This is an update detailing my recovery from a Covid infection.
This will likely be the final update. I am mostly recovered.
After two days of 'real world' activity, I don't feel as though there is anything left to honestly cover. I am going about my day as I normally would. There is some ever-so-slight slowness in my morning routine but is it from Covid or just from normal circumstances? It's hard to say.
About the only aspect left that needs to recover is my voice. Speaking is not painful but my voice doesn't have the clarity or endurance that it would normally have. Since my job does not involve extensive speaking, I'm not overly concerned. Incidental coughing has also occurred but has also diminished; I liken that this symptom will disappear reasonably soon.
Should any new symptoms pop up or something continues to linger (hopefully not!), I will add another entry into this thread.
Otherwise, from the time of significant onset of symptoms to the time where I felt as though I could 'return' to normal activities was from Friday noontime (If I'm being honest with myself, maybe a little sooner than that) to Wednesday morning: About 4.5 days.
I can not stress this enough - There was significant cost to those days where I was sick. This was not "free time" and it was not stress-free. I don't want people looking at what happened to me and thinking, 'Only 4.5 days? That doesn't sound too bad.' Remember that I was fully vaccinated and didn't have to care for others. I had paid time off for all of those days.
Wear an N95 mask in public
Get vaccinated
Limit your social obligations
This virus is not over and there's no indication that it will be over soon. Stay safe.
Here is my daily update on my recovery from Covid.
There is no way to create "spoiler"-type text in these posts. Therefore, let me issue a warning right now that this entry will get into "Too Much Information" territory. However, I want to continue to stress that a Covid infection is not without it's hazards and if illustrating all such hazards causes people in order to shift to healthier habits, then writing about such things will have served it's purpose.
Let's talk about bowel movements.
When your eating schedule goes out the window, so too does your bowel movement schedule as well.
From Friday afternoon until this morning, I hadn't had a bowel movement. That, by itself, didn't particularly concern me. When you're only eating 40-50% of your normal caloric intake (and doing no exercising as well ALONG WITH BEING SICK WITH COVID), I fully expected that schedule to vanish.
When it did re-emerge, the best that I could describe it in euphemistic terms is "semi-explosive semi-diarrhea." Under normal circumstances, I would've been concerned. However, if anything, I was pleased that the plumbing still worked at all.
Writing about plumbing, I have been amazed at how little that I have been urinating. This despite the fact that I feel as though I've drank a gallon of water within the last 24 hours in a consistent series of tiny little sips. Again, I'm not too bothered by such things as I'm afflicted with Covid and who knows what machinations are occurring that is leading my body to pass up relieving itself despite the water intake. And, to be certain, I know the hazards about drinking too much water.
My throat is constantly irritated to the point where I have rediscovered the joys of cough medicine. The mere act of swallowing is irritable except for about the first two hours after taking the cough medicine. I am definitely going to adjust my routine to include more if for this evening.
Sleeping remains a concern. I'm not certain how much sleep I've gotten from Friday afternoon onward but I highly doubt that it has been enough. I do not feel tired, though, so that's a positive.
Meals continue to be light but growing in size. I'm not forcing myself to finish anything but my appetite continues to be indifferent. Lunches are closest to a normal size and those are eaten without difficulty.
I continue to force myself to walk and move about. Mornings are the worst but I quickly improve. Can I lightly jog? Only if absolutely forced and only for a few moments. Otherwise, I am shuffling about at maybe half my normal walking speed (and even that might be a generous assessment). At least I'm walking, though.
Christmas plans have been called off; There's simply no point in holding festivities when the family is in various stages of recovery. With all due respect with the religious aspect of Christmas, it is best to celebrate when there's something more local and measurable to celebrate.
I understand if you are different. If anything, I would be glad if you were infected and not dealing with the symptoms that I have been experiencing. What I am experiencing may be "mild" as compared to being hooked to a ventilator but it is not "mild" when compared to a normal, daily routine.
I hope that these posts are encouraging people to re-double their efforts in preventing Covid.
WEAR AN N95 MASK IN PUBLIC.
GET VACCINATED.
LIMIT YOUR SOCIAL INTERACTIONS.
I look forward to the day when I don't have to make these posts. Until then, stay as safe as you can.