Autonosokomia

CWs: sickness, covid, food

αὐτονοσοκομία, “self-care for the sick” (why not; I mashed up αὐτο- auto- “self” + νοσοκομία nosokomia, “care for the sick”)

So. After almost 4.5 years of avoiding it, my spouse and I contracted COVID, each for the first time. They started feeling ill last Sunday (not almost a week ago, but the Sunday before that), and were likely contagious as of around last Tuesday. My spouse went to urgent care since they were not feeling well at all, and was told “oh, it’s allergies” and prescribed an allergy medication and sent home. No COVID test or anything (really?!?!). Last Wednesday they were also feeling awful, and same with Thursday. I started feeling not great last Wednesday, had a rough night that night, and woke up Thursday to go to work (our office day, once per week). Got to the office, started setting up my laptop and such, and got a text from my spouse: “I think you should come home.” Uh oh. My mind immediately went to, “oh, they tested positive for COVID.” And sure enough, they responded that they took a test not long after I left, and it was positive. So, since I spend most of my time with my spouse, there was a super nonzero chance that I would test positive as well, and I didn’t have a test on hand in the office.

I immediately masked up and let my colleagues know what I learned. My supervisor hadn’t come in quite yet at that point, and I was frantically hoping she would get there soon so I could let her know and see what she wanted me to do. The other issue is that we had a training that day for the whole team that I did not want to miss, but if I were COVID-positive, I did not want to be anywhere near them. I usually wear a mask to the office and have it on at least when I’m walking around in common spaces, but not at my cubicle. I was very glad I had the mask that day in general. Once I found my supervisor, I let her know what was happening, and she conferred with her supervisor, and then said to go home and test, and take the day; if I were negative, I could make up the training the next day, but if it were positive, we’d have to sort something out.

I packed up my stuff and headed home, heading by Walgreens first to buy a couple of tests, since we only had one test left at the house. Got home, immediately took the last test we had on hand at the house, and sure enough, it was positive. Great. So I got back on my laptop, chatted my supervisor, and said it was positive and of course I wouldn’t be able to come in the next day, and I ended up taking the next day off as well.

COVID was not at all pleasant, not that I expected it to be. It’s like the world’s worst cold, to put it plainly. I felt achy all over, cold (but no fever, strangely), with a constant headache, full sinuses, sore throat, and intermittent cough. I’d have brief periods of lucidity where things seemed better, but then it would come back with a vengeance. We had NyQuil around the house, which I definitely took that night and for a few nights after. I ended up venturing out to the store, with a KN95 on, of course, to get popsicles, Jello, pudding, and a few other things. I got us Gatorades which we have chugged in general. We did a grocery pickup a few days ago to get us some stuff, and ended up going to another store for a few things. But we really tried to limit going out, of course, and super masked up when out. If there were any time to use the KN95s, this was it (I usually just use standard black masks, or reusable fabric ones, most of the time).

Sleeping was not fun, even with the CPAP (or especially with it?), and I was both too hot and too cold most nights, soaking the bed with sweat. It was no fun. I don’t know why anyone would want to take the chance of getting this, much less giving it to someone else. Just callous. And one of the worst parts, too, was that we found out that the kitties could catch COVID, so we washed our hands carefully before feeding them, and touching them in general. I haven’t snuggled with any of them for probably a week and a half, which is heartbreaking. But I definitely did not want to get them sick, and thankfully I don’t think we did. Ajax was a little sneezy recently, but the other two have been totally fine, so I think we’re in the clear. They definitely knew we weren’t feeling well, though, since Ajax donned his “Nurse Ajax” persona and hung out with me a lot in bed. Lyra even didn’t scratch me in bed, or in general, for pretty much the whole time I was sick. Once she started in on the scratching again, it seemed like an indicator that I was through the worst of it. Not entirely welcome, but a good barometer at least!

So we took last Thursday and Friday off. I wanted to go back Monday (a few days ago), but I got through about 1 1/4 hours of work and called it, I needed another day. I felt bad, since I was on phones the Friday before and on phones Monday as well, but I conferred with my colleague, who was extremely kind about it and said to use my sick time and rest up. So I let my supervisor know I wasn’t feeling well still, and would be in the next day. So I worked Tuesday and Wednesday, and then we had Thursday and today off for the 4th of July, and got the 5th off as well (which has been lovely). We were actually able to enjoy the last couple of days off, though, which has been really good. And we got out and about today, doing some errands, and it wasn’t horribly hot either, so that has been really nice.

Would not recommend this experience to anyone. If you think it won’t be a big deal, maybe it won’t, maybe you’ll recover just fine, but I do not want to give this to anyone, and I don’t want to get it again for a long time, if ever. My spouse said they heard that we should have 3-4 months of immunity from this bout, though, so that is encouraging. Please mask up whenever you can, don’t take unnecessary risks, and stay home if you are feeling sick. We are lucky enough to have sick time that we can use to recover; I feel bad using it, but at the same time, I will be useless getting my work done while sick, and don’t want to go into the office and get anyone sick. It has been a singularly awful experience, and I’m glad to be on the tail end of it. We both have lingering coughs and stuffy noses, but otherwise we are doing pretty well. I’ll be happy to be getting back to normal honestly.

Just wanted to chronicle this whole experience, at least a sketch of it. I feel like whenever I’m sick, I don’t remember what it’s like to feel well, and vice versa when I’m feeling well, y’know? I don’t know if y’all have had similar experiences with COVID but overall it sucks! Hope y’all stay safe and take care of yourselves. <3