After two years of miraculously dodging the Covid bullet, the dreaded virus permeated my defenses and struck without warning. I thought that because I was triple vaxxed, I was somehow safe. How I was wrong! I first noticed a cough, then headache, then the sneezing. And I am talking BIG sneezing- as if you might need to check the adjacent wall for a lung or something. In 24 hours, I was in bed for a full day. This experience has changed my mind and made me aware of some Covid realities.
For instance, how on earth could someone two weeks prior have looked at me and called Covid “just a hoax?” The first night of my hoax was terrible, the second bad, the third tolerable and the fourth is to be seen. I consider myself healthy and figured if I ever got it, I’d probably never know it. What has struck me is how some people show no symptoms at all and others get long haul symptoms. Nobody knows how their body will respond. I attest it is definitely not a hoax. My 32 gallon bag of used Kleenex is my proof.
Another bizarre finding is that two people can share a car ride for hours and one test positive and another negative. My husband, who until today tested negative, swears I gave it to him on purpose (he tested positive today but is asymptomatic). He says that by moving the paper towels to where he had to use my contaminated kitchen knobs and my touching our utensils, that I gave him “Paper towel, spoon Covid.” He’s home quarantining and always ready to laugh. I can laugh too but I’m lucky, because I’m going to get better.
I also learned that I should have been more vigilant in wearing my mask in public places; washing my hands; and keeping my distance from others by 6 feet. Somehow I just willed it to be over- but it isn’t over. I don’t know where or how I got it. That’s scary. Anyone can be a carrier, not know it, and spread it everywhere they go. That includes to someone’s immunocompromised family member or elderly parent. I’d hate to imagine my 84 year old Dad or my elderly friends with it as sick as I’ve been.
We have conflicting directives on how to navigate and respond to positive tests. But I’ve come to realize that recommendations are just that- recommendations. Each person is responsible for their own health but also others’ welfare! Once enough time has passed to understand what we should be doing, then it will have likely dissipated. We cannot wait. If you are positive for Covid and feel perfect, stay home! You could inflict it onto someone else who ends up in the hospital or if lucky like me, just checking the opposite wall for a lung.
Fourundertwo 