Woke up around 3 AM and I was pretty sure that this time I was really going to die
It wasn’t so much that I couldn’t breathe as that the breathing I was doing was very hot and wrong, my lungs, my chest Thought about getting up to call an ambulance Wished I had not Googled “peribronchial thickening” before bed, better not to have a visual of what was going on in there Got up to use bathroom and try to go back to sleep again, thinking reinforcing thoughts about the azithromycin while also worrying how I was going to get through the next 9 hours before I could take the second dose Fitful sleep, snapped awake again at 6 am, lay on my stomach to read for an hour or so Then I managed to fall back asleep, not underworld visit like the last few days but an actual deep, peaceful nap, woke up feeling so much better, okay, trust in this widely used antibiotic Hubby hadn’t slept well at all for two days, was starting to feel ill, I talked him into taking a Unisom and he conked out until nearly 1 pm, I actually went in to make sure he was still breathing So birdie and I had the morning together to read quietly, like old times except my lungs feel like they belong to an old man who smokes cigars around a bonfire made of burning tires Reading, greatest pleasure of my life, I am finally at a point when I can focus and follow a plot again! Hubby got up, we both laughed, he’s a 6 am guy and always has been Perfect timing, lovely friend texted just then to invite us to get COVID tests together, fun friend outing We each had to register separately, they offer maybe 50 time slots per hour, get confirmation # Shower and get ready, still so tired I need to lie down after, ironic that proving your need for medical treatment is so physically demanding Get dressed! Bend over and put on shoes! Carry bag! Walk tens of feet! Stand for minutes at a time! Talk to several people! Open pill bottles! Hubby and I left apartment together for first time in a month, opportunity to run robot vacuum without listening to it, in the old days on a Saturday we would be going to movie theater Walked down stairs to street level, trying to avoid elevator, conscientious By the time we got down there, one minute, I was in a flop sweat, nauseated, shaky, sat on planter box Friend pulled up, we piled in, like old times except all in masks like bank robbers Chattering and joking about news, trading gossip Turns out, out of the Virus Brunch cluster, 16 exposed (14 adults 2 kids), 12 people total infected, 5 tested positive, no others got tests, today will make 8 tests Place your bets, out of the three of us, will we all get the same results? Or not? Who will get which? Drove over to testing site, in past times I would have considered walking to it, on bus route that only comes once an hour, don’t think they allow walk-in coronavirus testing Couldn’t find it at first, expecting big line of cars, we were the only vehicle! County is paying for tests, trying to get anyone with symptoms to go through, cheek swab, they could probably do them in the mail except not sanitary There were three separate ID checkpoints, driving around maze of cones set up for at least 30 cars at a time, “when we finish we’ll all have our driver’s licenses renewed too” Watched 4-minute explainer video, make yourself cough several times, open sealed swab packet, 10 seconds each cheek, 10 seconds roof of mouth, don’t eat or drink anything for an hour ahead of time Put swab in vial with liquid, snap off end of swab, screw top back on vial, shake it, put in bag Procedure had changed from video, apparently people have sloppy handwriting, tech was there to fill out labels, one day this will all be app based, no touch, test vending machine or robot Dangerous for a person to do, that poor woman standing in the sun in bunny suit and gloves sweating everywhere When we were done and sealed, handed bags to another tech to drop in big trash can Results in a few days, phone call for positive, email for negative Hubby realized his was red from drink he had earlier, now we know, all three of us will have different results: Yes, No, Cherry Had hoped testing site would offer both swab & antibody test, that is probably too complicated, antibody tests not standardized, huge relief not to get nasal swab On the drive back we saw several groups of happy young people, one the boys had their masks hanging loose off their faces by one ear loop, another group only one of three kids had one, no distancing, are they siblings?? Drive-thru surfboard shop doing brisk business, beaches open next two counties down, our town has $1000 fine for surfing although some might be willing to pay it Watching all this with lungful of fire and brimstone, smoke coming out my ears Now we have a choice ahead of us. If the three of us all have matching tests, can we quaranteam? If we all test negative then it seems fair, although antibody tests would help If we all test positive then is there a reason not to? Saw in the news, poor young woman in quarantine 60 days, feels fine but keeps swabbing positive We were all exposed, can this be true, 6 weeks ago?? Lovely friend and I have been quite ill for weeks, hubby has been sharing my bed all this time, hard to imagine we could expose each other any worse than we already have done, but then I am the weak link here, only one of the 12 in our cluster who still has symptoms By the time we get our results I will be done with my course of antibiotics, very hard to tell what happens next except that I sure hope I feel better than I do right now If you haven’t noticed, every week has a whole new set of rules, new world each time, your guess is as good as mine Comments are closed.
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AuthorI've been working with chronic disorganization, squalor, and hoarding for over 20 years. I'm also a marathon runner who was diagnosed with fibromyalgia and thyroid disease 17 years ago. This website uses marketing and tracking technologies. Opting out of this will opt you out of all cookies, except for those needed to run the website. Note that some products may not work as well without tracking cookies. Opt Out of CookiesArchives
January 2022
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