COVID Is Sick

So, 4+ years after the start of the COVID19 pandemic, I finally caught the bastard. And yes, I am one of those people who would wear a mask everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Whenever I'm outside the house, I am wearing a mask because I really, really don't want to have anything to do with the virus. Every time I come back from the store and get to my car, I would immediately use my hand sanitizer. The guy I'm hanging around with is a little lax in his approach however - though he has never had COVID either, until now - so I am fairly certain that he's the source of my infection. After all, he got sick first. Well, not really, really, sick but he was seemingly coming down with a cold and started coughing. Whatever the case may be, I am here now, battling what I would describe as a nasty case of sore throat and cough.

Never thought that I would ever see this in my life.

Apparently, after so many years behind me since the start of this whole thing, I thought perhaps I got this whole thing down. I have not gotten this sick in a long, long time... Even before the pandemic! So, a couple of days after the guy got sick, I started coughing too. It was a very mild cough. We both got on the cough medicine quick. Then suddenly, I whole body started aching like I have never felt before accompanied by some shivers and chills that I couldn't even shake off under two thick blankets as I was resting. I remember my teeth clattering as I forced myself to get some sleep. It did go away the next day. Now, the less extreme version of this is what I would normally would have felt if I was coming down with a cold or flu, so I thought perhaps that was the issue. The body ache accompanying it was new though, so I asked an older friend about it because well, I am older now and maybe this is something normal for older people. I was told that it was normal, so I at that point I thought that there was nothing to be worried too much about. Then, several days in, even though the cough was getting worse at night and the throat was getting really raw (imagine razor blades going down your throat every time you swallow), I still thought that I was going down a familiar road until we ordered food the following day from one of my favorite Chinese restaurants and when we got home to eat, all I tasted was... salt? I couldn't smell anything at that point, but I was having nasal congestion.

Only until then was I prompted to do my home COVID test. Mind you, I always thought that COVID would announce its arrival with some kind of fever, but I didn't have that, nor did I have a headache. I was horrified of course to see the positive result and I even did a second test from a different brand and of course, the result was the same. The guy also tested positive when we did his next. By the way, at this point, Diet Dr. Pepper tasted like... bitter?

The lesson learned here with my current COVID entanglement is:

1) The vaccines do work because so far, the infection seems mild. Yes, I plan on getting more when they are available, like I do with the flu shots.

2) COVID is still out there folks, just lurking around, waiting to ravish your body so triple your efforts. Fuck that, quadruple your efforts despite the fact that we may never 100% this fucker!

3) Whenever you feel any kind of sickness, just do a COVID home test. Just because you don't have a fever, it doesn't mean it's not stupid COVID.

I don't want to be on this ever again.

I have been on Paxlovid and hopefully, the COVID will go away very, very soon. And yes, the Paxlovid Mouth is real. Isn't it... ironic that you have this iron taste in your mouth as a side effect of the medication but can't taste anything else you eat? It's really something. Stay safe out there!