Now, 2 months after having contracted COVID, I think/believe/hope it is over for me. 

Two weeks ago I was very tired all the time but it seemed, at times not as deep and the thinking issues were intermittent during the day but I certainly had focus issues in the evening. The phantom smells(s) - mostly of smoke were still intermittent but I noticed they happened at night, usually after dinner.

Last week I started to feel normal in the sense of not having the fuzzy brained with lack of concentration issue every day. The sudden wave of tiredness come over me, also during the day, every day and certainly at night was lessening.  

This week, it now being Friday, and I can say I feel "normal" as the majority of the symptoms are gone! I have been doing some coding and my concentration is amazing to the point that I worked until 8pm one night and had no issues the next day.  

I shall still take it easy for the next few weeks to ensure that it's really really over. 

Here is yesterdays Texas counts showing our 2+ years of the pandemic. 

It's now a month+ since I tested positive for COVID.
I am still tired, brain fogged, confused, having phantom smells, the occasional fever and some feelings of depression. 

​Having done more reading I found an article about how "they" are seeing that people who take longer to recover (i.e. long COVID) are those who continued to work and did not rest enough. Some people have told me it has taken 2-3 months for them to feel fully recovered.

With this information, I shall be resting for another month and at that time if I am still showing symptoms I will contact one of the Long COVID Clinics in the area to see what else could be done.

​And for something else, here's a temari I just finished. I started this one back in 2021 and stopped due to the tendonitis in my right thumb. I was planning on finishing it after I returned from The Big Walk. I started to work on it but as we all know, now, I got COVID and then realized I was making too many mistakes that had to be undone so I only worked on it when I felt good. It is a C8 and comes from one of the Japanese temari books but I can't find which one at the moment. 

It's now 3 weeks since I came down with the plague and 2 weeks since I finished the anti-virals. 
This week I have been feeling a bit better but my brain focus and concentration has been crap and still come 8 or 9 pm I am dead tired. 

I was hoping to go for a short walk and see how my hip was doing but it never happed until yesterday. I actually woke up in the morning not feeling physically tired and rather clear headed. The day job got rather busy but at 6 pm I was still feeling good so out I went. It was warm (96 F) but not horribly humid; I headed down toward the lake which is just under a half mile to see how I felt and I was doing good but I did think my breathing was a bit shallow and I made an effort to take deep breaths - no chest issues or coughing I just didn't think I was getting as deep a breath as I should. The good news is/was that my hip never pained me! All told I did 1.6 miles and worked up a mild sweat. 

Tomorrow I will take another COVID test to see if I am now negative; 4 more arrived in the mail, thank you U.S. Goverment my taxes are at work!

As I said in the prior post, I caught COVID and was prescribed the antiviral Molnupiravir and I was to take 4 pills, twice a day, for 5 days. Which I did but for the first few days I still felt like crap and was having horrible sweats at night so I was taking very hot showers every morning to clean up and to ease the aches and pains I was still experiencing. Then there was the brain fog and mystery smells; some loose their sense of taste and smell but no, I kept smelling bacon and smoke. Additionally I was tired most nights by 8 - 9 pm and would go to bed and zonk out within a few seconds!

This past week was all about recovery since I was done with the antivirals.
On Sunday I felt good enough to go grocery shopping with Erich and yes, we wore masks!
Then on Monday I did "go back to work" - I am working 100% remote so I did start a coding task but it was slow and confusing at times as to how I would go about working up the solution. I did make progress and towards the end of the week my head was clear enough that I went back through what I had done and refactored it all to be cleaner and more efficient. 

I did NOT go for any walks or do a weight workout during the workweek but yesterday I went for an easy Pilates workout which went. Afterwards I did a quick trip to the grocery store since I was near it and again I was surprised at the prices of things. Later, inn the afternoon I realized was falling asleep while reading a book (exhausted) and so I took a 2 hour nap; I am not a napper as I usually either can't fall asleep for said nap or if I do I then can't fall asleep at bedtime.  Come 10 pm, last night I was tired again and had no problems sleeping.

While I was on The Big Walk, I kept my eyes on the Texas COVID reporting and it was slowly going up. While shopping yesterday I did wear my mask, again, but I am quite surprised that the majority of people are NOT wearing masks! Yes, the Texas numbers are still below 5K but if you look at this chart, it is going up! 

...And to be safe, Erich got his second booster.
​

FRACK!
I woke up over the weekend feeling like crap - sore throat, plugged ears, light sensitivity, runny nose, slight fever plus I had a crappy night's sleep and I thought "this feels like I had another booster" then it's OH SHIT, I bet I have COVID.

Having carried some of the home tests around with me all around Scotland, I pulled on out and took it. Sure enough it was positive.

I told the shop elf to stay away and to get me tea and a box of tissues. I settled myself into the family room and said I would go stay there all day and I would sleep in the extra bedroom to keep distance from him because IF he got it we would both really suffer.  

First thing I did today was call the doctor for a Telemedicine appointment. I showed him the test results, said I was vaccinated and twice boosted and went over what symptoms I had including the 103 fever and my blood oxygen level was down to 94 which isn't bad but I am normally around 98. He said to keep monitoring it and if I was having issues breathing to call back or get to an emergency room.  Then we discussed taking an antiviral and he was going to call one in to the pharmacy next and I was to isolate for 5 days!!!

The pharmacy called an hour later and the shop elf picked it up. The medication is Molnupiravir and I take 4 pills, twice a day, for 5 days.

SO that's what I have been doing for the past 4 days and this morning I woke up almost feeling human; no cough, ears clear, no fever, blood oxygen up to 98 and I slept through the night.

Looking back I have to wonder where/when I picked it up but thankfully I did not test positive when I took the test prior to coming home as I would still be there! When walking around Edinburgh I wore my mask in buildings and when near crowd; I sat alone in restaurants and away from other diners. I wore my mask when I was in the airport(s) and plane(s) except when I ate food. This article discusses how people who are fully vaccinated and boosted seem to have a fast reaction when exposed.