So, last weekend we held a low-key 70th birthday party for HS. In the past we had held surprise parties and funny themed parties for his big milestones, but for this one, he said he just wanted to get together with family. So that's what we did. Little did we know that a theme would develop days after the candles were blown out on his cake.
I'm not going to name any names in this post, everyone is entitled to tell their own stories...so I will keep things very general. To start off, everyone at the party was probably pretty much aware of everyone's vaccination status...we were all family and have gotten together several times during the pandemic. I would say this was probably one of the first get togethers where the virus wasn't a major topic of conversation. Talk of the virus had dropped out of the news and guests chatted about kids in college, retirement plans, aches & pains, and other stuff.
We know 100% for sure who started the chain of events. However, out of our entire family, they are probably two of the most cautious in terms of catching or spreading COVID. They were both vaccinated and boosted. Since they had recently returned from a trip back east, they tested themselves on the Friday before and the Saturday of the party. All their tests were negative. I'm not sure what prompted them to test again on Sunday evening, but when they did, their tests were positive.
I read the"We tested positive" text at 4am Monday morning. I got up and took a test and was relieved to see it was negative. When I got into work that morning, I pulled up my employer's ever changing policy to see what exactly, if anything, I needed to do being that I had a good exposure window on Saturday. I followed the policy and waited for the advice nurse to get back to me four hours later. I was instructed to go home. If I tested negative on Thursday, I could come back. I wouldn't get that far. I tested positive on Tuesday morning.
My test results on Tuesday, started a brief debate with HS. He said you could hardly see the line (I think he was in denial). I told him it didn't matter how dark the line was. Next he said that the line didn't look blue. I told him I didn't think the color mattered. By that afternoon, however, the line was a bold, blue undeniable answer. I had COVID. After two years it had finally caught up with me in my own home.
Back to Monday, HS and I started the awkward task of letting our guests know that they may have been exposed. Over the next couple of days I started hearing back that people were testing positive. We had people that had COVID previously that were also vaccinated and boosted that caught it again. There were some that were never vaccinated that got it. We have had one spouse that caught it but the rest of their household remains in the clear. There seemed to be no rhyme or reason to who got it this time. The good news was that most of the symptoms and their severity were the same regardless of vax status.
Friday morning, I woke up, took a dose of Tylenol Cold medicine and plopped on the couch. I was thankful that Thursday and Friday were "rest" days on my training calendar because I still had hopes of a miraculous recovery that would allow me to compete at the Modesto Marathon this coming Sunday. Previously I had contacted the race director about transferring my entry to the "virtual" marathon, but I really didn't want to do that. I decided that if I took a test and it was negative, or maybe had the lighter results of the first morning, I would hang on and wait. Unfortunately, my test results were quick and definitive. I switched to "virtual" and shed a few tears.
I reminded myself that my main goal of the Modesto Marathon was just to have something to focus on so I would keep in shape until IRONMAN California training started. The entry to Modesto served that purpose. I stayed in shape, dropped about 12 pounds and was feeling pretty healthy and ready to jump into IRONMAN training. Regardless, it is still a huge disappointment not to be able to race. After the 2021 IRONMAN California was canceled at the last minute due to a bomb cyclone, and then a very disappointing finish at CIM due to a injury, I was looking forward to a tiny bit of redemption...just a small boost. Now I will have to wait.
Today, my symptoms feel like a mild annoying cold. I would say the worst I felt was on day 2 and that was mostly due to my headache and the body aches. I am so used to feeling a bit sore all the time from training that I forgot what real body aches felt like. Thankfully, they subsided the next day. Actually, if I want to know how I am going to be feeling today, all I need to do is ask "Patient Zero". They are about one day ahead of me in terms of recovery.
Since I woke up feeling relatively good, I have decided to forego any cold medicine. My stomach is really getting jacked up from taking them all week (along with the zinc and other vitamins). Plus, I was tired of my head being in a fog. I thought it was the COVID making me feel that way, but I think it was the cold meds.
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