Ugh! COVID Strikes!

 

Damn. The dreaded pink T-line. We had both tested positive, after several days of thinking it was just a bad cold. I mean, we’ve been SO careful to avoid COVID for nearly four years: triple-vaxxed, triple-boosted; masks when necessary; untold numbers of Lysol spray cans and bottles of hand sanitizer used over the years. Avoiding crowds.

By the time I finally broke out the COVID home test kits, after several days of denial, we were outside the window for Paxlovid, so we decided to just tough it out. Since the cold symptoms started, we hadn’t gone anywhere or seen anyone, so we were spared the embarrassment of calling people and telling them we’d tested positive.

As near as we can figure, Toni brought it home from a physical therapy session in a gym-like setting. It was the only time in the three or four days prior to the onset of symptoms that either of us had been away from our apartment.

We both figure that our triple-vaxxed, triple-boosted status is what kept us out of the hospital. As far as we’re concerned, the vaccinations did their job. From what I’ve seen, a lot of folks don’t understand that the vaccine doesn’t prevent you from getting COVID. It helps mitigate the worst effects of the virus, which we’re convinced is exactly what it did for us.

My guess is that my case was mild, and Toni’s was moderate. While she pounded Tylenol, I was overdosing myself with DayQuil. I think I consumed a hundred or more orange liquid-gel Day-Quil capsules over the course of my bout. We both had nasty, nasty coughs, stuffy heads, runny noses, chills, and muscle aches. Toni lost her sense of taste. It wasn’t stay-in-bed-sick; it was just annoyingly miserable. We quarantined ourselves in our apartment and binge-watched TV.

One afternoon when Toni and I were both dozing, my friend and former on-air partner Sly called to share a funny story. We started recounting some of our outrageous on-air adventures, which resulted in a laughing spell that turned into a coughing spell. I said to Sly (who had a bout of COVID a few months ago) between fits of coughing, “I have to hang up! You’re killing me with these stories!!”

Since Toni and I have both had serious cases of pneumonia requiring hospitalization in the past, we were concerned that if the COVID started to affect our oxygen saturation, we’d head to the ER immediately. I also have asthma, controlled by daily medication, so I’ve used a home pulse/ox meter for years. We monitored our oxygen sats every few hours, and at no point did either of us dip below the mid-90’s.

I started to feel better after a week or so, but Toni’s case hung on.

On the tenth day after the symptoms started, I finally tested negative. Toni was still positive, but three days later, she took another home test and it was negative. We were finally out of the woods. We both still coughed intermittently, and weren’t back to full strength, but the worst of it was finally behind us.

Now, a couple weeks later, we’re back to normal. And you can bet that if the CDC says it’s time for another booster, we’ll be among the first in line to get it.