My hips ached. I couldn’t sleep. At three o’clock, it occurred to me to take some ibuprofen. That helped, but way too late, I was up. I took my Covid test at five. The extra line, the positive line, showed up in ninety seconds. I spent the next fourteen minutes Googling whether it might disappear.
When Susan woke up, she found me rifling the closet for the good masks, the N95s, the masks I thought we wasted money on last fall when the pandemic seemed over. I began reviewing protocols. I know these from work. Wear a mask to keep my family safe. Isolate for five days. Take future tests to make sure I’m well. All those half-done jobs at my office will remain half done for another week. No coaching, probably no exercise either. God, what will I do with myself? I had a momentary panic when I realized I already squandered today’s Wordle. Read? I bought two books of music themed short stories over the weekend—fortunate timing. Write about this? Is it even newsworthy? Everyone’s had Covid. No one cares anymore.
As Susan and Eli began moving around this morning, I felt guilt. I’m causing disruption. Susan’s boss told her to stay home. Sophie visited a friend in North Carolina over the weekend. Now she’ll return to a quarantine house. She only has two more weeks at home this summer. This is her birthday week. Eli can’t work from home. We hung out most of yesterday. When he tests positive, he’ll miss a week of work, a week of mountain bike season.
And one of us might actually get sick. Early in the pandemic, the thought of a positive Covid test terrified me. So many unknowns, no one vaccinated, no treatments. Susan and I got our second boosters two weeks ago. Neither of our kids has an underlying condition. Covid is likely to be an inconvenience, maybe some missed sleep, some mild discomfort, not the life-threatening disease we first feared. But you never know. Several people recently told me their Covid symptoms shocked them. Like me, they dismissed it as yesterday’s problem, then they got knocked on their butt.
My job doesn’t transfer well to remote work. My files and my databases are only accessible in the office. This will essentially be a week off for me. Hopefully I’ll feel fine, and I can get some stuff done at home. There’s that unfinished patio, week after week, inching closer to complete—maybe I can knock that out. Our basement is overdue for spring cleaning. Expect daily writing, possibly from the moping vein. I’ll mask, keep my distance from the rest of my family, and try my best to make the most of this week.
The Other Stuff 
Somehow, I have still avoided it, or I got a mild case and ignored it as related to one of my myriad of other syndromes/disorders/diseases 🤷🏼♀️ I don’t test regularly.
Yes, please post and let us know how it goes. Are you going to try the Paxlovid, or are your gonna study yourself like a Sciencey Stuff Person? 🤓
I’ve been vacillating about the 4th poke. I haven’t gotten it yet, and I’m obviously leaning toward not🤷🏼♀️
Fingers crossed that it stays mild🤞
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My doctor said I didn’t need any special treatment unless my oxygen level started dropping. Go I got out my trusty oxygen monitor and found the battery dead. Mostly, I feel good. I found myself out of breath a bit last night and to be honest, I thought I was having an anxiety attack. I’ll monitor and take appropriate action. Now that I’ve ‘got it’ I’m glad I got the forth shot. I’d feel stupid if my symptoms worsened without the shot. My father already chastised me for working our book sale fund raiser without a mask.
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Oh dear. I guess we knew it was coming at some point, but still. It’s great that you want to get stuff done and I hope you keep feeling well enough to, but do take rest if you need it. Wishing for minimal symptoms and a speedy recovery for you.
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In truth, I’ve taken it pretty easy today and focused on knocking out some paperwork (plus reading and writing). I’m clearly sick, and when I move around a lot, I get out of breath. Mostly, I’m hoping that Susan and my kids don’t get it, but really, I can’t imagine how Susan won’t. We were together most of the weekend.
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If she does she’ll be OK- you guys are fully vaccinated. But – and this is anecdotal – it seems like people don’t really transmit it as easily when they aren’t symptomatic. She might not get it!
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Unless you were both exposed to an external source at the same time. Then she could already have it and be asymptomatic!
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A lot of what shall I do do do? Which is exactly what I would do. But how about be? Spend time with the family. Have those conversations that everyone is always to busy to have. Play some board games. Cook something complicated and delicious. This is your time to write and btw I haven’t had Covid yet – touch wood-and the symptoms are different for everyone so I would be interested. Take it from someone who would love more time with their children at the moment – it’s precious time. Look for the beauty – it’s there. I hope you have a very mild case.
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Well, yes, but also I’m alone all day. Eli just walked in from work and the phone rang and his boss asked him to do something more. I’m having a nice day. Moving at a slow pace, reading and blogging like I’ve got all the time in the world.
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Sounds lovely, enjoy the pocket in time – any symptoms at all?
