If you haven’t heard already, I have COVID. Or at least I am
still COVID positive. I feel fine. In fact, I am starting to feel like my old
self, even if I am still in isolation because I haven’t as yet received a
negative result when tested.
So, the timeline for all this is that on the evening of June
29th, I had heartburn so bad I was coughing. On the morning of June
30th, I considered calling in sick because I was coughing so much,
but by the time I needed to leave for work, I had everything in control, and I
figured it was fine.
Wrong!
By the end of my shift, I went home and took some cough
syrup. By Friday morning, July 1st, I knew I was sick. I had to call
my friend at the visitors’ center and tell her I couldn’t make it. By Saturday
morning, my oxygen levels were dropping and temp rising.
Now keep in mind this was a holiday weekend. I did try to contact some friends for help, but all I got was voice mail. I finally decided to
drive myself to the emergency room.
I let the staff know what I did know about my condition, from
my oxygen levels and temp to the fact that I was coughing up phlegm. (Having a
nurse for a stepmother, I know that anything other than clear spelled a problem.)
I had hoped at this point, that it was just a chest cold, after
all, I got all the vaccines and I’d been COVID-free all this time. At one
point, Konnie panicked because for a while there my humble little hometown was
the hotbed of COVID activity in the area.
I kept reassuring her that all my friends avoided me when
they were sick. They are fully aware I’m high risk. My age, my heart condition,
and my asthma individually put me there. To be honest, I’m lucky I’ve lasted
this long. I have a friend who has suffered through three different variants.
So, I took myself to the hospital, tested positive, and was
admitted.
Great. I have a cat. A cat that needed to be fed. And I hadn’t as
yet managed to contact anyone for assistance.
Then there was the problem of informing my two closest
family members, both of whom tend to panic. Konnie is at least sensible enough
that I could call her directly and let her know. Her panic was mild in comparison
to my sister-in-law. I knew I couldn’t call her. I called our shared home
health aide.
Bre is a good kid, and very nice. She told Shirley, and she
also retrieved my spare keys from my neighbor and fed Patches, on her own time
mind you. Great kid actually, because tending my cat is something she isn’t
supposed to do. But she wasn’t on the clock, and she volunteered.
She also managed to calm Shirley down which is the best part
of contacting her.
The worst part was because of all the vulnerable clients she
has, she can’t come back here until I’m COVID negative.
It didn’t help any all this happened just days before my 60th
birthday. Okay, yeah, mine and Konnie’s. The difference being, even if she were
COVID positive at that time (which she wasn’t), she’d still have been at home
with most of her family for company.
I, on the other, have Patches.
I’ve had some pretty bad birthdays over the years, but I’d
have to say this one was the worst. I was miserable. I was still miserable a
week later.
I kept trying to get back to work, but all my test kept
coming back positive. I retest this Friday yet again, and I hope I’ll finally be negative since I finally feel like my old self.
But at this point, I’ve missed a ton of work.
And the missed pay aside, I couldn’t have fallen sick at a
worse time, right when quarterly reports are due. My boss had been looking
forward to getting them done promptly for once now that she had me to
help. Best laid plans and all. Life can throw some curveballs.
She on the other hand worried about me missing pay more than
how far she was getting behind without me to help.
Last Friday, she decided to look into the possibility
of me working from home. It took some doing and talking with her higher-ups,
let alone setting up my computer with the right program but yesterday we
finally got me set up to work from home. Hopefully, it will just be for this
week.
Anyway, I now have plenty of fodder for a pandemic story.
Happy writing everyone!
