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My Covid Experience
Jun. 19th, 2022 11:55 amThe fish factory where I work part-time makes us do daily Covid saliva tests as part of routine monitoring. On a Thursday morning, I tested positive for Covid. On Thursday evening, the fish factory got around to telling me about it. At the time, I figured I felt fine. I'd gone on in to work, then gone to a graduate student meeting, then gone out to dinner with Brett. We were settled in front of the Playstation for the evening when I got the text message from my supervisor.
On Friday morning when I didn't have to go to work, I started paying much closer attention to how I physically felt. Well, actually I was more tired than usual. I'd assumed that this was because I'd done quite a bit of heavyish lifting at work that wasn't supposed to be part of my job, but it wasn't getting done and someone had to do it. I also felt colder than usual. I'd assumed that this was because it *was* colder than it had been, what with winter finally arriving, and also the fish factory must've turned down their temperature to keep the fish fresher while we worked on them. My nose was extra drippy (I wouldn't quite call it "runny"). But that was obviously because I'd walked to and from work in cold, wet rain all week long, and it does that when I do stuff like that. I was extra sleepy. Maybe not enough caffeine then, I should drink more coffee. I had mild muscle soreness all over my entire body including my toes. Surely also due to that heavy lifting.
Oh, but then there was also the insane, ravenous hunger on Wednesday afternoon after I got back from work. So much so that I ate part of Thursday's lunch and boiled a bunch of eggs - one to eat immediately and two more to take to work on Thursday and Friday since I obviously wasn't taking enough food with me in to work. And also, maybe hormonal things going on since I'm in the middle of switching out some medication.
And then the extreme itching at the back of my nose. This was probably on Wednesday, which I mostly noticed while at work. The area below my sinuses and above my throat always gets itchy when I've started coming down with a cold or other respiratory virus. Sometimes it goes on to become a sore throat, though it didn't this time. So I figured, oh hey, maybe I'm coming down with something. It somehow never occurred to me that it could be Covid that I was coming down with.
Also, upon paying much closer attention to how cold I felt, it wasn't the normal kind of feeling cold, which happens from the outside. It was the kind of cold like the core of my body is sucking up all warmth around it, the kind that happens during a menstrual period when my uterus does that and there's a supercold ring around my lower torso, which is why hot water bottles are so popular to put there during that time for a lot of women... Except this time it was my entire body.
On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, I felt fine when I got up, then there were a few hours of being extra tired, sleepy, and cold, and I took naps on Friday and Saturday afternoon. (I could've napped on Sunday as well, but I was less tired and sleepy.) Then I felt fine after getting up from the nap, until mid-evening or so. I took it extra easy, did as little moving as possible, rested at the first sign of needing rest, stayed warm, etc. By Monday, I was pretty much fine (actually fine). We spent the rest of our mandatory isolation week playing Stardew Valley.
It has been a couple of weeks since then. I've gone back to work. I've even done more of the heavy lifting that isn't supposed to be part of my job, without ending up extra tired or sore. I'm a "packer" which means I'm supposed to be taking fish off the conveyor belt and putting them into boxes. There are supposed to be support staff that make sure there are enough empty boxes, which come in two parts - a thin paperboard liner fitted into a heavy metal frame. The metal frames weigh a bit more than 5 kg each, and if I have to fetch them myself I can usually move two at a time (about 23 pounds). Any more than that, and I'm not going to move too many sets before I'm too tired to continue, and also my wrists get very strained.
Brett never got sick as far as we can tell, but there was one evening (a few days to a week or so before I tested positive) when it was first getting cold for the winter, when I had an extra blanket and he didn't, that he was actively shivering in bed. This never happens. So I suspect he might've had it at that point. He tested negative as a household contact while we were in isolation, both times, and felt fine.
On Friday morning when I didn't have to go to work, I started paying much closer attention to how I physically felt. Well, actually I was more tired than usual. I'd assumed that this was because I'd done quite a bit of heavyish lifting at work that wasn't supposed to be part of my job, but it wasn't getting done and someone had to do it. I also felt colder than usual. I'd assumed that this was because it *was* colder than it had been, what with winter finally arriving, and also the fish factory must've turned down their temperature to keep the fish fresher while we worked on them. My nose was extra drippy (I wouldn't quite call it "runny"). But that was obviously because I'd walked to and from work in cold, wet rain all week long, and it does that when I do stuff like that. I was extra sleepy. Maybe not enough caffeine then, I should drink more coffee. I had mild muscle soreness all over my entire body including my toes. Surely also due to that heavy lifting.
Oh, but then there was also the insane, ravenous hunger on Wednesday afternoon after I got back from work. So much so that I ate part of Thursday's lunch and boiled a bunch of eggs - one to eat immediately and two more to take to work on Thursday and Friday since I obviously wasn't taking enough food with me in to work. And also, maybe hormonal things going on since I'm in the middle of switching out some medication.
And then the extreme itching at the back of my nose. This was probably on Wednesday, which I mostly noticed while at work. The area below my sinuses and above my throat always gets itchy when I've started coming down with a cold or other respiratory virus. Sometimes it goes on to become a sore throat, though it didn't this time. So I figured, oh hey, maybe I'm coming down with something. It somehow never occurred to me that it could be Covid that I was coming down with.
Also, upon paying much closer attention to how cold I felt, it wasn't the normal kind of feeling cold, which happens from the outside. It was the kind of cold like the core of my body is sucking up all warmth around it, the kind that happens during a menstrual period when my uterus does that and there's a supercold ring around my lower torso, which is why hot water bottles are so popular to put there during that time for a lot of women... Except this time it was my entire body.
On Friday, Saturday, and Sunday, I felt fine when I got up, then there were a few hours of being extra tired, sleepy, and cold, and I took naps on Friday and Saturday afternoon. (I could've napped on Sunday as well, but I was less tired and sleepy.) Then I felt fine after getting up from the nap, until mid-evening or so. I took it extra easy, did as little moving as possible, rested at the first sign of needing rest, stayed warm, etc. By Monday, I was pretty much fine (actually fine). We spent the rest of our mandatory isolation week playing Stardew Valley.
It has been a couple of weeks since then. I've gone back to work. I've even done more of the heavy lifting that isn't supposed to be part of my job, without ending up extra tired or sore. I'm a "packer" which means I'm supposed to be taking fish off the conveyor belt and putting them into boxes. There are supposed to be support staff that make sure there are enough empty boxes, which come in two parts - a thin paperboard liner fitted into a heavy metal frame. The metal frames weigh a bit more than 5 kg each, and if I have to fetch them myself I can usually move two at a time (about 23 pounds). Any more than that, and I'm not going to move too many sets before I'm too tired to continue, and also my wrists get very strained.
Brett never got sick as far as we can tell, but there was one evening (a few days to a week or so before I tested positive) when it was first getting cold for the winter, when I had an extra blanket and he didn't, that he was actively shivering in bed. This never happens. So I suspect he might've had it at that point. He tested negative as a household contact while we were in isolation, both times, and felt fine.
