Well Dammit, Part 2

So two weeks ago (November 11), dad had a rapid-results COVID test that came back positive. He has been a good boy and isolated himself.  I had a test the next day (November 12), and it came back negative. WHEW, right?

In the words of Lee Corso, "Not so fast, my friend."

On Sunday the 15th, I had a sudden nausea attack, leading to sweating profusely (lying in the bathroom floor between upchucks because it was nice and cold).... and being so tired that I went to bed. I woke up four hours later, then went back to bed. I slept off and on for a few hours (with snippets of the football game playing on my SiriusXM app). I assumed it was an awful migraine because of head and neck pain, and the lethargy. I luckily had taken the week off work so I didn't have to worry about that, at least. 

On Monday the 16th, I more or less slept all day again -- or at least I lay in bed all day. Zero energy, still some residual head and neck pain. Finally around 1:00 PM I got up on Tuesday, shaky and hungry to a small degree. I ate a half-sleeve of saltines. It was all I wanted. And back to bed for a while. By the afternoon I felt I had had enough of this and forced myself to at least sit up in bed while I watched old episodes of The Addams Family (don't ask how many times now I've seen pretty much the entire 2 seasons). 

On Wednesday, I finally started feeling human again -- a diminished appetite, but human.

By the weekend I was feeling much better. Until yesterday afternoon. Around 2:30, I noticed that the candle I'd been burning all morning -- about 3 feet from my office chair -- was not as potent as it normally would be. So I lit another candle. It too lacked a certain potency. So did the Watermelon candle. And so did the Bath & Body Works hand cream. 

I told my dad, "I think I've lost my sense of smell....." He asked me to smell some various essential oils. Peppermint? Didn't register. Breathe Easy Blend? Nothing. Another blend I had at my desk? Nothing. Then he brought out the ultimate test: an old bottle of Brut left in the bathroom by my brother. Brut, the stankiest ...... stank there is available for sale. Brut, which makes me gag because it just reeks.

Nothing. Not even a hint. 

I went to the bathroom. Lavender hand soap? Nope. Lemon hand soap? Well, at least my hands got extra clean. Bath & Body Works Raspberry Sugar shower gel? Nothing. 

This morning it was only minimally better. If I leaned deeply into my cup of coffee, I could pick up a very faint hint of coffee. Same with the lavender soap - but I almost had to put my hand on my nostrils to even get a tiny aroma. It's like a volume knob that goes zero to 100 -- mine is at 5, at best. I still have to breathe super deeply to even get minor hints of scent. I have a pack of cinnamon-scented wax melts on the desk as well...... barely moves the needle. 

So I talked to my doctor this morning, and she had me go to the hospital for a re-swabbing and re-testing. It's drive-through testing and I got there at 11:15. I left at 12:30. I felt awful for the occupant of a car a couple up from me. It was a small child getting tested and he or she did not like having their nasal passages probed in the least. I wasn't crazy about it either kid. But on a positive note, it did make my left eye water..... 

I'll find out within 24-48 hours. But I'm already pretty sure I am COVID-positive and that what I had last week was probably the manifestation of it. Different, to be certain, than what others have experienced, but definitely in line with it. And I'm betting if they tested the city's wastewater, they'd find a much higher occurrence in the general population.

Our county has the distinction of the fastest growing positive rates in the state in the last 2 weeks. FORTY percent jump in cases. And while we are home to a large university, our county administrator (a high school classmate of mine) advised us today that student positives are not counted in the county totals, but go to the student's home area -- whether across the state, or in another state. I'm not exactly sure how all that works (since chances are they contracted it here) but it's not my say. 

At any rate, I'm staying put for another two weeks.