So, last Tuesday I developed a runny nose and a cough. This is not unusual for this time of year, especially with flu season back in full swing. I used the last of my rapid-tests to check, and was relieved to see it come back negative.
But, with Christmas holidays so close and with COVID cases slowly rising in the province, I felt it was best to be sure. While the provincial government has been annoyingly tight-lipped about the current state of disease in New Brunswick, they at least have become more generous with their rapid test kits. I was able to pick up two boxes the next day, and broke out one test, expecting it to go as smoothly as each test prior.
No such luck:
After almost three years of dodging this virus, it had finally caught up to me.
Now: I was fully vaccinated and had two boosters (but not the bivalent; I’d been hoping to get that in February next year), and that helped considerably. I spent the next five days at home, my time spent either in bed or curled up in front of the computer. High temperatures, fatigue, loss of appetite, coughing (so much coughing) were thankfully the worst I experienced. I was able to retain my senses of smell and taste (though both were mucked up in the usual way a disease that produces mucus and phlegm mucks them up). Those five days were the longest I’d been sick since my childhood.
I’m back at work now, and most of the symptoms have faded apart from the fatigue (slept over ten hours last night alone) which I gather will persist for another few weeks. I have yet to see if the brain-fog has truly lifted from me or not (I can think relatively clearly, but I haven’t had much chance to test my cognition since the disease hit). Still, if a few weeks fatigue and brain-mugginess are the worst I experience, I shall count myself incredibly fortunate.
Because without my vaccination or my continued masking practice, I’m certain it would have been so much worse. If you’re unvaccinated or are hesitating on getting a booster, I can only tell you to stop hesitating. Get the shot, wear a mask in public, please. You do not want to experience the worst COVID can do to you; trust me.