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My COVID journey, finally

11oct22 story of Covid: I flew to Des Moines for a mini-reunion of Thomas cousins; flew back on Monday the 3rd.  I did not wear a mask.  Evidently I should have worn a mask, as I later came down with Covid. 

The infection could come from anywhere, typically airborne virus shed by someone in the communicable phase of the disease.  

Throughout my airport and flight experience was quite calm and uneventful, so my guess is the most likely vector for the virus was the deplaning time – people are really eager to get out,  they are talking, pressing close together, straining to grab bags from the overhead compartment and coordinate with their partners, thus breathing heavily.  Very few people wore a mask.  I do not remember anyone coughing or sniffling or breathing heavily around me, but that deplaning process is always rather hectic.  I did not press to go quickly, but I did not want to delay my windowside seatmate, so I joined the crowd.  As it was, when I arrived at baggage claim, my suitcase was already locked up by the attendant! 

I first noticed some symptoms Tuesday night – the kind of immune response I felt at the beginning of other colds, and immunizations, just a kind of shiver and a slight brain fog.  Wednesday morning I commented on that to Barb.  But not much else showed up until Thursday, when I started to feel a kind of sinus headache, and congestion, like a cold.  Later, some sniffles and coughing.  Friday morning I felt a sore throat, though less congestion, and no brain fog, no fever.  It seemed like a normal cold progression.  But the sore throat got worse, and occasional sneeze was painful (at the throat), though I could still swallow no problem.  

I never felt feverish, never felt swollen glands, never felt trouble breathing, and my blood oxygen (measured by my Apple watch daily) was unchanged, between 94 and 96% throughout.  So I never suffered those more dramatic COVID symptoms.  I hopefully thought it was a common cold.

However, after a Friday night of restless sleep oft-disturbed by sneezing and coughing and sore throat, then Saturday morning still painful sore throat, I decided this was perhaps not just a cold;  I logged into my MyChart medical webpage, followed along the COVID symptom questionnaire:  it recommended I get tested, though not needing immediate medical attention.  Unfortunately, the symptom-page’s description of the testing site conflicted with their testing-page’s description, so it took a couple of hours online and on the phone to clarify the place and time (note:  I wrote the company to complain; the next day they phoned me to say they have now fixed the discrepancy!).  I drove the 20 minutes to Lisle, where the drive-through test was remarkably efficient.  However, the results would take 24-48 hours!

Saturday night, after another hour of sneezing in bed, I did what I should have done earlier:  moved to the basement bed, so as to spare Barbara the noise, and the likelihood of infection! 

Sunday morning my throat was still quite sore, though actually rather isolated, like strep throat, as I felt fine otherwise, not congested;  and I could still swallow, eat normally.  And the soreness appeared to wax and wane a bit, not obviously correlated to my consumption of tylenol (It was never clear how much that helped).  

The results finally posted on MyChart late Sunday evening!  And my results were Positive.  We all saw them Monday morning, and immediately quarantined me, then arranged for both Barbara and Tori to go get tested. Their tests were reported later that day – unfortunately, Tori tested positive, while Barbara tested negative.  Go figure!  I certainly had no direct contact with my sister-in-law, yet had lots of contact with my spouse.  Hmm.  One can only assume that Barb's two successive booster shots gave her system that extra immunity to the viruses I would have communicated to her.  Tori has had no booster shots; only the original vaccine last year.   I apologized to Tori, and I went to get her prescription for Paxlovid.  As yet, on Tuesday night, she is showing no symptoms.  But she is quite worried, and sensitive to the slightest ill. 


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