So, I've been extremely lucky up to now having been able to avoid COVID since it started back in 2020. With a combination of vaccine boosters, avoiding crowds, washing my hands a lot and generally just regular prevention, I've been able to avoid the misery that comes with this multi-day misery until this last week. Somewhere between work, an anime convention, going to a number of places I don't normally go, I got infected. I can't really pinpoint where it was, since there were so many variables, but sure enough my itchy nose turned into a full-blown sneezing attack and downhill from there. The exhaustion and feeling off the day before was probably the first symptoms, but you don't really pay attention to that until you have 20/20 hindsight after the fact.
Day 1
As noted above, Day 1 was just feeling off. I had an appetite, but food didn't quite taste like food and I was just a bit out of sorts. I chalked it up to a long weekend, but I didn't sleep well that night either.
Day 2
The itchy nose was the first real out-of-sorts symptom. By noontime that had begun to progress into sneezing on the scale of allergies. I thought it was because I had been exposed to too much dust at a big thrift store warehouse in the morning (ebay hunting), but sure enough it was something else. By evening I had a tension headache, my joints were sore, and I had a low grade fever. Time for a test. Oh, guess what? I'm positive for COVID. Interestingly, I wasn't positive two days earlier.
Day 3
Now I'm in sinus hell. My nose is running like crazy, painful headache, exhausted, stuffed up at the same time, and barely able to function. I'm in isolation now. The night before was full night sweats and soaked. Took a shower and sweating again, but I was also dealing with chills. Great combination.
Day 4
Slept erratic but at least I felt like I got rest. Sinuses were still a mess and now the muck has moved into my chest. I was coughing up interesting colors, but fortunately no pain or difficulty breathing. Based on the level of my symptoms, my case mild according to my doctor so even though I'm older Paxlovid was off the table for me. I was just going to ride it through.
That might be a good thing since, aside from being a risk to the kidneys, Paxlovid also makes a patient prone to getting COVID again, according to my doctor. Wut? Turns out this was maybe a bit of a misstatement by my physician. While a direct tie to COVID susceptibility has not been identified, COVID rebound right after a COVID session with Paxlovid has been an issue of attention. Whichever it is, I'm not in that eligible category, so I won't be finding out.
Energy-wise I'm good until about 3 in the afternoon, and then I start draining. Afternoon naps are a good thing right now. Sleep is amazingly regenerative during COVID it seems.
Day 5
Slept better with less night sweating, but woke up again with sinuses stuffed and blowing my nose a lot. Still coughing up muck but it's no longer dark colored stuff. Regular cold and flu medicine day and night has helped stave off the irritating symptoms and headache. I would like to think I have more energy but the occasional coughing fit proves me wrong. I'm past the point of no return, so even if I wanted to take Paxlovid, I can't. It would have no effect on me now aside from making me miserable.
Day 6 Forward
So, as of writing this, I slept a lot better again last night. Woke up to still more sinus issues and nose-blowing as well as coughing up stuff, but not as bad as the previous days. I'm running at about 40 percent right now, but I'm still resting a lot and regular drinking of fluids is a must. Still can't taste much in food, and I know I'm still sick. I have two more days into a weekend before I have to show up for work, but hopefully they let me report remotely. Makes no sense to show up and still be positive, getting others infected, but workplaces have been doing stupider things lately.
Maybe I should give them a phlegm sample with my return to work paperwork.
