Once Bitten is Enough!

As I mentioned on my most recent “Viernes,” I finally got bit by the COVID-19 bug. It took four years, and I never want it again!

I’d been masked pretty much 100% of the time in stores or any time I was in a place with a crowd, which was seldom. As we’ve all read, masks are an effective way to avoid COVID-19, but they’re not 100%; especially if one is in an unmasked crowd of sickly people and one’s mask maybe isn’t fitting well. I found myself at a few crowded stores during the week while masked and it seems someone else’s viral load got me. And probably through a failing mask since I don’t recall being unmasked with anyone whose been infected and that just bothers me to no end!

[Note: The local viral load in the wastewater has been high lately, so it’s everywhere right now.]

Thankfully, after reading and hearing about various friend’s tough battles, I am relieved that my own was mild. Maybe too mild. Perhaps it’s because I was masked. Perhaps because I was well-vaccinated. But what started as a tickle in my throat turned into a cough and stuffy nose within a few days. Luckily, I’m one of those who tests whenever I find myself in these kinds of situations because I have others for whom to worry about in my family. So, when I tested and the 2nd red line appeared quickly, I retested. And the news was still the same. Because of testing, I feel I caught it early enough to give it a good fight.

Having spent some time with family over the weekend before my positive test, I made the tough calls to inform them. Thankfully, we’d been distanced most of the weekend–even when eating in the kitchen. Still, one of my sisters is immunocompromised and the 14 days of testing to ensure she caught it early if I did infect her were nerve-wracking for my family. Thankfully, she and my bro-in-law tested negative. Still, the feelings of guilt haven’t waned for me, though my family tells me to relax. I feel horrible for threatening the health of my family. And I’m angry that the vast majority of people treat this as a common cold, rather than the pandemic that still exists. I’ve stopped treating anything as common.

Unfortunately, I did manage to infect one of my sisters, since I spend lots of time with her in the car during our commute. In this case, it was inevitable, I guess. Thankfully, both our cases were mild and quite similar with low-grade fevers, slight headaches, cough, and congestion. Maybe for the same reason of being vax’d and testing.

After I tested positive, I contacted my doc-on-a-laptop who sent a script for Paxlovid. Within the first dose, I started feeling better. I had a fever for a few hours as I waited for the script, then was normal soon after and it remained normal. My sis started Paxlovid after she tested positive a couple of days later with similar results.

The problem with Paxlovid is that after you’ve done the five days, there is a good chance, which seems to be increasing according to studies, of having a rebound. What I’ve learned is that Paxlovid gets out of one’s system the day after the final dose. So, there isn’t much fight against the virus soon after if the Paxlovid didn’t rid you of it. It suppressed it and perhaps made it less likely that symptoms would get serious, even with a rebound. And I’m fine with that.

So, for 2 to 8 days and a bit longer, one is waiting to see if the symptoms return or if maybe a positive test happens. I managed to continue testing negative, but I had a strange feeling since I had not gotten rid of the sinus congestion; if anything, I felt like I had a sinus infection. Unfortunately, my sister did have a rebound test result, with no other symptoms. So, we continued with constant fluids, constant temp taking, Mucinex, Saline to wash out sinuses, etc. She finally tested negative after a couple of days of rebound and my negative tests have continued, and the sinus infection seems mostly gone.

Pro-Tip: If you get COVID-19, get a saline nasal mist, or a Neti Pot, to wash out your sinuses. Do it early, much like getting the Paxlovid. Nothing is a cure, but washing out the virus may help reduce symptoms, along with the Paxlovid. Cough and congestion meds help manage the process, too.

Whether what remained in our nostrils was dead virus that may no longer have been contagious, or it was the real thing, the rebound did cause some feelings of frustration. The fact that congestion and sinusitis still exist doesn’t make me feel “safe” to visit my other family members right now. If/when I do, there will still be distancing, there will still be masks, and there will be uneasiness because that’s how this bout with COVID-19 has left me. I already had a lack of trust of people based on the COVID-19 parties I still see on the Facebook!

And then there’s the constant thoughts of what damage the virus has done to my own organs, etc. We cannot forget that it is an inflammatory disease that can mess your brain, lungs, your heart, and your gut. So, any uneasy sickly feeling freaks me out nowadays.

I wish I was like others who don’t think twice about returning to “life” after infection, but there are a lot of reasons to worry; especially if one has immunocompromised family members. I do credit my ability to fight off this disease quickly to having lost some serious pounds and having taken on a healthier lifestyle of better eating and exercise. So, I guess there’s that. I just need to keep at it, while also continuing masking and staying away from crowds and people. It is still about keeping those around me safe. And if people don’t like me wearing a mask, que se vayan mucho a la chin-…anyway.

Keep masking. Stay safe. Don’t get sick.