Well, just my luck. Two days before I was set to get my first vaccine shot, I started feeling sore. I was hoping it was just soreness from pruning our thirty-two apple trees (yes, I know I’m about a month late pruning, but, in my defense, just a month behind is pretty good for me). Then I started getting a weird sensation in my head. I described it to my wife, and she said I had a headache. “Strange,” I thought — I can probably count on one hand the number of times I’ve gotten a headache in my life, and most of those involved blunt-force impacts of some sort.
A few hours later, I noticed a cold sensation shudder through my body while my arm hairs straightened like a porcupine. Usually, this happens when my wife’s dead ancestors who still inhabit our farmhouse decide to scare the bejesus out of me. But this happened without the prodding of disembodied voices or footless footsteps. I told my wife about this sensation, which she diagnosed as chills, and in a matter of seconds she was bearing down on me with a thermometer. “Open up,” she said.
“99.9” I read a few seconds later, at which point she banished me to the far room and I’ve hardly seen her since. I’ve only ventured out to go get the rapid Covid test, which was supposed to take thirty minutes to pronounce my verdict but instead came back positive in half that time.
Since then, Natalie’s been living on the other side of the house, taking care of Thomas. Occasionally she reads this blog, so I’d just like to tell her I’m okay and to thank her for leaving food and Gatorade outside my door. We’ve got the baby monitor set up in my room so she can monitor my status remotely, but I’m pretty sure she’s not listening anymore. I think after she heard me listening to Jerry Clower on YouTube, she unplugged it on her end.
So far, I’ve been really lucky and my symptoms are mild, as evidenced by the fact that I can write this nonsense. I will say it’s interesting what you turn to for comfort when sick. I haven’t thought about Jerry Clower in years, but as I was lying in bed I thought wouldn’t it be nice to listen to Jerry Clower again. For those who don’t know “Jay-ree” Clower is, he is the man who could make my dad belly-laugh while driving me to school in the morning. My dad is good-natured, but he’s not the jovial knee-slapping type, so to hear him laugh out loud was an odd occurrence. When it happened, usually Jerry Clower cassette tapes or Patrick McManus books were the cause of that phenomenon. I suppose since I’ve got most of the McManus books memorized, I turn to Clower when sick.
All kidding aside, though, I would like to thank my wife for taking care of Thomas, putting up with sick me and regular me, and not banishing me to the barn. I’ll owe you when I get out of quarantine. And for everyone else, be careful out there. I can attest to the fact that Covid is still around, and even the mild symptoms aren’t much fun.
Oh my goodness, I’m so sorry. I hope you recover quickly. Yes, stay on the other side of the house!
Thanks! Sometimes it’s good to live in an old farmhouse with a rambling floor plan! At least we’ve got some space between us.
Hope you recover soon!
Thanks! I think I’m on the mend, knock on wood.
Hope you have only the mildest of mild symptoms, followed by a speedy recovery! All the best from Downunder.
Thanks! My brother lives in Brisbane. It’s amazing how well yall have done down there keeping it from spreading.
The draconian lockdowns and travel bans have been tough, particularly here in Victoria, but very effective. Timely action by the Federal and state governments at the outset was critical. And Aussies, by and large, have proven to be much better than expected at following rules!
Americans, not so much. Sigh.
Oh noooo!!! I brought Covid home from work in December and then unknowingly infected my husband. We were sick during Christmas and New Years. Luckily we also were able to ride it out at home but it sucked! Hope you start to feel better soon!
Thanks. I’m hoping I’m the only one infected and this quarantining is not for naught, but we should know in the next few days. If she does get it, maybe I’ll be feeling better by then. I imagine two sick parents was quite an ordeal.
Go out naked in the sunshine – Vitamin D is supposed to mitigate severity of symptoms.
I’m all for feeling better, so I might give that a try. My neighbors already think I’m crazy anyway.
I love this…..I too contracted COVID in the mild form thank goodness. Yes, 14 days cooped up in the master suite with no human touch really sucked. My dog Lady my only companion, lol. Hope you get well soon and keep writing!
Yes! You feel awful cause you can’t help out and whole household is turned upside down. I think if I survive quarantine, my wife is going to hand me Thomas and go on vacation for a while, which would be well deserved.
Happy to hear your symptoms are mild. I like your posts.
That’s pretty much what many people have said about it when they get COVID. Isn’t it strange that we’ve hardly heard anything about flu, and the 3 big killers; heart disease, stroke and cancer, have decreased as causes of death. There have been doctors who say that people who die WITH covid and not FROM Covid but they’re listed as COVID-19 deaths. When the stats come out for 2020, it should be interesting.
