» On 7/01/2023 12:01:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
On A Collision Course With Covid. 

I've already written A Charming Little Story About Covid Snot. But here's the rest of our Covid saga:

On March 11, 2020, the World Health Organization declared Covid-19 a pandemic. On May 11, 2023, the U.S. ended its national and public-health emergency declarations over Covid-19. And yet... on May 20, 2023, my lovely wife Anikó tested positive for Covid and I got a positive test result the following day. Breakthrough infections, but not too serious, because we've been vaccinated. My comment: "Hey, kewl! I just joined my qtπ in the Kovid Klub! And we celebrated with a Kovid Kiss! 😉" W.H.O. said we're US cases #103,436,830 and 103,436,831 (31% of population), but at least we're not US deaths #1,127,153 and 1,127,154. [Moral: Getcher d*mn booster - while it's still free! Vaccines.gov]

We had been cooped up, like everybody else, for the past few years. But we've both had our shots (in fact, I've had 7), and we felt like they made us invulnerable, so we decided to take the risk of flying to Hungary in late April, to visit my wife's family. We knew those airplanes were hermetically-sealed metal tubes, making them flying Petri dishes, but we had not seen the Hungarian Fam for several years, so we decided to gamble.

However, sometimes the largest risks aren't in the aircraft, where you mask up against the obvious dangers. Sometimes your biggest challenge shows up in a tiny village of 453 souls. south of Lake Balaton and north of Pécs, where a pale, sweaty woman gives you a key. When the Liget property owner arrived in her Tesla on May 10 to check us into her Airbnb, she looked ill. I was a little worried, but she wasn't wearing a mask, so I figured Liget property owners all looked ill. This woman, Anikó, had the same name as my wife, and the two of them hit it off immediately. In fact, they were chatting right up in each other's faces. I couldn't follow the rapid-fire Magyar conversation, but it was easy to see they both enjoyed talking with each other, so who am I to interfere in this tete-a-tete?. However, when she sent her husband in HIS Tesla to sign us out four days later, saying her doctor had given her some powerful pills a week earlier, I knew something was up. Why didn't she protect us, with a mask? Why didn't she send her husband to give us the key, four days earlier? Stupid f*cking bitch. My wife, daughter and I subsequently flew to England for a mini-vacation in The Cotswolds, and my wife began feeling exhausted, during the final days. So we eventually learned firsthand all the details of living through an episode of Covid, and we're sharing everything with all of you, so this process doesn't remain such a f*cking mystery. And if one person out there gleans a detail that s/he can use to help a friend, or himself/herself, I will die a happy man. Hopefully, many, many years from now. 😉

I was two days behind my wife in Covid symptoms. She had a horrible day on Friday the 19th, in Heathrow, so I thanked my lucky stars that I got to suffer in my own house and my own bed. Covid ain't no laughing matter, especially for us old immunosuppressed codgers.

It turned out I had a small but significant vulnerability that could have killed me. But Paxlovid turned things around, and those three little pills (x10) ended up saving my life. Thank gawd. Thank Pfizer. Thanks, Joe Biden.

I picked up the Paxlovid on Thursday the 25th (see PS on my previous posting), and that night was an epic fight for my very soul. Paxlovid basically works to disrupt the viral replication of Covid, and the feisty little virus didn't want to give up its stranglehold on my throat very easily. So I woke up drenched in sweat, feeling like I had just survived a 15-rounder with Muhammad Ali. I also had an overwhelming metallic taste in the back of my throat. That's when I thought, "If this is Paxlovid Mouth, I couldn't be happier, 'coz it means I GOT BACK MY SENSE OF TASTE! Now gimme them Hot Tamales, chop-chop!!"

So we're pleased with the results of our travel gamble. Only one close call. I'm so thankful it was me, and not my wife or daughter.



PS: I waited awhile before writing this addendum - didn't want to tempt fate. I was worried about Paxlovid Rebound for a coupla weeks, but it never materialized. Then I read this article about the top 12 symptoms of Long Covid, and obsessed about THEM until... well... July 14th, which is today. 😉 Here's the quote that grabbed my attention: "Post-exertional malaise is when people are absolutely exhausted after doing minimal activity. There's an aggravation of the fatigue by minimal activity. These are people who do a minimal amount of activity and then they have to take a one hour long nap to recover from it." My initial reaction was: "Post-exertional malaise? AHA! Now I get to blame this f*cking pandemic for my natural laziness!!"

Labels: covid

 
» On 6/01/2023 12:01:00 AM Mountain Standard Time, Alan wrote:
A Charming Little Story About Covid Snot. 

Even though I had gotten seven (7) Pfizer shots, they apparently weren't enough to protect me against the new Arcturus Subvariant, which I may or may not have smuggled in from Hungary. I didn't test positive until two days after our plane landed on May 19, but as you all know, The Plague was already percolating through my blood long before that. Anyway, most of the top five Coronavirus symptoms were bypassing me: fever, cough, headaches, nausea, diarrhea. But I did have a severe case of the Covid Snot. My airways were producing industrial-strength quantities of mucus/phlegm/slime. In fact, I was slowly being strangled by the Covid Snot. I couldn't swallow any liquids, which meant I wasn't peeing, which meant my body was slowly being forced into a systemic shutdown. So my doctor prescribed Paxlovid, the previously-"free" wonder drug. Now, the price of Paxlovid was due to shoot up to $530 on May 11 (update: not), when the Covid-19 emergency declarations expired, but our President over-bought in April, so there were a few "free" doses of Paxlovid still lying around. And I scored one of those "free" doses... but we all know those doses weren't really "free," right? Every U.S. taxpayer bought them. Which means, YOU, dear friends, just saved my life from the dreaded Covid Snot. The End.

PS: Picking up the Paxlovid felt like a scene right out of a John le Carré novel. The clerk said I had to have a discussion with her boss, and surreptitiously motioned me over to the end window. The Pharmacist, a handsome 40-ish sport with a Midlife-Crisis Beard sidled up to the window with a conspiratorial grin and whispered: "We all know what YOU'VE got, don't we?!" I had to laugh out loud. Then he showed me how to use the ten blister paks, and said, "After the first one, you're gonna feel a LOT better." Nice energy. I felt better already. Then he discussed his business for a little while: "Strange to see you. We haven't had many Paxlovid customers since the March surge." So I revealed my dirty little secret: "Just got back from Europe. Some Hungarian chick must've snuck it into my luggage." His turn to laugh. I really liked the guy.

LATER: On A Collision Course With Covid

Labels: covid