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Monday, November 20, 2023

#MicroblogMondays: Be careful out there

I was just getting ready for bed on Saturday night, when an email popped up on my cellphone from my sister, with this attention-grabbing headline: "Guess who has COVID??"  

Yep, after dodging the pandemic bullet for 3 & 1/2 years (!), my sister has finally fallen victim to the nefarious bug. :(   I spoke to her on Sunday afternoon.  She said she started feeling crappy on Thursday, tested negative, felt even worse by Friday afternoon -- and tested positive. Immediately cancelled plans to head to my parents' house on the weekend. She was isolating from her partner on separate floors/rooms of their house (which is not, admittedly, especially large -- but does, thankfully, have three bathrooms!), but now he's got a sore throat too. He was still testing negative at that point, but I guess we'll see...!  

I asked her if she knew, or could guess, where she picked it up. She said nobody at her office has been sick lately (and she works from home two days a week), but she admitted she's been a little lax on masking at the supermarket, etc., these past few months. She hadn't received the latest/fall vaccine yet -- availability where she lives is still scarce/limited/not well publicized. 

I told her well, she'd had a pretty good run, and at least it happened NOW and not four weeks from now, i.e., when we'll all be at Mom & Dad's for Christmas. Thankfully, she seems to have a mild case so far -- she said so far, it's like a bad head cold. Stuffy nose, cough, sore throat, fatigue.  She'll have a few hours where she has some energy to do things, and then she crashes.  (She talked with her doctor about Paxlovid, but decided not to fill the prescription, given that she has few risk factors and often doesn't do well with new medications.)  

Still, it sucks. :(  It's a good reminder that yes, covid is still out there, people are still getting sick from it -- very sick, in some cases -- and it's easy to let our guard down (especially when governments and businesses seem to be doing everything in their power NOT to remind us it still exists...!). (And this reminder is to myself, as much as to any of you reading this...!) 

My American friends & relatives will be gathering with their families later this week for U.S. Thanksgiving -- and Christmas is not that far off, either (eeek!).  

Be careful out there. 

You can find more of this week's #MicroblogMondays posts here. 

4 comments:

  1. Ok, this is total unsolicited assvice, but I would strongly advise you to advise your sister to not do anything at all during the acute phase (i.e. for as long as she is testing positive). Like try to keep her steps to an absolute minimum. Try not to leave the house. Do as little as possible and try to sleep/lie in bed as much as she can.

    This is going to feel very difficult, especially if she doesn't feel all that sick, but there's very good research now that 'radical rest' is THE best thing you can do to protect yourself against Long Covid. And it's (I think) even more important if you have a 'mild' case because that could mean that your body isn't going to clear the virus as effectively.

    Anecdotally and to judge from the wastewater readings, Covid is EVERYWHERE in Ontario right now too, so if you've been a bit more relaxed with precautions, now's the time to ramp them back up again.v

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    1. Thanks, Turia. :) I will pass that along. I am hearing about a LOT of people (friends & relatives of friends & relatives) who have it right now, or have just had it recently -- many for the first time. I'm still pretty cautious in most stores, etc., but I know dh has slacked off a lot when he's out on his own (and I'm not there to wave a mask in his face, lol). But I think this has him thinking twice again...!

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  2. Aaah, Hill Street Blues memories!

    Yes, there seems to be a new wave at the moment everywhere. Thanks for the reminder. We're rarely masking now - though we are also rarely anywhere where there are a lot of people around us. Turia's advice is good - I'm going to take note. I also haven't had it ... yet. I don't think. I had a bad chest cold caught in Australia in Sept/Oct, but tested negative two or three times. We've just had our booster shot, so hopefully that will help.

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  3. I, too, love the Hill Street Blues reference 🔵🚔.

    I hope your sister is taking Turia's advice. And I'm glad I also now know about radical rest!

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