When I got Covid

 

I thought I would write  about  covid here so I would not forget what hell I went through. 

Soon after Christmas I started with the following illnesses. Headaches, cough, stomach  pains and chills with a low grade fever.  The chills lasted 2 days every thing else at least 5 days. Daughter was sick before and during this also. 

Jan. 4th I could not taste or smell and tested positive. I guess you could say it is like the worst flu you ever had x2. Still, stomach problems. I see commercials for colon cleanse...that's what I got, thanks to the virus. It was awful. I had the sweats and was getting weaker by the day. I did not eat for days. I knew I had to, to get better. 

Sometimes I only had energy to take a shower every few days. I almost fainted in the shower, so taking one was always an adventure.

Even though I can not taste or smell I tried to eat. Toast tasted like cardboard. Tea tasted like warm water and I am not sure  if I will ever be able to eat a McDonalds again which tasted like sand with bigger bits of sand that I think was fat. 

I started to Hallucinate. I saw a cat 4 times. 2xs in my bedroom, once in the dining room and once in the hall. I also had this...hallucination...or dream once that was weird about a robot/human.  

I thought I might have to tell Agnes I need to go to the hospital. But I never said it, I did not want to go there. But I needed to eat or I would end up there. I spent a better part of 2 weeks in bed.

I also had dry nasal passage, I had scabs way up in the nostril, you have no idea how painful that can be.  Blowing your nose is a horror story. I would pull the scabs out so I could breathe.

Of course with this, I got a UTI, because...that's how I roll. That was it's own horror story. And I also got Shingles! on my back which was painful in its self. sigh. 

I could smell and taste peanut butter. I had peanut butter crackers so I would eat that.  I also decided to try sweet potatoes. I had to ask Bill to open the can for me because I did not have enough strength. I could taste them! I think they saved me. I ate them twice a day. They are loaded with good stuff. 

At one point I felt like a turned the corner and was not going to die. Yes, for about 2-3 days I thought this would kill me and I would not have been unhappy. 

Then even though I still could not taste or smell, the texture of the food wasn't as bad and I could eat more gaining back some strength.

Around the 17th I started feel better, I could shower and do my wash in one day! Getting stronger!

Today is the 23rd and I still get tired at times, I still can't smell or taste most foods. My throat has...a coating, still. But not bad. My back still gets sore. I would say I am 80% recovered.

I lost 13 pounds!

I do hope to never get this again! I do hope I get my taste and smell back!

Rockefeller tree lighting

 I worked in St.Agnes HS cafeteria from 1980 to 2000. In that time women who worked there, came and went but for many years a group of us worked there. Kitten (our boss) Rose, Ethel, Barbara, Dolores and me. Some times on the spur of the moment we would plan a trip into the city. 

One of those was to see the Tree Lighting ceremony in Manhattan at Rockefeller Center. None of us had ever been there to see it. 

So, after work we all got on the bus and train and headed for the center.

We stopped at a bar first to have a drink. There we were  6 women all with white uniforms. Kitten told people in the bar we were nurses. LOL

We headed for the tree, roads were closed to car traffic around the plaza. It was PACKED with  hundreds of people.  We were herded around the plaza by cops. We were packed shoulder to shoulder! It was a bit frightening!  We were going in a circle around the tree, which went around the tree, into the Rockefeller building (in back of the tree) back out again. 

I remember thinking, if I trip I will be trampled!  I don't know how many times we went around when we stopped. We stopped in the building right behind the tree. There were a wall of windows, we could see the back of the tree and waaay up top, I saw one christmas tree light. Thats how big this tree was. You don't  realize how big till you see it in person.  

We were told they are doing the tree lighting ceremony now, so they were not letting us move till it was over. We would not have a view.

But I kept my eye on that christmas light bulb waaay up on top of the window. I saw it go on, I knew the tree was lite.  We were allowed to move again.  We went to the front and saw the tree. Then we went home.

You could not pay me to see the Tree lighting again. It was scary being herded like cattle with all the rest of the people. But it was an interesting experience.

delta

 So, things were starting to get back to normal.  Masks were required for some employee's but for the most part, the choice of wearing one or not was up to you.  I did not wear one.  Group activities were allowed, New Orleans opened up. There were some restrictions but things were moving in the right directions.

BUT THEN ALONG COMES DELTA. 

This one is more contagious, it affects all age groups. It is more deadly.  So, restrictions are starting again. On a side note__Our southern border is open and all kinds of people are just walking on over, having been vaxx'd or not___but american's not vaxx'd are starting to lose some freedom. 

You need a mask in school, hospitals are full, lines are around the block for clinics.

The unvaxx'd are to blame even though many of the people who have it, did get vaxx'd. 

You can only go to certain places if you show your vax card, you will get money, food, tickets to places if you get vaxx'd. I think you can still fly, but that all might change soon.

There are a lot of things they are not telling you. They are just telling you the unvaxx'd are causing most of the problems people are having now.        

Walmart is not making you wear a mask (why not?) but they stand by their doors holding a mask and say, they want their customers safe, do you want a mask? I always say no. It's just odd they are not making us wear one.  

More and more people on social media are posting about people who foolishly refuse to get the shot, causing everyone else to suffer with these restrictions and shut downs. 

I will stay unvaxx'd until they force me to do it.

                                       

 

Mother thought I might die....chickenpox, measles, mumps

 We started to get polio under control, in the 1950's/60s  That was wonderful! 

We had vaccines for other diseases too.  The Small pox vaccine left a scar. You got that vaccine as a baby. Some got the shot on the arm, I got mine on upper thigh or behind.  We also got vaccines for  diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis. 

We still had contagious diseases of measles, german measles, rubella and chicken pox.

