Yep, I finally got COVID and it was a rough ride, folks. After nearly two and a half years of dodging the bullet, a weekend trip did me in. Was it as bad as I thought it would be? Worse? Today I want to outline my experience with COVID, from the onset of symptoms to my (hopeful) recovery.
Cautious To A Fault
When COVID hit I was working in a high-contact environment: retail management. As a District Manager I had to deal with everything that COVID brought, and I mean everything. It was scary for everyone, and I made sure that I did everything I could to help people feel safe and comfortable while still coming to work as “essential workers”. I was the first to wear a mask, despite the looks it got me the first time I walked into a store. I made sure to sanitize my hands all the time, even keeping small bottles in my bag and in my car for visits between stores.
I saw so many employees go out with COVID, and at that time it was for the full 14-day quarantine. Every day it seemed like I had to make another round of calls to employees, informing them that one of their coworkers tested positive and that they may have been exposed. Thanks to my obsession with staying clean and sanitized, though, I was able to avoid COVID entirely. My wife and I did a good job of keeping our family healthy as seemingly everyone around us came down with the ‘Rona.
When the vaccine came out I was in the hospital to get my first dose the day it was available, with the second dose being administered right on time. My wife did the same and we felt good! Now that the pandemic has faded from focus, everyone has let their guard down – and up until now it wasn’t an issue. Until the Family Reunion my daughter, brother, and I went to this last weekend, that is.
COVID Reunions Are The Worst
FAMILY reunions, on the other hand, are amazing. It’s so great to catch up with loved ones that I haven’t seen in a long time. This reunion was the first I’d been to in about 5 years, and it was a major part of my gift to my daughter for her 9th birthday (flying to Seattle is insanely expensive, guys). Leading up to this reunion, everything seemed to be set up for success. Travel plans were locked in, the kiddo was pumped to travel with Dad, and we had a great weather forecast for our days in the mountains. Our hosts even mentioned that they thought people should get tested before coming, and that they tested negative just to be sure. To be clear, I tested negative before going.
There are always one or two people that skirt common sense though, aren’t there? I can’t say whether the people that told us they tested positive at 7am the morning after the main day of the reunion knew they were feeling off when they were with us, but man did they bring the pain with them. Based on what I heard from other family members, these cool cats can add a Super Spreader merit badge (TM) to their Scouts uniforms.
The Symptoms Came Slowly
I wasn’t sure how everything would pan out – I’m a really healthy and vaccinated, and it took 4 days for me to feel even the slightest headache. When it came, I thought that might be it – I dodged the bullet, go healthy lifestyle! There was also serious digestive upset, which I assumed was due to the piece of pizza I’d eaten over the weekend. Those optimistic thoughts came to a screeching halt the following night, though, when my lower back became uncomfortable and I wasn’t able to focus on the movie my wife and I were watching. I asked her to stop the movie so I could go to sleep. This wound up being one of the worst nights of my life.
COVID Symptoms: Ludicrous Speed, GO!
To start, I had a fever of around 103 and couldn’t stop sweating. I’d expect that with any high fever, but what I didn’t expect was the smell coming from my body. Sweet Jesus, the smell – it was like a mixture of metal, chemicals, and rot. Even as the person that was sick, I knew very well how terrible this was to be around.
I woke up every 15 minutes to my body twitching uncontrollably. The muscles in my legs would spasm, and I had to get up and hop around to stop them – but this would start a new wave of chills, as my body was drenched in sweat and the air felt unbearably cold on my feverish skin. I’d get back under the covers, only to immediately overheat and want to jump up again to cool off. Add on to this the fact that my neck and back hurt to the degree that it felt like I’d just been in a car crash and you have a general feeling of what I was going through. Every 15 minutes.
I wound up going through this for about 36 hours straight. My wife brought me chicken noodle soup three times throughout, which was all I was able to eat. As the twitching began to subside, the pain my body felt got much louder. I found that the bed I love to sleep in was too soft, causing serious lower back pain regardless of my sleeping position. So I’d get up every couple of hours and head to a couch, trying to sleep on surfaces of a different hardness to dull the pain. I wound up sleeping on 3 different couches before settling for the hard (glorious) floor.
Throughout this time I would take hot baths (the idea of standing for the shower was far too exhausting), which no joke was one of the best feelings I think I’ve ever felt. Something about the full-body warmth with jacuzzi jets on was just so therapeutic amid the disaster that my body was feeling. This comfort was short-lived, however, because my body would quickly overheat and I’d have to retreat to the bed again.
Recovery?
Two days later I was finally able to get up and out of bed. I still had a pretty serious headache, serious back and neck pain, and my shoulders were sore now too. Oh, and my digestive system was still on the fritz – I was one nasty, smelly guy. My poor family! At least I was able to engage to a slight degree and have some food.
The following day I was able to actually move around and got outside with the kids. It was great, and I felt SO thankful to be feeling better. They’d been missing me, so I wanted to play with them and our pup in the yard. I pushed my youngest on her swing and…was very winded? I found myself out of breath just from pushing her. Throwing my German Shepherd’s KONG toy was a bad idea – a routine throw made my shoulder feel the same pain I’d have if I’d just killed a shoulder workout after taking a month off of lifting.
Okay, okay, so anything active will be difficult for a while. I guess that makes sense, right? Everyone knows that COVID makes your respiratory system take a hike. What wound up really surprising me, though, was the fact that bending down clipping some weeds in the yard brought me to the point of being out of breath. It’s clear that “recovery” will take a bit longer than I’d hoped.
Conclusion
So there we have it – as it stands today I woke up at 4:30am, I had my morning caffeine, and I’m writing a new blog post. As far as my blog/YouTube endeavors go, I think I’ll be all right. What I’m nervous about is the fitness side of things. I have ambitious goals for lifting and running – when will I be able to get back to those? How much of a setback will this be to hitting that 10-mile, 10 min/mile average on a run? Or for putting on muscle to do a natural bodybuilding show next September?
Only time will tell, but I’ll do my damndest to recover as quickly as possible. I need to practice what I preach and not injure myself by being overly ambitious like younger me would have been.
