COVID is not a joke. I know because I had it.

 

Or, at least, I'm increasingly sure I did.  Or have it.....

It's not a 100% certainty because I haven't been tested.  This is because Poland is not big on testing, and is charging quite a chunk of money for it - no free tests here! - and also because in a health system that is creakier than the NHS, there are people who need it far more than I do.  I can get by, thank God.

But since probably the end of March things have not been right.

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I've not had all the symptoms, and those that I have had could easily be confused for those of a bad cold or flu.  Stuffy nose, sneezing - check.  Sore throat and a dry cough - check.  High temperature and fever - check.  Flu, cold, COVID - who knows!

Then there are the other symptoms.  Bodily aches and pains?  Yep, very much so, but nothing new - I've had joint pains for years in both hips and both knees, and have been medicating for a good 10 years.  The odd back spasm and achy arm joints - well, that could just be a touch of rheumatism in an aging body.  Not that I consider 67 to be particularly old, but still.......  Or they could be COVID related.

Increased fatigue?  Oh, yeah - big time.  But again, insomnia is a condition I've suffered from for donkey's years.  I don't think I've had many really good nights' rest since my eldest boy was born in 1980.  But my body has adjusted to being a light sleeper and it hasn't affected my life badly at all.  But I have to say this year it's got worse, quite ridiculous in fact.  Being tired for lack of sleep is one thing, falling asleep in an armchair in front of the tv, or sitting on a sun-lounger at my dzialka, or lying on a towel at the swimming pool - all this year, all in mid afternoon - is something completely different!  It's a rare evening indeed when I don't start dozing at 7 or 8 o'clock, and feel ready for bed at 10.  I could understand it if I was working hard on a building site, or gardening, or whatever physical work you care to name, but I'm not.  I'm a retiree, and lead a more sedentary life.  This year, with lockdowns and stuff, I haven't exercised nearly as much as previously either, no 20km walks or bike rides every day, so there is no good reason I can see for this fatigue.  It could, again, be old age creeping on, but also it could be this illness.

Chest pains and breathing problems?  Well - chest pains now and again, not bad ones, and I've put them down to stress or blood pressure issues, because I've noticed them typically when I've lost my temper with the kids over some bad school grades or whatever, and they have seemed to me identical to the ones I had three years or so ago when I had a lot of problems at work.  I saw a cardiologist then and medicated for a year or so, and brought it all under control, and there was no sign of any heart disease or anything.  The conclusion was it was stress related, so as soon as I could I retired to get out of that kind of situation.  I've been fine since then, and know how to manage it with the aid of a fitness app on my phone, so despite many arguments over schooling and stuff, there has been not a twinge. Until this spring.  Breathing problems?  No.  None at all.

Loss of taste and smell?  Definitely not.  I can still smell when I've burnt the dinner (again), and our flatulent bulldog, and the smog in the air that cleared up in the spring when the traffic decreased for lockdown but is now back with a vengeance. And I can still taste and enjoy a good beer and my wife's cooking and my daughter's cakes.  So that at least is all good and has not changed at all.

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The thing is, when you have a cold or flu, you take the tablets you can buy in the chemists, swig the cough medicine, stay indoors for a day or two, and it all clears up and you're fine again.  But with this lot, I've done that and it's not made much difference, except to eventually mess with the digestion so I've given it a break and in a day or two we're back to square one.  I've varied the remedies (there are literally hundreds over here, the majority of tv advertising seems to be for cold remedies and dietary supplements, some of which seem to work better than others but all of which aren't cheap) and tried to go without anything all, but none of it has made a lot of difference.  The symptoms are still there and don't show a lot of signs of easing.

Some days I'm fine, everything normal, beyond the usual evening fatigue, and I can go off and do stuff.  I can focus on the book I'm reading (difficulty concentrating and focusing is another odd COVID symptom), do a bit of writing on the blog or whatever, go for a walk without getting tired out, shopping and so on.  Then bang - on another day I wake up and struggle to get out of bed.  There are days I feel perfectly ok when I get up and hit a brick wall mid afternoon - and vice versa.  My stress levels, that I monitor more than at any time since I retired, are up and down like a whore's drawers.  My temperature is all over the place: a normal 36.6C or thereabouts one minute, then over 37 an hour or so later, back down again, then up higher still.  Sometimes I can correlate that to some activity - taking the dog for a walk or cooking lunch will push it up, sitting quietly for a while will generally (but not always) bring it down. But often the fluctuations are just random.

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So I'm not really sure.  On balance, I think I probably did have the virus, back in March around the time the first wave and lockdown were running through the country, but a mild case.  Not enough to hospitalise me or slow me down, but sufficient to make me feel pretty shitty.  It then seems to have transformed itself into the so-called Long COVID - where the symptoms hang around in your system for months and keep retreating and returning.  It's a strain or variety or mutation or something of the parent virus, but so far the medical community knows less about it than they do the parent strain - and we are all still learning stuff about that every day.

Like COVID19, there is no cure or vaccine.  It will remain there in the backgound, like measles or the common cold or a hundred and one other viruses, while our bodies develop an immunity to it or the vaccines come on line.  There are over 30 candidates in development, some coming close to approval for use, but we're still months away from their free availability.  Manufacturing several billion (that is not a typo) doses, distributing them across the world and each country devising its own vaccination plan and administering it, is going to take months, if not years.  But it will come: I'll get there.

The point is, this virus is NOT a hoax, not just like a cold or the sniffles, as the nay-sayers and conspiracists on social media would have you believe.  Nor is it anything to do with 5G (we have no devices at home, and as far as I know there are no masts or whatever anywhere close to our home), Bill Gates, the Deep State (a myth). the Lizard People (ditto) or any of the other whack job lies that are in circulation.  In my view anyone who gives that stuff, or the nonsense Trunp and co are spouting, a second thought  are as mad as they are

This coronavirus is a very real and very unpleasant ailment.  It doesn't matter where it came from - China, the CIA labs in Virginia, Iran or the Planet Zog: makes no difference.  It's not going anywhere and there will not be a widely available vaccine for months yet.  It kills.  At the very least, It makes you feel bloody awful and can hang around in your system for months - maybe years: no-one knows that yet.  Nor does anyone understand the long term effects on people who've caught it and recovered: there are suggestions that in serious cases some permanent damage is caused to the lungs and other organs but it's not certain: the virus hasn't been with us long enough to figure that out.  But anectodally: well, to pick the two most well known and public victims, Boris Johnson seems less decisive since he was hospitalised (which is saying something), and Donald Trump even more surreally off this trolley.....

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Take it seriously.  Wear a mask - not to prevent catching it - there are no masks, even in hospitals, that can guarantee that - but to prevent spreading it if you're unfortunate enough to catch it.  It may not be the most comfortable thing, but it's a hell of a lot better than being hooked up to a ventilator and assorted machinery in an ICU somewhere.  Wash your hands and wipe dpown surfaces, including your mobile, laptop keyboard and so on, frequently - the thing can hang around on surfaces for a long time.  Stay away from crowds - any virus loves one of those.  If you have to go out try to keep a couple of yards or metres away from everyone else in the shops, trains, buses, workplace and so on.  Christmas: make do with staying at home and Zooming or Skyping the family.  Meeting up would just be a dumb thing to do, no matter how much you may want to and how much you may miss them.  It's just not worth it.

Take care of you and yours.  Stay safe.  Spare a thought for those on their own, particularly the elderly, and if there are any nearby reach out to them. Please.