Covid Day 12 and Counting

I didn’t want another week to pass by. I was sick last weekend, so I didn’t write anything. I am still sick this weekend, but it’s getting better.

So, I evaded the ‘rona for over 2 years, but it finally caught up.

I tested positive for COVID on the heels of having the flu.

Not gonna lie, this is kicking my ass. I mean, not in a scary way. I got vaxxed and boosted. This isn’t going to kill me or anything, but goddamn, it’s no fun.

Today is day 12. I started feeling bad about a week after getting over the flu. Randy and I went for a PCR test, which came up negative.

Two days later, I lost my ability to taste and smell. More on that in a moment. 

Last Monday, we went for another PCR test because really. No taste and smell? We were fairly certain the first test was bad.

I had a few hours of fever, which was both trippy and horrible. The fever was the only time I was worried. I wasn’t sure how high my fever had to be before getting worried, but I was concerned that for a bit, I couldn’t remember which house I lived in.

The fever lasted about 10 hours and hasn’t been back, so yay.

We were in a little car accident on the way back from the second test. Randy hit a curb going about 50 mph which shredded a couple tires.

It was weird, while we waited for Joey to pick us up, how vulnerable I felt. I literally couldn’t call for an Uber or ride in a tow truck. It was likely I was positive for COVID. I couldn’t expose anyone. I also felt like complete ass. We were waiting in a grain elevator , surrounded by skip loaders and semi trucks. It was all quite surreal.

The good news is, the damage was no more than the loss of a few tires. Which were, of course, only a month old, but still. It could have been worse, there was a truck on the other side of us. (He looked like he was coming over in our lane which is what caused the problem in the first place.)

Okay, so the loss of taste and smell.

What a singularly unpleasant experience. I’ve had numerous sinus infections, bronchitis, and infected tonsils in my life. I would have said that I’ve lost my sense of taste many times.

I would have been wrong.

I’m sure there were times when it was severely compromised, but I didn’t understand “entirely gone” until last Sunday.

The act of eating is disgusting when you can taste nothing.

Few food textures feel pleasant when there is no taste to them. Even my comfort food was no good. Toast and eggs? Disgusting. Slimy, greasy, grainy.  I had to force myself to eat and I only did when my stomach would start to hurt from hunger and then I only choked down enough to eat to make it stop hurting.

I became like Arya Stark. Instead of lying in bed and reciting a list of people I wanted to kill, I recited a list of things I would eat when I got my taste back.

  • Fried chicken
  • Spaghetti and meatballs
  • Bacon
  • Grilled Cheese
  • Chocolate milkshakes

I spent a lot of time watching TV.

By the way, if you have HBO Max, watch The Righteous Gemstones. It’s goddamn hilarious.

Even my TV watching took an odd turn.

I never watched a single episode of Sex and the City. Not a single episode.

So, of course, I watched every available episode of the current season. I couldn’t stop.

After I caught up on the current season, I tried going back and watching from the beginning. No go. I hated it. But apparently, I can’t get enough of Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte as old women. (So far, Samantha isn’t on the show.)

This isn’t the sickest I’ve ever been in my life, but it’s in the top 3.

I’ve seen omicron referred to as “mild”. I guess it’s mild in that I don’t need to be hospitalized. But it’s still pretty fucking far from mild.

I’m on day 12. I’m ready for this to pass.

No worries. I do see improvement every day. Sooner or later, this will pass. I guess I had hoped for a little more “sooner” and a little less “later”, but we don’t get to pick, do we?

I’m going to work from home this week. I’m not pushing it and I’m feeling a bit skittish. I don’t want to breathe anyone else’s air for a bit.

Poor Randy. He started showing signs yesterday. I’m hoping it will actually be “mild” for him.

Now, please excuse me.

I am going to continue my Harry Potter marathon before passing out at an absurdly early hour.

Also, I had Doordash bring me a chocolate milkshake.

I could taste it.

I’m taking this as a very good sign.

 

 

 

 

11 Thoughts.

  1. Covid is such a godamn thing – it’s hard to quantify. I’m on day…I don’t know. Have NOT lost sense of taste or smell – neither have my sons who are both positive. Husband had it in Dec, he did lost those senses, but they came back well enough.
    Years, YEARS ago, I lost my sense of smell for several weeks, it was weird for sure!

    Michelle, I hope you and Mr. Randy bounce back soon and strong.

