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Planet Stahl

My COVID Experience

Posted on May 21, 2022May 21, 2022

I got it…  I finally got it.  COVID 19 waited 2 years to finally make its grand entrance into my body.  I’m not making light of it and I am not glad it happened.  It just did.  All of that waiting, anxiety, and countless hours worrying about civilization for what turned out to be 2 crappy days and a few more boring ones.

Saturday we had an epic graduation party for Aiden.  This is not the first party we have thrown since covid…  We have had plenty.  When the dust was settled…  It was probably one of the biggest parties we have ever had.  Every “public area” at the ranch was occupied.  We had family, friends, and even co-workers in the house for hours and hours after Stig’s graduation.  Was this the event that brought about my infection?  Its still hard to say.

Sunday we had a late afternoon get-tother at DeStihl brewery in Normal.  About 10 of us sat down for a few beers and some laughs.

Monday morning, I got up to go to work and I had the very slightest bit of “mucus”.  You know, that morning cough and mucus thing you sometimes get during season changes, slight colds or allergies?  I had a tiny little one.  I thought to myself “must be some serious pollen out there”.  Which there is.  If you don’t know, my house is surrounded by giant pine trees.

I worked all day Monday…  Felt fine.  No worries.  I remember coming home and falling on the bed wanting to sleep…  But that was not in the cards.  I got up and we made some leftovers from Saturday for dinner.  Later… About 10PM…  My eyes started itching and burning.  I figured it has been a busy few days…  I am just tired.

About midnight, I woke to my heart pounding.  It felt like I was having an adrenaline rush.  Sometimes, when I have a few beers and go to bed, I will get this feeling.  I Web-MD’ed it… It’s normal with alcohol in your system (to an extent).  Let’s back to the story before you all judge me.  I had not drunk a drop of anything but sparkling water this night and this made my heart rate thing a bit weird.   My GARMIN watch was next to the bed, so I put it on to check my pulse.  It came back and said I was ticking along around 80 to 90bpm.  That’s pretty high for sleeping.  My resting heart rate can get into the mid 50’s.

I also noticed that I was starting to sweat.  Now, that could be because we don’t have the air on and I was under a big comforter.  I fitfully tried to get some sleep.

About 3 or 4 AM I went to the bathroom and opened up my “Free” COVID test kit and attempted a late-night-try-not-to-wake-the-wife test.  I was tired and bleary-eyed… But this was my second time doing one of these, so I felt like I did it right.  The longest 10-minute wait then occurred for the results.  Seriously, I cannot remember a longer 10 minutes.  The test came back negative.

Cool.  No covid.  But I feel sick.

The next morning, but my temp said 102.5.  I stayed home.  I also developed a RAGING headache.  I don’t get headaches as a rule, so this was sucking hard.  Along with fever, I was fully inspired to pop some painkillers.  With the help of my Garmin watch, I was able to watch my body reacting to painkillers in a positive way… And then watch the stress and heart rate climb back.  This happened again on Wednesday, but it felt slightly less painful in all directions.   I convalesced all day on the couch

In the meantime, I had developed a little soreness in my throat and a flemmy cough.

In years past, if I drank to many sour beers, ate a lot of marina sauce or spicy food… And then went to bed… I would get a sore throat.  Acid reflux or just being fat and overfilled…  Either way, I was sure that is what had happened here.  I had been laying around doing nothing for 2 days.  I hadn’t eaten Italian food or drank any booze… But it was my tidy diagnosis.  No WebMD inquiry necessary.

Angela, in all of her wisdom, said “fine, have an ulcer or acid reflux?  I’m making you a doctor’s appointment for some checkups.  Including the dreaded 50-year-old stuff”.  (maybe not exactly like that, but close)

I went to work on Thursday.  Did payroll… Felt better sitting in my office with the lights off.  And then ran to the doctor at 1PM.  Before you can enter the office, you have to have a clear rapid test if you have any symptoms of COVID.   For the second time in 3 days I had swabs up my nose again.

10 minutes later  I got a call from inside the office.  “Mr. Stahl.  You are positive for COVID.  Go home and call if your symptoms get worse”.  Again, paraphrasing.

I was not ready to be told I had it.  I hadn’t lost my taste.  I can breath normal.  This wasn’t the covid I was expecting.  It was a cold.  Now, I am vaccinated, maybe that head off the worse of it?  Hard to say.  I stayed home the rest of the week and can say that the last 2 days have been much better than the first few before the doctors visit.


On a side note…  I once thought that having a week off for COVID would be amazing.  But I was wrong.  I did accomplish some updates on my podcast last week.  But overall…I was terribly unproductive.  No matter how much I thought I would do every day… I did little to nothing.  It was a total bummer!

Oh, and I am wondering if I shoved the swab up my nose far enough on my self-test.  The nurse was far more aggressive than I was!  Probably where I failed at 3AM on a Tuesday morning.,

 

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