I’m not sure what day we realized we both had Covid, but an entire cooked turkey ended up in the trash. I managed to cook it, but other than some skin and a piece of breast meat that I tried, we were too sick to eat. I always make a good turkey. Sadly, this one was the best ever. So my guess is it was Thanksgiving night that his nibs ended up in the hospital. It is all a bit hazy. He fell getting into bed and I couldn’t get him up so I had to call for the rescue squad. And of course, he had to go alone in these times of Covid.
Three days later I had to go pick him up. Keep in mind, I was sick as well but one does what one must and I kept well away from people. We managed for a few days. Sleeping a lot. Watching TV. Reading books. Lots of soup. Then suddenly his nibs lost the use of his right side and once again the rescue squad was called and once again he had to face it all alone.
There were several days in the largest hospital here in the state before transfer to a smaller hospital for rehab. He came home this past Friday and really is doing amazingly well. He uses a cane part of the time, if he is going a distance where there is no wall or furniture to reach out and steady himself. He has had one outing to a grocery store, just yesterday, and pushed a carriage for probably the first time in his life. See, he’s one of those cool guys who doesn’t use a carriage. But a carriage is cooler than a cane. His fine motor skills are improving by the day. I can now read his signature. Which is really amazing, as in the over twenty years I have known him, I’ve never been able to read anything he had written.
As for me, well I was sure that if I got Covid, that would be the end. Every winter I get a cold or the flu (even though I always get my flu shot) and end up in the hospital with pneumonia. So naturally, I thought this was it. But for me (and for his nibs too, except for that damn blood clot that caused his stroke) it was like any other cold. Someone explained to me that all my colds probably saved me. The common cold is after all a coronavirus so I probably have tons of those t cells swimming through my blood stream and they kept Covid if not away, at least very mild. Who knows? I’m just glad.
I will tell you that for me, post covid is worse than Covid was. Seems I have what they are calling long Covid. In my case that means sleeping a lot. A LOT. And headaches. Imagine your worst headache ever. Now imagine it just won’t go away. When you have pneumonia, you can feel your lungs fill up, you get a sort of drowning feeling. With Covid, it felt very different. It felt like someone took a 2×4 and hit me across the chest with it. Hard to explain but it feels more external than internal. If that makes any sense. And that’s not really going away. I happen to have a torn rotator cuff. Had therapy for it, mastered working around it, avoided surgery. But now the pain in my shoulder/upper arm is so intense that I break down and cry. Any part of my body that had a tiny ache or pain before, normal ageing stuff, has really intense pain now. That little trip to the grocery store that his nibs did so well with, had me crying myself to sleep in agony. And my concentration is pretty shot. So it isn’t over even when you are technically over it. For some of us anyway. His nibs is going from strength to strength.
The thing is, you don’t want it. Even the mildest case can give you a blood clot and that can turn real bad. Or that mild case can turn into long Covid and trust me, that is worse. So be hypervigilant. Wear your mask, wash your hands, a lot. Do all the things that Dr. Fauci and other experts are telling you. You may still get it, as we did, but hopefully all that care you took will keep you from dying.
And have a Happy Christmas. We are spending it watching TV, bundled up in a quilt, and getting Chinese food delivered.
Kate Eileen Shannon 