No longer a unicorn

After four long years of being what my boss astutely described as “covid cautious,” I’m a novid no more.

Society may have decided to say screw it and just get sick, but I continued to avoid crowds, wear a mask in public, maintain my vaccinations, etc., in order to avoid catching this illness. Alas, the latest variant is highly contagious, and so after several days of caring for my sick husband, I became infected. Ironically, M contracted it at the gym while trying to stay healthy. So frustrating!

My symptoms began showing themselves on a Sunday, and by early Monday morning, I had collapsed into my chair, unable to even make it upstairs to bed. I remained positive for eight days, suffering from all of the usual symptoms (coughing, sneezing, sore throat, exhaustion, foggy thoughts) and then that blasted blue line finally disappeared from the test strips. Oh, I’m still coughing my brains out and my voice is trashed. My lungs feel like they’re filled with cement. And after hardly sleeping at all last week, I crashed hard this weekend. But, I am finally on the mend.

Also, I’m thrilled to say, the vaccinations worked! My fever didn’t climb too high and my O2 sats never dropped below 92 so I didn’t have to go to the hospital, for which I’m very grateful. I’ve only just finished paying off the medical bills from last fall and I really didn’t want to add more to the pile.

M and I haven’t decided what to do with our new, albeit temporary, immunity. We’ll probably grab a meal in a restaurant, an activity we haven’t experienced together in years. I may even hold a book club meeting in person (in addition to our twice-monthly Zoom gathering), especially since exhaustion meant I missed the last one. If you have any other suggestions, let me know in the comments.

In the meantime, please take care of yourselves. Stay safe, stay healthy and stay well!