in sickness and in health

Close-up of a woman wearing a knit beanie and holding a scarf over her nose and mouth. Text reads "I'm never sick...until I am."

I’m never sick… until I am.

Getting sick is pretty rare for me, something I chalk up to a rigorous hand washing/sanitising routine and plenty of good fortune.

But recently, I caught a cold. I assume that’s what it was. I had no fever or aches typically associated with the flu. I also tested myself for COVID every day for a week, and all the RATs were negative.

Okay, so no big deal. Normally, when I get a cold, it’s 1-2 days of a sore throat, another 2-3 days of congestion/coughing/sneezing, and all symptoms gone by day 6 or 7.

This one though? Well, most of my symptoms were gone by the one-week mark, and I never felt terribly unwell. But I had a chesty cough that I just could. not. shake.

It’s been more than three weeks now, and the cough seems to have finally cleared up – but it rears its head when I expose myself to the chilly winter morning air, or when I’m trying to recover my singing voice. (If you’re in the northern hemisphere or whatever, June/July/August is winter in Australia.)

My speaking voice still occasionally dips into raspy supervillain territory. *clears throat*

And I can’t hit any high notes (as in, I open my mouth to sing and literally no sound comes out).

Three weeks, man. What is this outrage? 😦

Anyway, that was an awful lot of words to say I’m just being a sulky little biatch, lol. I actually prefer winter to summer – I love my hoodies and chunky, slouchy beanies – but communicable diseases suck.

Text reads: After the first COVID. Background contains the silhouette of a woman stretching to the one side in a triangle pose.

After the first COVID…

I’ve been a bit quiet since my fling with COVID in early August but I’m very much alive and kicking.

(You may have gleaned that my blog title is a reference to After the First Death, the Robert Cormier novel, which took its name from a Dylan Thomas poem called A Refusal to Mourn the Death, by Fire, of a Child in London. But neither of these things bear any relevance to anything I experienced or anything in this post – I’m just a pretentious weirdo who wants people to know I can read. 😄)

I had a mild case of COVID and kept working from home the entire time so I was one of the lucky ones. And in my household of four, only two of us tested positive.

But there was the fatigue. It could’ve been seasonal affective disorder, or low iron, or something else entirely… but I definitely felt like my energy levels sapped when I had COVID and for a few weeks after that. Or maybe I just don’t get enough sleep. According to Fitbit’s Sleep Profile, I’m a Giraffe, which means my sleep tends to be on the shorter side… like my height, which is most definitely not giraffe-like.

One thing I’ve been trying to do since I recovered is to start getting up early and working out before heading to the office. It hasn’t been daily but I do generally feel better on the days when I make the effort. More energy, less mid-afternoon slump. The early start goes against my nature but I’m trying to retrain my brain… and body, I guess!

Any tips for turning a night owl into an early bird would be much appreciated. 😛

Text reads: COVID got me. Background contains close-up of a coronavirus.

COVID got me…

It finally got me, y’all. After 2.5 years, I’m COVID-positive.

It happened in a fairly predictable way.

On Sunday, I became a household close contact.

I tested negative with a rapid antigen test on Sunday and Monday, and remained asymptomatic both days.

This morning – Tuesday – I woke up with a sore throat. Took another RAT and the two lines came up almost immediately.

My household’s Patient Zero was very apologetic but I’m all good. It’s only my first day, of course. But so far I’m just getting typical cold-like symptoms. My nose is alternating between runny and blocked. I have a bit of a cough but nothing I’d describe as “spicy” yet. No sneezing though, apart from when the test swab was up my nose. No fever as of right now.

I’m triple-vaxxed, physically healthy, and brimming with privilege, so I’m confident I’ll be fine. Besides, it’s always been other people I was most concerned about in this pandemic (and still am).

I was able to work from home today (by choice – my employer didn’t coerce me and if yours does, they’re garbage). I’m pretty tired now, which is probably the COVID… but to be fair, I also spent about an hour informing all the relevant people this morning, which is an awful lot of communication that early in the day. 😄

Anyway, long story short, I’m no longer a COVID-free unicorn… but I’m definitely one of the lucky ones in the world. 🙂