Thanks! Yep so far mild. Sometimes it doesn’t seem to make any sense why some get bad version and most others mild. Know a couple of people who were perfectly healthy who it put them in hospital, so counting my blessings so far. It’s kind of strange: from my experience so far, doesn’t really feel like the flu or a cold, feels different, not necessarily worse, but different.
My son-in-law was miserable with it for 3 weeks, but it never went into his lungs. He just described the whole experience as “crappy.” He said something similar about it being different.
Yeah, crappy is a good term for it. Strange and crappy.
Very sorry to hear you are poorly and hope you feel better soon.
Feeling a lot better this morning, thanks!
Glad to hear it!
Fell better soon. Well wishes to you and your family!
Thanks for the well wishes!
I am glad you are feeling better and hope the rest of the family did not get it. Long Covid is hell so hopefully that is not in any of your futures.
Hope not either. I’m doing a lot better, but we won’t know if Natalie or Thomas is going to get it probably for a few more days. I’ve had a couple of people I know who got the long Covid type, and it seems both physically and psychological awful.
Hopefully stories of John Eubanks and souped up wild cats keep you from complete boredom insanity!
Knock em out John!
oh buggers, hope you feel well soon. Jerry Clower – haven’t heard that name in a while – i had the honor to meet him and have my photo taken with him when i was a senior in high school. He spoke at our school. Years ago, just before christmas, my husband, who is a first responder, helped a lady who had called for ambulance for flu. He brought that flu home and one by one (our three children were primary ages then), each of us got horribly sick (no wonder she had called the ambulance!). After cleaning up vomit, diarrhea and keeping aches, pains, and fever in check for them, i finally succumbed on New Year’s Eve. 🙁 Guess we didn’t socially distance enough. Fluids, fluids, fluids – water and tea.
Ugh, that sounds awful. Thankfully, haven’t had any intestinal issues, but that would complicate things.
Clower is kind of hard to pigeon-hole. Was he a storyteller or stand up comedian or mixture of both? Seems like most of the fun was just in the way he told the stories, not necessarily in the stories themselves . That’s neat you got to meet him.
GeeZowie man. Get better. Does this mean the Missus is tending the animals? You gonna owe her bigger than you’re letting on!
Yep, you’re telling me. Back on animal duty yesterday, so feeling a good bit better.
Ah! Good deal!
Get well. You’ve got the right idea, which is to laugh through it if you can. As long as you’re laughing, things cannot be too bad.
And your Covid picture looks like Christmas oranges decorated with cloves.
You know it does, never really looked at that closely, but it’s a striking resemblance.
Oh no! I hope it stays mild, you feel better fast, and the rest of the family stays healthy. (And when you feel better, I want to hear more about your resident ghosts!)
Feeling a lot better. I swear we have one ghost that looks like granny from Beverly Hillbillies.
Still sending good thoughts your way. And now that you’ve piqued my curiosity, you HAVE to post about your ghosts at some point!
Life handed U lemons, but U made lemonade with all the humor in this post.
Seriously, I hope your case does not spread in the family, stays relatively mild, and has no lingering effects.
Thanks Mel!
Hope you feel better soon!
Thanks! Feeling a lot better already!
Get better soon! Atleast the humour is intact 🙂
Thanks! Laughter is the best medicine, so they say.
I’ve never heard of Jerry Clower, so I’ll have to check him out. I loved reading Patrick McManus to my kids when they were young. It was a good move to find comfort from your childhood. Just when we thought we were getting safer, you catch the bug. I hope it is a light case and that the family doesn’t pick it up.
Yon can watch old youtube videos of Jerry Clower. If you like McManus, you’ll probably like Clower.
Hope you’re doing ok. I’ve been told that “Cows are therapeutic for patients suffering anxiety. When spending time among cows at night in a cowshed, it’s simply impossible to feel anxious. Between the calm sound of their breathing and chewing the cud, peace percolates all! And when you communicate nasally with the lovely creature, you will frequently be rewarded with a lovely wet cow-lick! ” Hope you get back to farming shenanigans and your therapeutic animals soon and look forward to your updates.
Thanks! The cows and animals have got me out of my isolation ward, i.e. room, and I even worked the bees yesterday, which is always therapeutic, or at least it is when they’re in a good mood.
Really relateble I just started my own travel blog and then covid hit and I could not travel anymore from my country. No travel planning for me at all 😦