Covid ramblings
Yes, I have Covid, dammit. Started feeling icky on Saturday, did a test on Sunday that was negative, stayed in bed all day Monday except to get up and feed the cats and go to the bathroom and eat a bowl of cereal in the evening, did another test yesterday that was positive. Then did another test because the ones I'm using are fiddly ones that demand exactly FOUR drops of solution in the test well, while at the same time, the little tube of solution is stiff and hard to get drops out of, and once I finally got three drops, all of a sudden I got four and five in one go. So just in case that extra drop messed up the test results I did another test which was also positive.
Called my local clinic to find out what if anything could be done -- the initial negative test delayed knowing it was actually Covid until it was too late for Paxlovid, so I'm just instructed to stay home and rest and drink fluids and all that stuff. Supposed to isolate until Friday. Will probably do another test (my last one, I only had one four-pack of tests that hadn't expired, and I've now used three of them) and free myself if it's negative.
So far it's been mostly like a bad cold. Lots of stuffy head, sneezing, coughing, fatigue. Monday was the worst and I've been getting better since then. Today I'm mostly coughing endlessly.
I'm reminded that I actually suspect I had Covid once before, way back when this all started, around January 2020. I remember the monk at the temple got sick, and had a hard time doing the chants because she'd run out of breath halfway through. Then I got sick, too. It lasted for a couple of weeks, mostly coughing and headaches, not like any cold or flu I'd had before. I also remember running out of breath when I was talking, partway through a sentence and all of a sudden I'd be out of air. But I was never really sick and it went away eventually and I didn't think much about it until later when Covid really started to spread, it occurred to me that might have been what it was. I got an antibody test that summer but it had already been six months since I'd had what I thought might be Covid, and the test was negative.
I had an appointment for the latest booster and a flu shot scheduled on Monday, but had to cancel it because I was sick. I didn't get the previous booster, either, because it came around in the summer when I couldn't drive and didn't leave the house. So my immunity was probably low. I'll reschedule the shots once I'm better.
Meanwhile. I guess I don't have too much to complain about. I'm kind of used to not being able to leave the house after being on the walker all summer long. I've got plenty of food and stuff stocked up and can always order stuff online if I need anything. Hope I'll be sprung this weekend.
In cat health news, Mister's latest blood tests came back, and his GI panel showed some intestinal disease. His vet wants me to try another food -- Purina EN -- so I've ordered that, and if that doesn't help, he will go on Metronidazole, probably long-term. Unfortunately, when I first took him to the vet last year, we tried Metronidazole for him twice, and it only seemed to make his diarrhea worse. The vet tech I talked to said it can take 6 - 8 weeks for the medicine to take effect and meanwhile he might get worse temporarily. I hope it doesn't come to that because at this point he is so very skinny I'm not sure he can survive another bout of weight loss. What has helped is two courses of Panacur, which is an anti-parasitic we tried as a precaution even though his stool test didn't show any parasites. He was immediately better when I gave it to him the first time, then gradually got worse again once he'd finished the 5-day treatment, so we did another 5-day course and again he stopped having diarrhea with the first dose. Finished the latest course on Friday and he's continued to be diarrhea-free since then (except that one time I gave him half a Churu, he loves them but anything besides his regular food and he's sick again). Wish he could just stay on that but I guess it's not meant for long-term use.
Anyway, at least we have an indication of what the problem is, and a plan for treatment, and all I can do is hope for the best.
Called my local clinic to find out what if anything could be done -- the initial negative test delayed knowing it was actually Covid until it was too late for Paxlovid, so I'm just instructed to stay home and rest and drink fluids and all that stuff. Supposed to isolate until Friday. Will probably do another test (my last one, I only had one four-pack of tests that hadn't expired, and I've now used three of them) and free myself if it's negative.
So far it's been mostly like a bad cold. Lots of stuffy head, sneezing, coughing, fatigue. Monday was the worst and I've been getting better since then. Today I'm mostly coughing endlessly.
I'm reminded that I actually suspect I had Covid once before, way back when this all started, around January 2020. I remember the monk at the temple got sick, and had a hard time doing the chants because she'd run out of breath halfway through. Then I got sick, too. It lasted for a couple of weeks, mostly coughing and headaches, not like any cold or flu I'd had before. I also remember running out of breath when I was talking, partway through a sentence and all of a sudden I'd be out of air. But I was never really sick and it went away eventually and I didn't think much about it until later when Covid really started to spread, it occurred to me that might have been what it was. I got an antibody test that summer but it had already been six months since I'd had what I thought might be Covid, and the test was negative.
I had an appointment for the latest booster and a flu shot scheduled on Monday, but had to cancel it because I was sick. I didn't get the previous booster, either, because it came around in the summer when I couldn't drive and didn't leave the house. So my immunity was probably low. I'll reschedule the shots once I'm better.
Meanwhile. I guess I don't have too much to complain about. I'm kind of used to not being able to leave the house after being on the walker all summer long. I've got plenty of food and stuff stocked up and can always order stuff online if I need anything. Hope I'll be sprung this weekend.
In cat health news, Mister's latest blood tests came back, and his GI panel showed some intestinal disease. His vet wants me to try another food -- Purina EN -- so I've ordered that, and if that doesn't help, he will go on Metronidazole, probably long-term. Unfortunately, when I first took him to the vet last year, we tried Metronidazole for him twice, and it only seemed to make his diarrhea worse. The vet tech I talked to said it can take 6 - 8 weeks for the medicine to take effect and meanwhile he might get worse temporarily. I hope it doesn't come to that because at this point he is so very skinny I'm not sure he can survive another bout of weight loss. What has helped is two courses of Panacur, which is an anti-parasitic we tried as a precaution even though his stool test didn't show any parasites. He was immediately better when I gave it to him the first time, then gradually got worse again once he'd finished the 5-day treatment, so we did another 5-day course and again he stopped having diarrhea with the first dose. Finished the latest course on Friday and he's continued to be diarrhea-free since then (except that one time I gave him half a Churu, he loves them but anything besides his regular food and he's sick again). Wish he could just stay on that but I guess it's not meant for long-term use.
Anyway, at least we have an indication of what the problem is, and a plan for treatment, and all I can do is hope for the best.