I got diagnosed with Covid two weeks ago.

But it is SO last year! No, worse than that, it is so 2021!! Nobody gets it now. The world has moved on.

Hardly anyone wears masks these days. Or worries about the odd cough.

We all think it has gone away.

Until it happens to us.

Covid Diagnosis

Well, I went abroad for a few days and came back very, very tired. And had aches all over my body.

Just getting too old, I thought, always over-doing it. Can’t expect to lead my life exactly the same anymore.

And I must have also sat badly on the train. I should have walked around to avoid back ache. I usually do.

But no, the next day I had a temperature and that old horrid feeling that my daughter sums up as “feeling kak”. You know what it’s like. You realise that you have flu and there’s no getting around it.

My daughter urged me to take a Covid test and, as I had a few kits in a box in my cupboard, I took one. Of course, it wasn’t Covid. I never thought it was.

But I didn’t get better. I was sure it was just a bad case of flu. And two days later, muttering under my breath that I would try one more time “just to prove my daughter wrong,” I took another test.

And there they were – those two red lines.

I wanted to argue. I don’t get Covid. Other people do, but I don’t. I never have in all these three years.

But there was the evidence to the contrary.

Having Covid

It hits everyone differently, they say. Mine went mainly to the gut, but it didn’t last too long.

I tried to follow all the advice. Stay in bed, drink lots of water. Rest. Sleep a lot. Don’t do too much.

It’s very boring. I guess we all know that. You can’t do anything. You can’t go out. You can’t see friends.

And I was one of the lucky ones. I didn’t get nausea. I didn’t even get a cough.

Several people asked me why I took a test at all. No one does these days, they said. Just treat it like a flu and move on. No need to treat it differently.

But some people do have to be careful, and it’s best to know what you’re dealing with. At least I felt that way. My son and daughter-in-law are both vulnerable for different reasons.

And eventually those two little lines go away and you can go back to real life.

Only I didn’t.

The After Effects

What I didn’t count on is the post disease part.

Recovery seems to take forever. You sleep a lot. You can’t get anything done. Days go on and on, each one like the other.

Or you have a good day and think it is gone. Which is followed by a bad day, and you get very discouraged.

You’re allowed to go out, but you don’t feel like it. It is one big DRAG.

And it is then that everyone tells you how this latest form of Covid is the worst for the recovery period. I met someone who had had Covid four times and the most recent was the worst.

Someone even told me you should expect one week of recovery for every decade of your life. I didn’t like that prospect at all.

Much too long!

So, all I can say is don’t you know there are new issues these days? Ukraine, Artificial Intelligence, ultra-processed food…

No one wants to think about Covid now.

Let’s Have a Conversation:

Have you had Covid recently? Were your symptoms bad? Did it take a long time to recover?