COVID-19 Chronicles: I’d Rather Have Leprosy

Leprosy is treatable with antibiotics and 95% of humans are immune

Bubonic plague is another good one, can also treat that with antibiotics, only has an 11% fatality rate with treatment, only about 1000 people a year get it now

The good old days, when terrifying diseases were bacterial, not viral

Two weeks ago, there were a few days when I was pretty sure I was going to die

Made myself laugh a little one day when I realized what a relief it would be if a doctor told me I had two months to live

Heck, ONE month

I told my husband, at least if I had cancer they could try chemo, radiation, or surgery

He was a little mad because he had face cancer six months after his mom died of lymphoma

But he didn’t really have a rebuttal

Hard to argue with a COVID patient, stress me out I might have heart palpitations again and stroke out

Tomorrow will be three weeks that I’ve been sick, my friend has been down for a month

We have “mild” cases, lucky us!

When we hear the word “mild” we think of picnic weather or the nice green salsa

Not being sick for three weeks, too weak to use a can opener

What does ‘almost fainted’ mean anyway? *eye roll*

It means you get up to use the bathroom, walk six steps across the room, head rush, knees buckle, grab the doorframe and hang on it like you’re riding the subway for a few minutes

Then carry on with your day

Like I said, mild symptoms

See a lot of people complaining about being on “quarantine,” let me clarify

If you’re on quarantine, sorry honey, hope you feel better soon

If you are not sick and nobody in your household is sick and none of you have been exposed

You’re just isolating

Not to be picky or anything

True, I don’t spend my time worrying about disinfecting my shoes or making sure my mask is on right

I haven’t worn shoes in three weeks, technically not allowed outside but it doesn’t matter, I’m too ill to go anywhere

I’m sure you miss your family and you want to see your friends

If I saw any of my friends or family at the door right now I would burst into tears, GET OUT, what are you doing here??

I have no idea how long I will be contagious, let’s just say I’m on the cutting edge of the research here

Things are going well, I’m still here, no ambulance ride, no hospital, no coma, etc

I missed most of the worst symptoms, no fever, no vomiting or diarrhea, no sore throat, no chest cough

If it weren’t for the trouble breathing or the heart palpitations I’d be fine

Looking back, I probably should have gone to the hospital, it was probably a bad judgment call

What was going through my mind? We had just been to the ER back in January and we sat there for 7 hours, that was long before COVID

I figured if we actually got our stuff together I would have to somehow get down to the street, wait for a ride share, that seemed very unfair, then hang around urgent care for who knew how long

In the time of my distress I felt that it would be easier for me to ride out the worst symptoms at home on my couch than to go out in the cold, sit in a room with fifty other people mixing viral loads

Results, I was probably right, at least my breathing did get better

And after a few more days the heart palpitations did pass

Now I’m a bit worried that this thing may be more insidious than I realized

Three weeks have gone by and I still have issues, still sick, I have gotten fully dressed once (two days ago) and I had to lie down afterward to catch my breath, that was without socks or shoes

Doubt I could successfully blow-dry my hair right now

I’m lucky, though, I’m in a great situation compared to my friend who is still sick

She lives alone, had to take care of herself

Her apartment is much smaller than ours, no kitchen, just a mini fridge, bar sink, and a microwave

Her landlady chewed her out for getting so many food deliveries

That woman literally had her house remodeled to add this apartment, knows exactly how it is laid out, also knows my friend has been sick with coronavirus

No pity

Didn’t offer to do a single thing for her, even though they share a street address, our landlord brought us masks and offered to pick up our groceries or anything we needed, not this woman

I think she is probably just very scared that she and her family will get sick and wishes she could kick my friend out

But on the other hand, she is still employed and still paying her rent, rock-solid tenant for years, they would never get anyone else in there now

(Do landlords have to disclose if a COVID patient was sick or died in the unit? Probably not. Even if it was just a couple days ago though??)

We’d invite her to come stay with us but

One-bedroom, 650 square feet, not practical to have three people WFH in here

Much less, could we reinfect each other?

This situation is probably going to come up for more people in the next few months

Balance between rent collection & tenant infection, hey, it rhymes

Eventually someone is going to snap, sure evictions are on hold but some roommate situations are pretty dodgy

Family with nowhere else to go, other housemates or neighbors at the door, arms crossed over their chests, not in this house you don’t, step back

The huge irony here is all the homeless people and prisoners who got exposed in the worst possible conditions, nobody cared, they may wind up in the survivor elite with antibodies

Earlier than everyone else

Might suddenly start looking like... assets

Sounds like Black Mirror until you read up on the history of yellow fever in the southern US

In the meantime, I’m one of the lucky ones, got my hubby sick but only for a few days, he is still employed and churning overtime, we have insurance and plenty of food, people have offered to help us out and get us anything we need

Positive and thinking positive!