symptom free and if it was okay with my boss. Unknown to me at the time, Covid had one more surprise for me.
Friday morning I felt pretty good. I got up and did my usual. I fed the cats and made coffee for my wife and me. While I was making my wife’s coffee, I started feeling slightly nauseous. That feeling seemed to get worse by the minute and before my coffee was finished brewing through the Keurig, I grabbed my wife’s coffee and raced to the bedroom. I gave her the coffee and plopped down in bed while I waited for the nausea to go away. After a few minutes, I got up and retrieved my coffee. I did not realize that nausea was a Covid symptom, but now I know.
For the most part, the nausea wasn’t there but I learned that standing would bring it on, so I just spent much of Friday relaxing in bed while binge-watching the old Lois and Clark series. My cat Frankie seemed more concerned than usual and spent a lot of time keeping me company.
Saturday I was feeling pretty good and was able to do some work around the house. It was nice having an excuse to relax but I couldn’t milk that for more than a day.
Despite being vaccinated, my wife was hit much harder by this illness than I was, but even she got through it pretty well. By Sunday she had been inside our home for over a week and was ready to go outside. Since I, and possibly she too, were still potentially contagious, we just put the top down in her car and went for a drive.
I should mention that fever was never a factor for either of us. I think my wife’s temperature reached 100 degrees at one point and mine reached a high of 99.3. It actually was lower than normal one of the times I checked it.
Today, Monday, I am nearly 100 percent. My lack of fear proved to be justified in my case but I would not avoid getting vaccinated based on my experience. One of my passions these last 14 years or so has been learning about natural health. While I still succumb to outside influences and eat poorly sometimes, for the most part, I think my habits are much healthier than the average American. I was actually disappointed in myself, though. I imagined my immune system would take care of this virus in half the time. I guess there is always room for improvement.
