COVID-19 Chronicles: Special Delivery

Woke up this morning

Seriously, you tend to notice that more, moment of clarity each and every morning, Wow, I made it, 45 seconds of stillness before Symptom O the Day pops up

Two very rough nights, barely sleeping at all, doctor says I have a lung infection and I certainly believe him, this is the worst my chest has felt for the duration, or, well, ever

Check email, all the labs came in, very funny moment when I discovered they had tested me for treponema pallidum, they thought it’s more likely I somehow picked up syphilis than complications of COVID, snort, have it your way doctor

Imagine that, all panels NORMAL, good to know but again, probably more expensive to do full nutrition work-up than start with assumption that coronavirus is romping around in there

Didn’t occur to me right away, but nobody checked my temperature, pulse, blood pressure or did any kind of swab, no stethoscope, no ordinary steps of doctor checkup, don’t blame them, I don’t want to touch me either

Doctor emailed back about chest x-ray, “peribronchial thickening,” did not mention COVID, prescribed azithromycin, consistent with news reports

I wonder if my friends got amoxicillin because azithromycin is in short supply? Or some other reason? They got 10 days, I get 5, whoa! Big cannonball

New complication, how to get them pills

Pharmacy 3 miles away, for regular people, COVID pharmacy back across town, hour round trip, twice in 18 hours, no thank you, I am tired, also lovely friend is working

Can’t send hubby or nice friend to normal pharmacy, they are screening over there, both still QT, do not want to wait several days for mail, especially over weekend

Hmm. Who can I bother for this favor?

ADVICE: Follow along, think out your delivery options in your friend group now before you need to, hard to think straight when you are ill, also be kind and think who you would do this for

Thinking through, almost everyone who offered to help me is either working, doing childcare, OR BOTH, or over 60

Scrolling through text messages, reading friends’ names, oh dear

Aha! Realized our dog walker friend would totally do it, check if she is in town, if not her then another couple of self-employed friends with no kids

Meanwhile I am sacked out like a jellyfish, if a jellyfish was on fire inside

Got arrangements made, you’re a lifesaver, also I will pay you for your time, took her an hour, then they couldn’t even find my stuff, this is like the plot of Balto complete with faithful canine companions

Precious little white bag, never thought a $9 antibiotic would feel more impressive than a new iPhone, or a gold brick, no 20th century without antibiotics though, don’t agree fight me

Maybe later

Took two, had been fighting nap waiting for sled dogs, crashed out for an hour, I believe sleep helps healing and helps any kind of medicine do its work in peace

Woke up dizzy, bonking, feeling wildly ill and disoriented, head spinning

Got up, made it from bed to couch, hubby asking, How are you feeling? Don’t look so good

Made me a big ol’ sandwich and I started pulling myself together

Realized chest was actually feeling better, okay, did not think doctor believed me but it looks like he was right about the antibiotic, even one dose seems to have helped

Now the impossible: pull my socks up, promises to keep, werewolf woman on camera in a few hours, big event of the season

Oh lord

A hundred people looking forward to seeing living proof that it is possible to survive coronavirus, they need this, spokesmodel time

This would probably be much more convincing in 5 more days

Come on modern medicine, I need a miracle, okay, second choice, cosmetics

Took me two hours to shower, take break, get dressed, take break, dry hair, take break

Approx half gallon of spackle and mascara

When you see someone looking camera ready, now you know, that person may in fact have a lung infection, surprise

Hello everybody!

Did my role, C+ job, doing okay then truly stupid technical glitch, embarrassed myself, feeling like I got unfair credit for being an invalid, swoop in like a seagull and get credit for everyone else’s weeks of hard work

Then I remember how much everyone needs distractions right now, bits of normality, how much we need each other and to see smiling faces of friends

Rapidly started decompensating, started with hands shaking, oh dear I think I’m running a fever, lungs burning again, had to take a break

Then my sinuses started to explode again, had to keep turning camera off to have sneezing fits, face getting red, having a tough time sitting up, almost done

Made it to the end like a professional, how often are performers doing this? Putting on a show with flu or food poisoning or migraine or sprained ankle, I bet all the time

Everyone applauded for me, made me cry, this is what I always wanted, to motivate and inspire

The Girl Who Lived

Something bigger than just myself, triumph of human spirit, humanity will beat this alien trash, total waste of carbon that is coronavirus, we will do this together

Remember that we love each other, can’t do this alone, join hands my friends