Last night I tested positive for Covid-19. Again. The second time this calendar year.
My entire family has been coughing since before Thanksgiving but I've been careful to try and stay away from them. Mostly just to avoid getting a cold or sinus infection or so I thought. I've even been sleeping in the guest room because Jude has been coughing a lot at night.
Friday late afternoon, I began to feel a little run down at work. Scratchy throat. A little sniffly. I didn't sleep well Friday evening. Sinus infection, I thought. Saturday morning, I drove to the walk-in clinic and arrived just as it opened, saw a doctor, and convinced him to prescribe me a dose of antibiotics. My plan, as always, was to get on a Z pack (or something similar) and knock the sinus infection out in three of four days.
I filled the prescription, took the antibiotics Saturday morning and evening, then again Sunday morning. I was feeling well enough Sunday evening to coach Joe's basketball practice at MBA. Not much of a voice, scratchy throat, but overall, better.
Later Sunday evening, I decided to run a Covid-19 test, just to be sure, because a friend was scheduled to mediate a difficult case of mine on Monday and Wednesday. He is in his mid-60's and had a rough go of it with Covid-19 late in 2020, so I wanted to be sure I wasn't putting him at risk.
And, damn if I didn't test positive for Covid-19, again. Second time in 2022. Well, shit.
Fortunately, for reasons beyond the scope of this post, my mediation ended up being canceled Monday morning. Of course, that didn't happen until I was sitting in the Factory, sipping my morning coffee, properly distanced, about to go to the office. My plan had been to mediate by Zoom upstairs in our conference room, away from everyone else, and to use the side entrance to our office to go in and out, as needed. I was going to meet my client outside or in the parking garage to talk, if necessary.
A different approach to Covid-19 in the latter part of the third year of the pandemic, to be sure.
It's ironic - I guess - because I've spent a lot of time thinking about how differently we, as a society, feel about Covid-19 in year 3. I'm fascinated with the entire subject. Our behaviors have changed so much as it relates to what we're willing to do to try to avoid getting Covid-19 and how we reach when we do get it.
For example, I'm sitting outside Dose right now, drinking coffee after finishing my breakfast of two scrambled eggs. I'm not sitting inside, of course, because I'm still within the five day quarantine window of when I first experienced symptoms. I did go inside, though, to place my order. No mask.
I'll go to JP's basketball game today at MBA and sit away from everyone else. I'll wear a mask and avoid coming in close contact with anyone. But I'm still going to go.
I'm convinced my entire family had Covid-19 over Thanksgiving, when they were all coughing and had sore throats. I can't prove it, of course, because people rarely test for Covid-19 anymore or so it seems. As a society, we're firmly entrenched in the "don't test, don't tell" stage of the pandemic. No one wants to know they have Covid-19 because no one wants to be quarantined for five days minimum.
It's been an easier ride this time around - at least so far - and for that I'm grateful. Things did take a turn for the worse yesterday morning, however, when I woke up with the chills and body aches. That subsided fairly quickly, though, and I've slept better, felt better, and not been as tired as I was last January when I had Covid-19.
Really, it's felt like a sinus infection with a scratchy - not sore - throat. I can handle that, even if it's a pain for my voice not to be as strong as it normally is. Hell, anyone that spends much time around me probably appreciates a quieter me.
I had a prescription for Paxlovid telephoned in on Sunday night and I picked it up on Monday morning. The doctor I had a video consultation with through Cue Health - yep, these are the modern days - suggested I wait and see how I felt on Monday night and Tuesday before I decided if I wanted to take it or not. The regimen is three pills, twice a day, for five days. 30 pills total. In the end, I decided not to take the Paxlovid because my only risk factor is my age (50 +) and my symptoms weren't severe. In the end, I hated to put that much of any drug in any body ever a five day period of time unless I absolutely had to do so.
So far, I've been taking it easy and working some from my office at home. When my mediation canceled, it lightened my calendar considerably. No running, which is killing me. No bourbon or red wine, which is killing me, too. (not really) We're holding of, for now, on decorating the Christmas tree until this weekend when, if I believe the CDC guidelines, I will no longer need to be in quarantine.
Hopefully, I'll keep feeling better and I can run this weekend. I don't plan on any lingering effects from Covid-19 but one never knows.
So, for now, I'll isolate in the house and stick to the guest room and my office for the most part. I'll work some and try to rest more than usual. I'll read and watch movies on my iPad. I might even nap with Angus - one of two cats, along with Mini-T, in my lap, like it did yesterday.
If Covid-19 was going to catch me again, I'm glad it was before Christmas and after Thanksgiving, so I'm not missing holiday family time.
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