Well, Mrs. Basket Case and I finally got our turn in the barrel. After 3 1/2 years and all the vaccines we could lay our hands on, we're both going through Covid.
Both of us are fine, and symptoms are abating nicely. We're both out of isolation now, and I have no reason to suspect that this time Wednesday, we won't be fully back to normal. Yes, we're reaping the benefits of vaccination, and are fortunate on top of that.
Still, I thought our story might be of some benefit.
She had the very first symptoms on Saturday the 9th, and I was a day later. Likely I got it from her. Where she got it we don't know, but given the incubation period it was almost certainly before the UTw game, which we attended.
She tested positive late in the day Monday. By the time I got to the clinic, they were closed. I had a really crappy night Monday -- body aches, headache and significant sinus pressure, so when I tested positive first thing Tuesday AM, it wasn't a surprise. We start the adventure with me a day behind her in symptom development.
For symptomatic cases, they count days for isolation from the first day of symptoms, not the day you tested positive. So her Day 0 was Saturday the 9th and mine was Sunday the 10th.
She's already 65, which made Paxlovid an immediate standard treatment. She started that program Monday. I'm just a few months shy of 65, so I didn't get a scrip the day I tested positive. As it turns out, that made a material difference.
For those who may not be familiar, Paxlovid is a 5-day program consisting of two different anti-viral drugs taken as six pills a day -- three pills each morning and three more in the evening. Total of 30 pills over 5 days.
Regardless, that stuff works. Here's why I think so:
After a Monday night that felt like I'd been hit by a Mack truck, I rallied and my symptoms were milder than hers. When I tested positive, they asked about chest congestion, cough, fever, lightheadedness, etc. I had none and told them so. So I didn't initially get a scrip for Paxlovid, and it didn't occur to me to ask for one.
In retrospect, I should have insisted for one on the spot. During the rest of the day Tuesday, and through about noon Wednesday, I slowly deteriorated. Still nowhere near what others have experienced. But got sluggish, general malaise and aches, congestion, etc. Even started to notice some of the, "Covid fog," that you hear about. Finally called and asked for Paxlovid and they called it in immediately. Picked it up just before the pharmacy closed and started the program Wednesday evening.
Experienced an immediate and rapid improvement, which has continued. I actually felt good enough to mow my postage stamp of a yard Friday, and close to normal this morning. Stamina / strength isn't fully back, but it's coming.
Contrast to Mrs. Basket Case. She started Paxlovid the day she tested positive, and ran fever for only one day. Never really even sluggish.
I have no doubt that, if I had insisted on Paxlovid the day I tested, even though I had only mild symptoms at the time, I would have headed off a couple of days of material discomfort.
Lessons:
1. Vaccinations work. I've had every vaccine and booster available. As bad as I felt Wednesday, I have little doubt I would have been hospitalized if not for them.
2. If you test positive, ask for Paxlovid immediately. In our experience, that stuff works and even if you're vaccinated will help you feel a lot better a lot quicker.
3. Masking is more complicated. Except in unusual circumstances, mainly involving others who are immunocompromised for whatever reason, we haven't masked up in about 18 months.
It's 100% true that if we had been masked whenever Mrs. Basket was first exposed, we might have avoided Covid. But at the cost of masking up every time we leave the house for those 18 months.
- We're healthy
- We have no co-morbidities other than age
- We don't interact with immunocompromised people much, and when we do, we mask.
- We're vaccinated and boosted out the wazoo.
If that combination of circumstances doesn't justify taking off the mask, I don't know that such a justification exists. As in, if those criteria are insufficient, what additional criteria would make it safe to take a mask off, and where would they apply?
There's a certain amount of risk that comes with putting your feet on the floor each morning and standing up. I've taken all available medical precautions. I've accommodated others' limitations without question. I'll continue to get all my shots for Covid, flu, RSV, etc. But having done that, I've done all I'm going to do.
If my or my loved ones' circumstances change, I'll change my position. But barring that, I'm not going to have the default setting for my last years as masked up.