  2. I’m glad you’re feeling better, and, while I’ve avoided the ‘rona so far (fingers crossed, wood knocked, rabbit’s foot rubbed, four-leaf clover wished on, whatever the fuck else will bring luck) I know what it’s like to lose the sense of taste. I’m also very glad you’re vaxxed and boosted because this would probably be so much worse without that. A doctor at Vanderbilt gave a talk about how the vaccines aren’t perfect, but they’re like a fence around your house. The early variants were stopped by the fence. Delta, he said, could hop over the fence but it still couldn’t get in your house. “Omicron,” he said, “can hop over the fence and mess with your lawnmower and tear up the flower beds, but is still pretty much stopped by your house.”
    As torn up as your flower beds may be is I’m really glad your house is secure. And you deserve extra bacon for being responsible.

  3. I’m so sorry to hear that you’re going through all this. Hopefully the vaccines have prevented it from becoming much worse. And now Randy! You may have to take additional time off to see about him. Is Joey keeping (mostly) away from you?
    I lost my sense of taste with pneumonia once – totally freaked me out. You’re correct in that there’s no way you want to eat wallpaper paste passing itself off as something regularly delicious.

    Please, all of you, get well and stay safe.

  4. Yay for being able to taste a milkshake! We’ve been isolated up here in four feet of snow that has turned into one foot of ice. Zsuzs has a Subaru, and she took us to town to get groceries last week, and I wore a cloth mask over an N95. Way too many people in the grocery store weren’t wearing any mask, and with so damn many Republicans around here, calling them on it is worse than useless.
    May you and Randy both be feeling much better very soon.

  5. Wow Michelle; so sorry to hear about you getting sick but glad you are turning the corner. Take care of yourself & hope Randy gets just a mild case. Xo

  6. I am glad you are starting to feel better. I had a very mild case over New Year’s, no loss of taste or smell. The vaccine and booster did exactly what they were supposed to do, kept me out of the hospital. Here’s to tasting that chocolate milkshake!!

  7. Goodness, Girlfriend!
    The no taste/no smell thing hit my husband last night! He’s been down since last Thursday, but last night was when he couldn’t taste my divine honey/lemon tea concoction. I stayed home Friday, because I was worried he had Covid and that meant I had been exposed and I was a little ‘sniffly,’ so I wanted to be extra careful. Monday, I knew I still wasn’t better, but wanted to be able to go back to work as soon as possible if it wasn’t Covid, so I took the rapid test and it came back negative. Here we are Wednesday and I finally can feel the congestion in my head breaking up and I don’t have a sore throat, so maybe mine really was just a cold.
    *sigh*
    Remember when we used to oh-so-casually go to work sick and tough it out? No way am I ever doing that again for all the right reasons.
    I am happy to hear that I missed nothing concerning the original Sex in the City 🙂 Too cool that this season is a good one! You were very brave to try it 😉
    I can just imagine how fucked up it was waiting contained and quietly for Joey and knowing he was gonna be your saviour. Bless him and bless him again <3 A couple of nearly new tires really is a small sacrifice when compared to the other possibilities *hugs* So glad you are OK!!
    Hang in there and I am sure that you, as am I, are grateful for the ability to work from home, but fuck if I don't miss my dual monitors when the cataloging gets scritchy and deep :/
    *clinks cough syrup dosage cups*
    Cheers!

  8. So sorry you’re getting your Ass handed to you by The Rona, I did too, and agreed, that if this was considered a Mild Variant, I’m glad I didn’t get the Stronger Variants. I didn’t lose taste or smell, just ability to Breath fully, which as it turns out, is important. The Headaches and extreme Fatigue for me were the most debilitating Symptoms. I’m still Fatigued, tho’ over a Month out now, I had the COVID Pneumonia, which wasn’t helpful in Recovering… but Vaxxes and Booster kept me out of Hospitalization and Morgue, so, glad I had them. I Hope your Senses come back fully, the Fog remains for me, so my Brain isn’t firing on all cylinders apparently. Avoiding it for Two Years was something rather miraculous for you and I, don’tcha think? I mean, it has been everywhere and Covidiots abound, so, glad it took a while to catch up to us. My Brother has a bad Case of it now and my Husband is Hospitalized… so still dealing with lots of Pandemic stressors. Healing Energies sent your way…

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