#just stuffy and a little headachy with a bit of a sore throat

[lady-harrowhark]

my 4.5 year covid-free streak has officially ended 😔

[cafalla]

Diary Entry - 07/14/2024 - Happy Birthday (Covid Edition)🍰

The beginning of July marks the the start of my 30th year on this planet. Growing up, certain ages always felt so "adult" to me. Sixteen, twenty, twenty-one, twenty-five. Always "so far off" in the future, yet these numbers always crept up and passed me by so quickly.

30 in particular has always felt lightyears away from my current self and well...here I am now.

No longer in my twenties - truly now I am an "adult".

Why is it that I still feel so young?

I think the older I get, the more the same I feel. I still feel seventeen, and twenty-two, and twenty-eight...even though I'm not. I know I have learned life lessons and have grown between all those ages...but I still feel the same? Ageing is weird.

Cheers to my 30s, and to what this decade will bring me.

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And well...my first week of being 30 brought me Covid, of all things. I've managed to go this whole time without contracting Covid, and here I've been cooped up in the house this past week trying to get over it.

My sister had come to visit for my birthday, and she is very much a restaurant/bar hopping type of person, so we were out and about and around tons of people all weekend.

If it was just me and my bf, we probably would've just gone to dinner and stayed home all weekend playing video games. But because we had a guest, we made a point to go out and socialize more.

And in a dark way, I joke that God has smited me with Covid for daring to go out and have a good time on my 30th.

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My timeline of symptoms were as follows:

Sat 07/06 & Sun 07/07 - My birthday! And the day after. We were outside for extended periods of time in what was the hottest weather for our area this weekend. I wouldn't be surprised if heat exhaustion/dehydration had something to do with how horrific I felt when my fever started to hit. Sunday night, I started to get a little cough and headache, but I attributed it to us being outside more than usual and allergies.

Mon 07/08 & Tue 07/09 - Ran a fever, was in bed all of both days. Fever high was 102. Barely ate/didn't eat anything at all - could still taste. Headachy and tired, alternated between freezing and overheating. Slept on and off, kind of delirious. Voice sounded off/sick.

Wed 07/10 - Fever gone, throat sore and coughing a lot. Sinuses started to get stuffy. Voice sounded sick and no sense of taste. Stayed in bed/body achy. Barely ate.

Thurs 07/11 - Sore throat and coughing a lot. Sinuses really stuffy. Voice still sick, sense of taste still gone. Stayed in bed/body achy. Barely ate.

Fri 07/12 - Sore throat and coughing a lot. Throat starting to feel a little better. Voice sounded more normal. Sinuses still stuffy. Still can't taste. Stayed in bed/body achy. Barely ate anything other than dinner. Boyfriend made curry for me because I was desperately craving a potato and soup and even though I couldn't taste it, it was so good I cried. Mental was pretty rough - had a bit of a breakdown over never being able to taste again/being tired of feeling terrible and in bed.

Saturday 07/13 - Throat felt a lot better, still coughing. Sinuses starting to loosen. Voice sounded normal. Moving around felt easier and I moved around the house more/wasn't always in bed laying down. Taste still mostly gone, but was able to eat more food.

Sunday 07/14 - Throat feels normal, still have a cough. Sinuses still a little stuffy, but much better/almost normal. Voice sounds normal. Taste has come back a bit more as has my appetite. Ate lots more food and was more mobile/doing things around the house. Feeling pretty good.

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And that's where I am now. Still a bit under the weather, but I think I can function again.

My dry cough is quite annoying, but I can deal with it. I'm hoping my sense of taste comes back stronger as the days go by. I truly was getting fearful I'd be one of those unlucky people who did not get it back for an extended period of time. This was honestly the main part for my mental boom on Friday.

I had gone most all week without really eating anything, and I was feeling terrible and weak. I lost like, almost 10 pounds from Monday to Friday, and I was just mentally over it all and couldn't hold it in anymore.

It's been rough, but I'm glad to be through it. Even my bf (who has had Covid 2-3 times) said it really hit me rough. Kind of sucks I had to take so much sick time off of work to deal with this, but that's what the sick time is for, right? I'm a little apprehensive to return to work tomorrow after having been gone for over a week. Hopefully my dry cough won't be too terrible to deal with at work.

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That being said, I'm happy to be alive and 30! And I'm happy to have such a great bf who has taken care of me this whole time and helped me through it all. I'm glad I got to see my sister and spend time with her, but I'm happy to go back to my homebody ways for the weekends lol!

Here's to the next few weeks treating me with some kindness, and to hopefully NOT getting sick with Covid ever again!