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Yes, sniffles, cough, achy hip joints. It’s all mild. Susan just asked me if I wanted to go for a walk and I said yes, and then reconsidered after doing some light clean up. So not great, but hardly worth complaining about.
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Speedy recovery hopefully Jeff.
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Hoping for only mild symptoms Jeff. Keep us updated 🙂
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Thanks. I hope to blog daily this week to keep myself occupied.
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So sorry to read this news, Jeff! I hope it’s a relatively gentle annoyance for you (and your family), and that there are some unexpected bright spots coming within this week. What a fortunate hunch you had in picking up those books of stories! I hope that you have a peaceful time of it this week. Sending my best to all of you.
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I’m really enjoying this first book of stories I’m reading. They really seem like they are written just for me.
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Yes! I have placed a hold on “Geek Love” at my local library and look forward to picking it up soon.
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Hope I haven’t steered you wrong.
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My wife asked, ‘What are you laughing to yourself about?’ and I had to admit to being amused by the thought of sending a message saying, ‘Wishing you a very mild Covid, Jeff’ and then seeing how common this wish now is. Not funny really. (Maybe I’m coming down with something: I hope it’s mild).
Anyway, I do hope you all get through this with the optimum mix of symptoms, say a nice balance of mild suffering, achievement and pleasure.
Kind regards
DD
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Ugh. I hope it turns out to be an inconvenience for you and your family … and nothing more.
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Well, that sucks! I’m one of those who, so far, hasn’t had covid. Unless I did, but without symptoms. But I’m such a recluse, I’m pretty sure I haven’t.
I hope your symptoms are mild and, in the end, your isolation is more of a welcome respite than a battle with symptoms. Bonus for us, your readers – more posts!
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Heal up quick, and am glad you’re only experiencing mild symptoms. Read! Blog! You really do have all the time in the world! What a luxury! 😉
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Ha, the luxury of covid! It’s a strange new world.
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Oh, dear, Jeff. I’m sorry you’ve picked up Covid. I’m glad your symptoms seem mild, though. Hopefully, the rest of your family will escape it, or if they do get it, it will only be as mild as yours. I was going to say I’m the only person I know who hasn’t had it, but then I read your other readers’ comments and found many others have not had it either. I’ve been double-jabbed and boosted, so I’m simply keeping my fingers crossed it stays that way. I’m glad you’ve got things planned to do, but don’t overexert yourself if your breathing is a bit tight. Just as well you got those books when you did. You must have known there was a reason to buy them at the time.
Spring cleaning the basement is an anathema to me. I’m not sure what your basement is like, but my Mum’s was a dark hole with broken concrete steps going down into it, large, bare electric cables hanging from the ceilings (a death trap), rising damp and spiders, cobwebs and the like in every inch of the place. I was terrified of the place! Perhaps, (I hope) your basement is different if you’re considering spring cleaning it. I think you should save your energy, relax a little, enjoy reading, and blog now that you have some time (you wanted to write more, didn’t you, although I daresay you didn’t think you’d get Covid to achieve that). I wish you (and your family) well and hope that your symptoms (and theirs if they catch it) are as mild as yours seem to be at the minute. Take care and take it easy.
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Actually, my basement is pretty nice. It’s one of the reasons why we bought the house. When our kids were little we were down there all the time. Now it’s just to do laundry or to fetch a tool from the workbench. I was terrified of the basement when I was a kid and I still have dreams of it being haunted. I just got my 2nd booster a couple of weeks ago and I have to assume that is why my symptoms are so mild. My prior shot was in December. Probably not many of those antibodies still in my system. All in all things are going well. I just went for a walk around my block. I didn’t feel great, but no one needed to come pick me up in a car either. 🙂
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I’ve had a cold for a week and half. The first one since COVID arrived in our lives. I’ve done the home COVID test three times; all negative. Rest seems like the only solution, so there’s a nap on the way this afternoon.
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Ooh, feel better Brian. Glad you’re covid negative, although my experience hasn’t been bad at all.
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Well, here’s what I missed. We’ve all had our run-ins with the virus, except for Bob. My legs ached too. I always freak out too when I use my Wordle too early. Do you Quordle? It is the same idea but you have four games at once and you get nine attempts to solve all four words. They have the option for practice games too. So, when I have some extra minutes I do practice games to stay busy – and I think the whole game is just fun. It is a win/win!
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I’ve never tried quordle, it seems like too much going on at once. I’ll give it a try tomorrow. I definitely have some time to kill. One thing I really like about wordle is that I share it with my kids. One day last week, sophie called me at work looking for a hint.
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I do the Wordle with the kids too. Sometimes we will have a “Wordle War.” We count to three and then start the Wordle at the same time. First one done wins. (I am currently the undefeated champ 🙂 ).
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