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Where Have I Been?

I took an unexpected hiatus from this blog for the last nine months.

Despite following all precautions, COVID found us in December 2020. My dear hubby was sick for a week and is pretty much recovered except for one lingering problem. 

I was actively sick for the better part of three weeks, and I ended up on a cocktail of meds, including steroids and an inhaler.  My throat was swollen and I had trouble swallowing pills.  I had crippling exhaustion that leveled me, and I didn't realize I had brain fog until I woke up one morning and realized how much sharper the edges of my brain had become.

I had an especially scary Christmas night when both nostrils suddenly swelled up: my nose got so large that my dear hubby could see how big it had become across a 12-foot room. It was painful, like the two sides of my nose were fighting to take over the same space on my face. I got frightened when the back of my throat started to swell up as well. I could feel the top of my throat and the bottom of my nasal passage touching. I was becoming alarmed about maintaining a passage for breathing, when just as suddenly the swelling stopped and reversed itself. No clue what stopped it.

Recovery was slow. I tell you what, COVID knocks you flat. Some days - and this was after I wasn't sick any more - I had just enough energy to tie my shoes and then I had to sit and rest. It's hard getting your energy and momentum back, and it probably took me until late spring/early summer before I really felt completely back to myself.

What’s been surprising to me is that people who have had COVID still aren’t talking about their illnesses. A couple of you mentioned it in passing, and I’ve seen a couple of brief comments on Facebook posts,. But, nobody is coming forward to say yes I’ve been sick and this is how it was for me.  

I wonder how many COVID survivors aren’t talking because many people who haven’t had COVID are so dismissive of the virus.  

Having COVID is like playing Russian Roulette. 

Yeah, most people survive COVID. Most people also survive Russian Roulette. The problem, you don’t know where the bullet is. You don’t know what the Spiked Invader has loaded into your chamber. And unlike the one-and-done nature of Russian Roulette, COVID leaves damage behind.

A woman in the Chicagoland area was in the news over Christmastime. She was in her 20s, healthy, fit, no pre-existing conditions. She and my dear hubby got sick with COVID around the same time. Their symptoms both started the same way, with headaches.

She died.


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