Dept. of COVID, Updated

[kaffy_r]

Update: I'm Still Positive

The good news is that Bob finally tested negative the day before yesterday. The bad news was that he was still in incredible pain, and we ended up going to an urgent care place (getting an appointment with his doctor? Ha! And I repeat - ha!) to see why this was the case and if the reason might be influenza. Bob's had his annual flu shot, but he also has COPD, and he was coughing up a storm. They tested him for COVID, and for influenza; he came back negative. So the nurse practitioner hazarded a guess that he'd picked up an opportunistic bacterial infection. He's now almost finished his amoxicillin Rx, and he is much, much better. 

The bad news is that I've been testing positive ever since Jan. 3. I did some reading (CDC, etc.) to see if a 12-day stretch of testing positive is completely out of the ordinary, and what options I have in terms of when I can stop isolating (to the extent I've been able; I've had to go out, double-masked, a couple of times.) Unfortunately, there's more than one answer,, so I'm stewing quietly, and hoping that tomorrow's test is better. In the mean time, I feel like I'm fighting a bad cold. Gah, 

I watched all four days of L'Affaire de Spineless Kevin. I found myself sardonically amused at the fact that I disagreed with a lot of experts who were predicting that McCarthy wouldn't win the speakership of the U.S. House. And he did, and I was right, and they were wrong - and I wish I'd been wrong. God, we're in for massively petty meanness and inchoate self-pitying MAGA World snowflakeishness. (If that isn't a word, it should be) over the next two years. Just imagining having to see Jim/Gym Jordan with a committee gavel in his hand makes my gorge rise. 

Why yes, I am partisan; why do you ask? And why should I not be? There's no more room for compromise, and we shouldn't fool ourselves about that. OK, maybe in the Senate; the House is a lost cause.

And of course, now that a precious few classified documents have been found at a couple of Biden's properties - which his attorneys immediately reported to the DOJ and the National Archives - MAGA World is absolutely giddy with "See? Your guy does it, too!" reactions. I'm tired of these people, y'all. And we've got too many years, months, days, hours, minutes, seconds of them. 

I've had a difficult time settling down to write, either my fiction, or here. But I'm going to keep trying. Maybe I can do a couple of the Fandom Snowflake exercises, I can get back up to full power. 

But right now, I'm tired, and my head aches, and I want to get some type of hot tea into me. Or perhaps a hot tisane; we got a bunch for Christmas, and I'd like to try some of them. Maybe one of them will make me feel better (even if it's only a placebo effect.)

Comments

[maruad]

The continued illnesses suck turds. Thoughts and prayers are worthless but they are all I can off. I sincerely hope you both get well soon.

[kaffy_r]

Thoughts and prayers as you offer them are definitely not worthless. Thank you for both.

[mxcatmoon]

12 days positive?! Geez, Louise! I hope it's over soon.

I cringed when I heard the news about the classified docs because MAGA is never going to shut up about it. I hate giving them ammo - they're experts at making up their own fantasy/lies without that too.

I've been participating in threesentenceficathon, that's been a fun way to be a bit creative. I didn't think I'd enjoy it, but I really am.

[kaffy_r]

Oh, I took part in that ficathon last year (or the year before? Can't quite recall at this moment), and I really enjoyed it. If I have the spoons tomorrow, I'll take a dive into the prompts; thank you for reminding me of it!

[dewline]

...yeah. All of this. I want to sit down and write and/or draw. And it's not happening so far.

[kaffy_r]

Right now, I can blame COVID, but I don't know to what I'll attribute it once I'm better. Heh.

[chez_jae]

That's a long time to be testing positive. Yikes.

[kaffy_r]

Yep. But apparently, it's possible to test positive for weeks or even months. What I need to finally figure out is whether that means I'm still contagious. As for as I can tell, it might not.

[lilacsigil]

Yeah, some people are unlucky with continuing to test positive and it may or may not mean you're contagious. Are they just home tests you've been doing? Can you access a PCR test?

Best wishes for testing negative and actually being negative soon!

[kaffy_r]

I've been using rapid antigen tests, which we can get for free. I'm not sure about accessing a PCR test. I got an emailed non-answer back from my doctor's nurse, just telling me that I would be contagious for the next five days.

Ya think?/s

Ah, well ....

And thanks!

[dreamshark]

12 days is a long time, but not ridiculous. It's certainly not unusual to feel like crap for a good 2 weeks no matter what the test says. Everyone in my family tested positive for at least a week, and none of us was particularly sick. I think Thorin finally tested negative on Day 10, even though his symptoms had cleared up completely a few days before that. The test line should be getting fainter each day, though.

I don't think anybody knows how long you are contagious. At one point the CDC was suggesting that health care workers could return to work after 5 days even if they were testing positive because they "probably" weren't contagious, but they did not seem to have any data to support that and just confused everybody. There was also something about "if the fever is gone" but since many people never get a fever at all that is minimally helpful. Later they "clarified" that this advice applied only to health care workers because they had access to N95 masks. But now everybody does, so, who knows?

In any case, I'm glad you're both feeling better.

[kaffy_r]

I don't think anybody knows how long you are contagious.

Bingo! Hence my confusion. I emailed my question to my GP, and her nurse sent back a non-answer. I'm just going to be careful when I'm around people who aren't Bob. I'll go double-masked when I have to go out. And I'll just keep testing.

I hope the medical and research community keeps working on this shape-changing virus, and I know that as they learn things, best practices will evolve, but for those of us here on the ground it can be frustrating.

[pameladean]

Ugh, secondary infections are really unfair, and I'm glad the antibiotics are working.

Anecdotally I know quite a few people who tested positive for twelve days or longer, but it is extremely vexatious whether common or otherwise. I hope you feel better soon.

P.

[kaffy_r]

secondary infections are really unfair

That's a great way of putting it. And I'm glad to hear about your anecdotal evidence. Thanks for your good wishes.

[sallymn]

I am so sorry you are going through this, hope you are better soon. The problem is, not only is the disease still too new for as much study to be done as we'd want, but it has so many variables...

{sending karmic lemon and honey}

[kaffy_r]

Thank you for the karmic lemon and honey - both are much appreciated!

And you are oh, so very right about the newness of COVID. Heck, we still have so many difficulties grasping truths about illnesses we've had for centuries; getting a handle on SARS-CoV-2 is an immense task.

[a_phoenixdragon]

Oh, honey...

I am so glad Bob is getting better, but I am worried about you and hoping you get better soon, too.

OMG. All the words I have been thinking, you said. What a @##$ing SHITSHOW we are in for. JOY. <---*Sarcasm*

*HUGS*

[kaffy_r]

Thanks, my dear - Bob has gotten consistently better every day, which I'm glad about as well. As for me ... I have no idea, although I've been glad to hear from some folks here that they've known or heard of people testing positive for long periods.

And yeah, a shitshow - we reach the nation's debt limit next Thursday. Assholes.

*hugs back*

[thisbluespirit]

Aw, hope you test negative very soon - and that you both feel better. <3<3<3

[kaffy_r]

Thanks - we're soldiering on, although I do wish we could stop soldiering, and start doing whatever the opposite of soldiering is. Heh.

[bibliofile]

Bleah, do not want any more of the illness nonsense. I'm glad that Bob's on the mend, finally, because yikes that could've gone badly.

I wish we could send & receive memos from our ailments & immune systems. (What's the matter? Is it just going to take time or what? What can I do to help -- or not? Listening to bodies is SO nonspecific.)

[kaffy_r]

I wish we could send & receive memos from our ailments & immune systems.

I really like that idea! The possibilities for hilarity are endless!