We both tested negative today, but it ain't over.
Well, it's been over a month for me, and nearly a month for Mr. See, and we both seem to be on the mend from CoVid. It is weird getting sick - you can't really describe the misery in a few words. When I got gout many years ago, it felt like a red-hot 40d nail being driven through my foot. Not hard to understand the pain level or what it felt like.
With diverticulitis, it was like someone stabbing you in the gut with a linoleum knife and then slashing it back-and-forth deep within your bowels. You literally cried from the pain and cried out. You get the picture - pain, sharp and intense.
Being sick, well, that's different. CoVid will make you cry, but it is not sharp pain, just a general level of misery which in some ways seems far worse. Worse yet is the prospect of it getting worse and putting you in the hospital or possibly killing you. And there is no real treatment, other than cold and flu medicine. I had to beg to get the Paxlovid medication - which either worked, or the placebo effect is stronger than we think. Or, it could be the sickness was on the wane anyway. Who knows?
The only real sharp pain I experienced was during a set of coughing fits which induced migraine headaches that lasted about 20 minutes or so (Mini-strokes? Who knows?). The rest of the time, it was a steady feeling of unwellness. But in a way, it was worse than the sharp pains of Gout and Diverticulitis.
I suppose the worst was trying to sleep during the coughing fits - I finally tried sleeping sitting up (and I mean UP as in upright) which I did only because the body eventually falls asleep, even standing up, even when driving a car (BTDT!). I found sleeping on my stomach seemed to work, particularly when the coughing relented somewhat.
But that was last week. Now, I sit here surrounded by cold medicines and think, "What were those for? Might as well put those away!"
So we are "well" but not well. We both feel different than before and are not quite the same as before. Mark seems a little short-tempered these days - often barking orders at me. I am probably the same way. We are both still tired and weak. We both have occasional coughs and congestion - but then again, allergy season is off to a helluva start this year - is this long CoVid or just another season of yellow pollen?
Mark has been getting dizzy and one reader reports a friend can no longer drive a car because of vertigo. That is a scary thought. Myself, it is just this coughing thing, which according to some sites can go on as long as six months while the lungs try to heal themselves.
They say this knocks a year off your life and I have no trouble believing it. Life expectancy in the US has dropped by more than a year - thanks to CoVid and Opiates. Some fun!
I mentioned before that the Long, Long CoVid may be affecting all of us - and the world in general. Some of my friends in the medical field are resigned to the fact that, statistically speaking, everyone may end up getting CoVid in the long run, as new variations and varieties continually mutate and adapt. All it takes is one contact and you've got it. And this Omicron variety seems to be particularly virulent. So, my apologies, if you haven't had CoVid - it is like riding motorcycles. There are two kinds of motorcyclists: those who have been an accident and those that will be. Which kind of CoVid person are you?
But seriously, I wonder how this will affect our lives (shorten them) and our thinking (more bizarre) going down the road. And by that, I don't mean just us, but the world in general. It seems the world was going off the rails before CoVid, but since then, people are doubling down on crazy, often using CoVid as a theme of their craziness - to the point of denying it even exists! Let me tell you, it exists and you don't want it.
Or maybe something else will happen. I noted before that pain focuses the mind - when you are in severe pain or illness, suddenly a lot of stupid shit in your life seems pointless. Chasing status? How about chasing wellness? Your life starts to become more intimate and immediate. You care less about what the neighbor's think and care more about not being in pain, even for a minute or two.
Maybe people will think more about what is important in life as a result - and turn away from the circus sideshow that is "the news" and social media and Tucker Carlson and "Fox News Alerts!" and realize that was is really important in their lives is their lives and not the "greater issues at stake" and the latest "crises" manufactured by politicians (like, say, "the debt ceiling").
I would hope so, but then again.....Nah! I know all too well as a youth how I would drink to excess and then spend the evening "praying to the porcelain God" and begging God to make the nausea go away and promise never, ever, EVER again to drink even a drop of vile liquor. Of course, the next day, I was right back to drinking again. That's how humans work.
So, while the pain and discomfort of CoVid may be temporarily sobering (pardon the pun) I suspect that a lot of anti-vaxxers will go right back to anti-vaxxing (however you do that as a verb) once modern medicine cures them of their stupidity - temporarily. And yes, there are records of people who refused the CoVid vaccine and got sick (more than once) and hospitalized (ditto) and eventually died after the umpteenth time, never learning a damn thing.
There is one thing I take away from this, though - sell your stocks in liquor, wine, and beer companies. We have a refrigerator full of wine and a liquor cabinet full of booze, and no desire in either of us to have any of it. Maybe this too, shall pass, in a week or so. But if not, it does not bode well for the booze industry.
