COVID-19 and Me

It’s super cold outside. The sun is blasting through my dining room window. It’s a beautiful day to tell you all some good news. This Monday I saw my doctor for my post-COVID checkup. It’s as if COVID-19, which I had late November 2021, cured my diabetes and hypertension—this despite me having put on fifteen pounds and not walking daily (not waking at all, honestly). My cholesterol and triglyceride numbers are much improved. My kidney function is outstanding. My lungs are completely clear. No more inhaler for my asthma.

I’m going to get back to diet and exercise. I don’t like being fat. Not that I’m vain. Fat doesn’t look good and it’s not healthy. But I no longer feel the urgency to starve myself and pound the pavement that I felt before when my labs were poor. That I have acquired robust natural immunity to SARS-CoV-2 gives me added confidence. I have been exposed to omicron in the meantime and I had a stuffy nose for a day. Who knows what that was. Who cares? It’s time for the world to stop worrying and move on.

What was COVID-19 like? My bout was during the delta variant period and it wasn’t fun. I was sick for several days. Alongside what felt like a severe sinus infection, fatigue was the main symptom. For a few days I had what they call “COVID voice,” which means that my larynx was infected. Because of the protocol I followed (which I describe in a previous blog post), the only pharmaceutical I needed was a steroid inhaler. That was phoned in. I never entered a doctor’s office. I never missed a day of work. Sorry. Not sorry.

I know that others have had different experiences, and I feel bad for those families who lost loved ones to this disease, but my case is hardly exceptional and you need to know that. You need to hear the stories of all those who contracted this disease and survived because these are the stories of the vast majority of people and the corporate media isn’t going to tell you about them. Don’t let the exceptional cases hyped by the fear machine push you into a false reality. For most people who get COVID-19, the experience doesn’t rise to the severity of my situation, which was a really bad cold-like illness. I had a fever for maybe half a day.

I’m happy I didn’t die, mostly because being alive is fun (albeit I have no idea what it’s like being dead—or stupid). But I am also happy I didn’t die because, had I died, the mocking of my death would haunt my family. The main reason I’m even sharing my experience is to taunt the hateful progressive type who revels in the death of those who didn’t get the COVID shot. I’m still here, fucker.

I will be sixty years old this March. I have several comorbidities that put me at special risk. I was never as fearful of this virus as were so many of those around me. I did my research and knew what my chances were—I knew they were good. It is not as if I wasn’t worried about this virus. I knew masks didn’t work, so I avoided public spaces during peak periods. I didn’t want to catch it. But in the end I know I could not avoid it. My wife teaches at Head Start. My youngest son is a high school student. My odds weren’t good with respect to being exposed.

When my PCR test came back positive, and I was already sick, as was my wife, who would get her results later that day, it felt like being at the top of a rollercoaster. Sitting up in bed looking at my positive results, I told my wife, “Here we go. Now we get to find out what this is all about.” Honestly, I was relieved. I finally had it for sure and soon I would know for myself.

My message to you is simple: Don’t be scared. This is a virus among hundreds (at least). Those other viruses can kill you, too (I feel bad for all those families who have lost loved ones to influenza, etcetera). We must refuse to live in fear. As I said at the beginning of the mess, life is more than just existing. Life is about living. And living under the constant stress of panic is a very difficult thing to do.

The powers that be either grossly mishandled the situation or the COVID-19 pandemic is part of a grand agenda. Either way, the solution is obvious: we have to overthrow the status quo.