What have I been watching?: Survivor Season 36
On Saturday morning, I tested positive for Covid-19. It is my first time having Covid.
Friday was a very normal day. A full day, in fact. Towards the end of the day, well into the evening, Clare and I were at a friend's and I texted her "my throat feels a bit off and the inside of my ears hurt." So we skedaddled out of there, so I could get home and rest. She said that there was a flu going around, so I was hoping it was just that.
I went straight to bed, but I recall waking up around 3 AM with terrible aches deep in my back and neck, and with chills. It was reminiscent of how I felt in the night after my second vaccination, I think it was. I shot Clare a text in the middle of the night saying I was feeling awful and would need her help in the morning. I laid all my extra pillows on top of me over my blankets for warmth and eventually managed to get back to sleep.
Early the next morning, I was practically comatose. Clare came in double-masked and helped me take a rapid test. 15 minutes later she said "sorry darling, you're positive." As far as I know, I had managed to evade Covid for 2 years up until this point. I certainly never got sick like this, so I don't think I had it and didn't know. It was my time. Clare had already had it twice by now. For a few hours I held onto an irrational hope that it was a false positive, and I'd planned to take another test to confirm, but considering how genuinely sick I was that didn't really make sense.
My symptoms for the next 72 hours or so were really rough. I was extremely fatigued and a bit cloudy at times. Totally zapped of energy. Rarely did I get up out of bed for much, but if I did, I sometimes just crawled across my room or walked very gingerly to the bathroom. I had terrible body aches, and would alternate between chills and sweating through my clothes and blankets. Anytime I fell asleep, I would wake up wet with sweat. I had a pounding headache and a cough. Every time I coughed, it was like I was knocking my brain against the front of my skull. My sleep schedule got very thrown off, and in turn so did my eating schedule.
Luckily, I could still eat and rest on and off. Clare dropped food and drinks and things off at my door for me. I watched a ton of TV and read several books. I watched three seasons of Rick & Morty, and a Netflix docuseries about a vegan restaurant owner who plead guilty to embezzlement or some shit after her romantic partner swindled her out of over a million dollars from her restaurant. Then I began watching this Hulu miniseries based after a case we had discussed in Criminal Law, where this girl Michelle Carter encouraged her "boyfriend" repeatedly over text to end his life, and she was eventually convicted for manslaughter. The miniseries is still airing, so I haven't finished it.
Some friends have been very kind. Niko dropped off lunch for Clare and I on Sunday, I think it was, along with a few Gatorades. Then my friend Jilly was kind enough to drop off a Starbucks breakfast for me yesterday.
I have spent almost the entirety of the last 6 days in my room. At first, for the first few days, I didn't really have a chance to feel bored or anything like that, because I was too busy being miserably sick and just trying to rest. Once I started feeling better, though, I started getting more restless and wishing I could get out. But alas.
Now that I'm doing a lot better, it has been kind of tough knowing what to do. My symptoms have improved remarkably fast. Most surprising is the extent to which my cough has disappeared--historically when I've had a cough from illness, they take forever to go away. The CDC has shortened the isolation period for folks, so I am technically due to break out of here. But I'm hesitant to go back to normal because I know the CDC shortened the isolation period for economical, rather than medical, reasons. It's so hard to know what to do in that regard.
On the whole, this could have been a lot worse. Luckily, I'm at a point in the semester where I could afford to just rest for a week. My internship finished on Friday, so I don't have to worry about doing work for that. I missed a week's worth of class, but at this point it really doesn't matter. I'm graduating in a month, and I committed to a post-grad job last summer. It's a privilege to be in the position to just rest as I need and not worry too much about the class I'm missing.
For now, I'm just daydreaming about moving to Milwaukee and getting my new apartment set up. I signed a lease for a place in the Walker's Point neighborhood. I've never been in person, and have only "seen" the area via Google Earth. From what I've seen, it'll be a nice walkable area. It's not in the heart of downtown--it's about two miles from the courthouse. I can't wait to see my place in person. It's a bright, beautiful new construction building. I have a full one-bedroom with a large balcony! Huge beautiful windows + sliding glass balcony doors. I really wanted that outdoor space to sit and get fresh air each day (until it becomes a winter hellscape, anyways).
I'll leave it at that for now.
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