10: COVID

 

Have you ever had COVID-19? I know we have all lived through the era of COVID, but there are those out there that can say they have never contracted the virus. However, if you've ever had COVID, then you know for certain it is a big deal.

Now, COVID affects everyone differently; it is a confusing virus. I've seen people who were considered high risk for mortality with COVID come through the virus as if nothing happened, and then I've seen people that were perfectly healthy before contracting COVID succumb to it. The virus makes absolutely no sense in that regard, but one thing is for certain if you get COVID, any variant of it, you better take it seriously.

For me, in the summer of 2022, that became the first time I ever contracted COVID during the pandemic. I was fortunate the variant I got was a lesser version of COVID, the latest Omicron variant for that year. I heard about many people's struggles with other earlier variants, but I never wanted to experience those. But even the variant I got was enough to knock me backward.

There I was in July 2022, riding high after completing my Ph.D. and fresh off signing a new contract to work on tenure track at Clemson. For both of those reasons and with it being my 20th wedding anniversary with Leslie, I wanted to take my family someplace fun to celebrate. We headed to Wilderness at the Smokies and specifically spent a lot of time at their new waterpark Soaky Mountain. We had a blast that week riding all the newest attractions and living it up in celebratory style.

Once we got home, though, Leslie told me her throat was scratchy. She also said she was starting to ache all over. All I could think was, oh boy! So, we tested her with an at-home kit, and the result was positive.

I assumed it would be a matter of time before I had COVID myself, after having avoided the virus for nearly 2 and 1/2 years. By the next evening, even after having tested negative at Urgent Care, just to be sure, my throat began to get scratchy as well. By the next day, I was full-blown COVID. 

If you've had COVID, you can probably relate to the descriptions I'll post next. I just felt blah. It was like having the flu at first, although it had been a long time since I had it. I never had a fever the whole time, but the blah feeling and achiness all over was awful. Then came the weakness and tiredness. I was so lethargic the first day. I still attended some virtual meetings online, but I couldn't tell you a thing about those meetings those couple of days when the virus took hold. Fortunately, the meetings were early-stage developmental types, so more robust meetings followed.

I could move around fine. Oxygen levels were fine. I was just incredibly tired. Then the sore throat began. That was the worst part for me. In the past, I've had horrible sore throats, especially with stuff like the Flu. So, this made a lot of sense that COVID attacked my throat the worst. It felt like I was swallowing razor blades every time I tried to swallow. It was so painful. But if that was the worst that happened to me, considering other's worse experiences, I'd take it!

One day after the meetings and feeling tired and weak, I started feeling slightly better. I thought maybe I could go for a walk. Boy, was that a mistake. Number one, it was mid-August by then and hot as fire outside. I decided to go in the middle of the day and walk for 30 minutes around my driveway. I figured this would be a good way to start back. The exercise ring on my watch will only close when I put enough effort into exercising to register on the device. With walking, it takes a brisk pace, 20 minutes or less per mile. That day, it took me 50 minutes to make the 30-minute exercise ring close during an outdoor walk. On top of that, I went in immediately following and showered. When I got out of the shower and dried off, I was still sweating like I had finished walking. It was awful. Even my food that day for lunch just felt like it was growing in my mouth. I didn't have to be anywhere the next day, so I stayed in bed most of the day. The day after that, I finally started feeling like myself again, with still a subsiding sore throat.

During COVID, I watched what my blood sugar did before and after. The day before I tested positive, my blood sugar check was 90, so normal. A few days later, when COVID was starting to simmer down, and I was off quarantine, my blood sugar was 93 and normal again. But during the height of COVID, my blood sugar fasting was 107. Now that's not incredibly high, but it was higher than I was accustomed to when not eating anything. Sick days as a diabetic can be challenging sometimes, so you have to watch your intake, stay hydrated, and prevent concerns related to sugar issues. Like I said though, 107 wasn't horrible, but clearly higher than the days leading up and following.

After having COVID, for me, it was only flu-like symptoms. But it showed me how detrimental this virus could have been. Before COVID, I got both Pfizer shots and 1 booster in the fall of 2021. The only ill effect I ever had from the shots was some mild tachycardia and feeling tired, but the day after that, I was perfectly fine. What the shots did for me was prevent COVID from getting into my lungs. I had no congestion in my lungs. My oxygen saturation was perfectly fine the whole time. No other ill effects took place. Therefore, I received the next booster shot in the fall of 2022 and will always get boosters as needed for as long as recommended.

COVID is a big deal. You're going to see a lot of things out there about COVID, both positive and negative. Although I had what you might consider a mild case of COVID, other people have not been so fortunate over the last three years. Some have developed conditions that never go away because of COVID. Some have lost limbs because of COVID. Unfortunately, some have died because of COVID. The other thing I have seen is people getting repeated infections with COVID, which causes more issues each time. I eventually got COVID again, recently, at the time of this blog. That bout with COVID will be the discussion in a later post.

You need to decide for yourself what is best for you, just like I did. 

The CDC does offer great resources if you want to look into COVID and the vaccines more. I'll include that link here. Otherwise, I encourage you to do your own homework and research to determine the best way to handle COVID for you and your family.

Because I hate to say it, folks, COVID is here to stay.

Tune in next time for 10: Fall 2022.