The Absent Uncle: Sunday evening
I think this whole thing started right at the end of a scheduled conversation with a nephew on Sunday evening. Great conversation, and when it ended, I realized that I had chills, and I was literally shivering.
So, I live in the suburbs of Houston – outside, it was probably about 95 degrees at the time; we keep the AC set during the day at 76 degrees. I was sitting in my recliner while on the call and it is placed strategically under the HVAC vent in the living room ceiling. But it wasn’t blowing any cold air, and the AC had clicked off.
Dressed in my normal at home uniform of shorts and a sleeveless T-shirt, I just couldn’t figure out what was happening. I checked the thermostat; temp was at the pre-set, and I could do nothing but find a sweater and a pair of sweatpants, plus a small blanket around my shoulders to ward off this relentless freeze that was overcoming me.
It slowly occurred to me that possibly I was getting some sort of a virus or cold. I had been around a few people in the previous days, but I couldn’t remember anyone having a cold or complaining of being sick recently.
Well, that lasted for the night. I alternated between being uncomfortable in bed or in the recliner, usually lasting about an hour and a half before trying the alternate. The whole time with more layers of clothes on that I have worn since the dead of winter in my Minnesota youth.
Sometime during the night, just before morning it occurred to me – Covid! It has to be Covid. We have tests for such things! All I had to do was go to where we store that type of thing and find all three types we had, and that all had expiration dates in 2023. (All came out negative anyway!)
By this time, it is about 10 on Monday morning. I am exhausted. I have canceled my knee therapy as I am way too weak to be tortured by bending my knee to just about the final degree of movement possible (each way).
And then … just as suddenly it started … it ended. What happened next was a cascade of perspiration that came from every pore everywhere. While I shed layers of clothing quickly, the original sleeveless T-shirt and shorts underneath the outer clothes were soaked.
It took about an hour when the sweating stopped and I felt so relieved. It couldn’t have been Covid that my expired tests didn’t detect. I was weak, but I felt better; I was coming out of it. My body was still a temple to be taken care of and revered.
As I sit at my computer on Wednesday afternoon I am (just about) fully recovered.
I know that everyone of us has gone through this type of quick hitting – fast to leave illness. (I got a column for the Brandon Valley Journal out of this one!)
But my better point is how thankful I am for what I have; for the quick recovery and I don’t for a second take it for granted. I just wanted to share my experience and through the magic of the value of a local newspaper you are thankfully not in danger of catching anything. No personal contact.
