Covid Positive

I suppose that it had to happen one day.  As Covid transitions from pandemic to endemic, we've been warned that we'll all eventually get it.  It caught me on Sunday evening. 

I went to bed a little earlier than usual, feeling groggy, then woke up in the morning with a headache and a runny nose. Since S-- had endured exactly the same symptoms less than two weeks ago, and had consistently tested negative for the duration of the illness, I felt confident that I would do the same. I was wrong.  Scarcely believing the result, I repeated it using one of the newer, simpler lateral flow test kits that only contain nasal swabs. This time the positive result appeared even sooner and clearer.

So now I'm grounded for 10 days, or 5 if I can return negative tests on days 5 & 6.  Since the symptoms appeared on Sunday, 'day 1' was Monday, and I'll retest on Friday and Saturday

Probably because I entered the initial data wrongly, NHS tracing has designated 'day 1' as Tuesday, but I'll stick to my way of counting. Of course, there's no guarantee that I'll be Covid-free by Friday.

The story so far...

Monday: runny nose, but boasting that I'm feeling rather good.  If this is Covid, bring it on!

Monday night: woke up in the middle of the night with a raging sort throat. Treated it a couple of times with Difflam Spray, which seemed to help.

This morning: feeling groggy, but put on my dressing gown and had a go at breakfast.  Hot coffee and Weetabix in hot milk worked rather better than Difflam. Went back to bed until 10-o'clock. 

This afternoon: wrote this post and amused myself doing some long-overdue cataloguing of photos. I've had a couple of Paracetamols, but my throat is still somewhat sore.  Mugs of hot tea definitely ease the nagging pain. 

A friend offered to lend me her oxygen saturation meter, but I've politely declined as my wonderful FitBit fitness tracker gives me this information.  Indeed, it's giving me all sorts of data to which I have hitherto paid scant attention.

That's interesting. 95% is generally considered to be the lowest healthy night-time value, so I'm only just okay. Notice, though, that it dropped a little lower than 95% on Wednesday 12th. I think that I'm usually around 96-97%, though I did admit to paying it scant attention.  

No surprises here. Last night's interrupted sleep, thanks to that darned sore throat, shows clearly.

A resting heart rate of 59bpm is unusually high for me, though well within the accepted 'healthy' range. I usually average about 53bpm. 

None of these data are cause for concern, but I'm fascinated by the way that they rise and fall.  Consequently, I'll probably bore my loyal readers with a detailed account of my recovery.  You have been warned!  

In the mean time, I console myself with the knowledge that I'm now as protected as I'll ever be against future bouts of Covid, with 3 vaccinations and the natural infection.