Most of those started with a rash. Mumps started with swollen glands in the  neck.  My brother charlie got the mumps, I never got that. It was supposed to be dangerous for boys to get because it could make them infertile.  Charlie never had children(thankgoodness!) so maybe that happened to him. 

Between us 5 kids, and my cousins downstairs- 5 kids, someone was always sick. If you did get the measles, you tried to give it to other kids to get it over with!  

The late 1950s I got the measles, probably in 1st or 2nd grade. You would get a fever and an itchy rash and miss a week or so of school. 

 About a year later I was all dressed ready for school when my mother stared at me and asked if I felt ok. I said yes, but she lifted my uniform and looked at my stomach and there were red dots all over it. Yep, I had German measles, so into my pjs and on the couch I went.  These diseases would travel around the house upstairs..downstairs. 

My cousin Brian was the first to get chicken pox. He had a mild case of it,  a few scabs and fever for just a day or two. He was back outside after a few days.  Then I caught it, I was in the 7th grade 13. 

Chicken pox gave you red, very itchy bumps. You could not scratch them because they would break, leak, leave a scar and spread the bumps. It was torture! I did not have a light case of it. It was very bad, I was covered in bumps and had a high fever. 

It was Sunday and my sisters came over for dinner. I felt awful and was in my room all day. Barbara came in to see me. She asked me if I was staying in my room because I looked awful (lol) I said I am sick. She felt my forehead, then stared at me and left. 

She came back with my mother who felt my head and took my temperature.  She came back with aspirin. Later my mother took my temp again and gave me pills and left. She came back one more time and asked me if I want to sleep with her.  She never asked me that before, I said no.

I realized soon after she thought I might die. When sick, I run high fevers 103 and even 104 are not rare with me, so I wonder how high it was to worry my mother. I lived. I did scratch. I have some scars on my face I can still see. I was out of school a few weeks and missed the school play, I hated plays so that didn't break my heart. 

Now they have vaccines for them and my grandchildren will never have to suffer with that.

                       

Covid-19

My first Pandemic. 

I am old enough to have experienced a lot in my life.

• The Cold war.
• VietNam war
• Assassinated President
• I have lived through all kinds of killer flu's.
• Killer bees
• The Great Northeast Black Out
• Many End of the world predictions
• Cancer causing food (not cranberry sauce!)
• HIV.
• Hurricane Katrina
• Oil spill

Now the Covid-19.

It is scary, schools closed, restictions on just about everything else. 

Toilet paper is hard to find, some foods. People are panic buying. 

My first scare, although being young at the time I did not realize how scared I should have been, was Polio.

Polio infected kids in the early 1900's. In the summer kids would get sick and some  had to go into the hospital. A neighbor 3 houses down, had polio in her leg. She wore a brace and the polio leg was skinny. She had to buy 2 pairs of shoes because her good leg/foot was a size 6 but the polio foot was a 4. 

My father in law had polio in his arm. He said he spent a year in the hospital. 

Some kids had to live in an iron lung. How terrible to live your whole life in that.

So in the 1950s there was another bad outbreak of polio.  I was lucky, a vaccine came out. Dr.Salk discovered it and became a hero.

I remember  we had to line up in the hall at school and put a sugar cube in our mouth that had medicine on it. We had to stand there in front of the nurse when we did it and show her our opened mouth, that it was all gone.

That was...1957-59...or both. I think we had to have it done a few times.

With this New virus, at least children are not the main subject of attack. It's the old people with chest problems that need to be careful.  

So we need to stay calm and carry on with common sense and in a few months it should be mostly gone. *fingers crossed*          

The flu

It's been about 13 years since I last had the flu. I was in NY.  I went to the doctor because I had an UTI and found out I had the flu. 

Liam had the flu and we all had tamiflu but I caught the flu. I week later I went to the doctor because I thought I was getting an UTI, but it was a bladder infection.

It is 9 days later. I stopped my cough pills and the mucinex I was taking with it. I just felt it was not working and I felt awful, so was just taking my bladder pills. I still feel crappy, and I think its the pills but I won't stop taking them. I don't want the infection to come back.

So, another thing about getting older. It takes you A LOT longer to get better if you are sick or if you pull a muscle etc.  That is hard to get used to. 

Although I am feeling much better, I am tired and use up my energy pretty fast.  I can only do a little work round the house and I am done. I need to rest and a nap is always around the corner. Very frustrating. 

The first time I had the flu I caught if from my daughter in the late 70s or early 80s. 
I didn't think a person could feel so sick! 

Anyway, I am getting better...just not fast enough for me. 

Star Trek

The  post about favorite movies  got me thinking about, this TV show.

Star Trek aired on Sept. 8th, 1966, when I was 15 years old.

I just LOVED it!  I wished I lived in the future where I could travel to distant places on a star ship! 

They had amazing technologies.  They could just scan the body to find out what was wrong with it. They would give medication with some kind of air shot.  They could communicate using these little hand held things AND beam up and down from the ship! 

Except for the last thing, we have all these technologies now. 

I will tell you what impressed me the most when I watched this show. 
People would walk towards a door....and.....it would...open by itself! and close after you went through it!! 

Your thinking...really? Everything they showed and this impressed you? Yep.

Just think what it was like back in the 60s and earlier and later going into and out of a store. Especially a grocery store.  You carry out your grocery bags (brown paper bags, no plastic back then) and with your arms full, try to open and close the door.  
Or you have your shopping cart, you have to open and shut the door  wheeling that thing.  You get lucky sometimes if someone is coming in or out the same time that will hold the door for you. 

It was many years later, when I was walking up a door, that opened for me, that it dawned on me....the future is here!