I just want you all to know that I’ve got an extra week on you. Yes, dear reader, I can rightfully claim that I have been holed up for exactly one week longer than you have. You see, a week before we were all quarantined for Covid-19, I came down with my own personal influenza, leaving me coughing and aching and sleeping for a week.
I cannot tell you the misery of being so sick in bed that all you can do is listen to the radio, and all the radio can talk about it is the Coronavirus. The story of the virus was on a constant loop, as it is now, except I was a prisoner to it. I kept hearing the symptoms: cough, fever, shortness of breath. Well, I had the first two, but no trouble breathing. In our daily (and nightly) triage my husband I decided that I did not in fact have Covid-19. My daughter, who is a nurse, called in the midst of this and said, “Get to a doctor!” My husband took me to urgent care, whereupon the nurse, after taking my temperature said, “What took you so long to come in?” I told her I blame it on Covid-19. I knew I didn’t have it, so I stayed home. In essence, I was not worthy of a doctor visit.
The clinic tested me and reported that I had Influenza-Type A. And, yes, I did get Tamiflu, and no, it did not help one darn bit as far as I can tell.
After a week of this illness, I emerged, still coughing, but able to function in the world. I had 2 days of near normalcy, and then the hammer fell. Back home for me. For all of us.
And that is where my claim to complain stops. I have been indoors longer than the rest of you. But I do not have a child to chase after or to home school (just shoot me). I have a few part-time jobs, both paying and volunteer, which I miss terribly, but my family’s well being is not based on my income. I am healthy (except for a lingering cough), wealthy, and able, in all senses of the word.
I think to myself, “Well, I’ve got all the time in the world now to write my blog!” Then I think, “I cannot think of a darn thing to talk about.” And today I woke up and thought, “Well, none of us really has much to talk about!” Sports, no. Work, no. News other than the virus, no. Funny conversations, no, no, no. This is our new normal, and just as we all have to get used to living the new normal, I have to get used to writing about it. So, that is what I’ll be doing.
I hope my words will brighten a part of your day, or at least give you something to do while the hands move slowly around the clock, and we wait to turn the page on our calendars.
Keep reading, and stay safe.