Status Update: 6/26/22
Posted on June 26, 2022 Posted by John Scalzi 16 Comments
Still on the plateau of meh. It’s the good side of awful and the bad side of okay, if you grasp what I’m saying. Today, I’m mostly just feeling tired, which corresponds with me being extremely bored with resting up. But there’s nothing for it. I understand the secret to keep COVID from messing with you in the long term is actually listening to your body about it in the short term. So I will be napping soon, is what I’m saying.
— JS
Hang in there. You are actually so right about listening to your body and not pushing it. Rest up! Oh, and if your body wants some chocolate, don’t fight it. Never fight against chocolate. Just say’in. ;-)
Take a cup of Earl Grey, a cat, and a nap. That is the secret to getting over COVID.
You’re doing the right thing by listening to your body. When I had COVID in December, the cold-like symptoms (sore throat, cough, congestion, etc) were bad enough. But the worst was the fatigue. I’m not particularly energetic at my best (my patronus is a sloth) but this was much, much worse than usual. The mental fog ran a close second.
It was about 3 weeks before I felt like I was back to normal, or at least close enough for government work.
This is not something to try to push through.
Get well soon!
Had you had the Covid vaccine? If so, did your doctor figure out why it didn’t work on you?
See, we knew you were a smart guy. Keep listening to your body: naps are your friend.
Easy does it. Let’s call it a research sabbatical.
Best to you and yours.
“If so, did your doctor figure out why it didn’t work on you?”
It doesn’t “work” to keep you from not getting it, ever since delta and omicron came along. It just hopefully makes it less bad when you get it at this point.
“Had you had the Covid vaccine? If so, did your doctor figure out why it didn’t work on you?”
That’s not the way vaccines work.
You have an excellent excuse for naps, catching up on reading when not napping, and enjoying pho noodle and pozole soups. Enjoy the respite!
Also, the good news is that, because of being wisely up to date on boosters, your period of acute infection was probably very short and now long past. The symptoms of such infections are largely “sequelae”, the aftermath of your adaptive immune system having already clobbered the infection, leaving some tissue damage that must heal. Your sore throat and sniffles are now the after-effect, rather than the now-defeated incursion itself.
“That’s not the way vaccines work”
Oh good we have a Twitter informed expert here to tell us something we already know.
I initially read this as “still on the plateau of meth”.
Napping is a goodness at any time, and especially as your body works to evict the last of the viruses and repair the damage. Good on you for listening to what you body is telling you.
If your trajectory winds up being similar to ours, you’ll have another 4 to 7 days of subpar energy and mental acuity, gradually improving daily. Our family members continued to show positive RA test results until the fatigue and brain-fog were largely resolved, so you may see the same thing.
But most importantly, for you as well as for our family, the vaccine and the booster taught your immune system to fight off the invaders, and even if the viruses were able to replicate enough to make you feel crummy and be contagious, your body is still able to eradicate them and repair itself. That is huge, and would very likely not have been your outcome two years ago.
Nap often, and here’s to a complete recovery!
Folks, let’s not get into a discussion of how vaccines work because it’s already devolving. I am satisfied with my vaccine experience, i.e., I’m mildly symptomatic rather than in a hospital on a respirator, or dead.
So, tabled, move on.
Rest and get well soon. Read a good book in bed.
Hope you continue to improve apace.
I just tested positive myself Saturday morning after feeling tired on Friday and then losing consistent thermoregulation sometime in the night between. I’m fortunate that it’s been in the “like a cold” levels of symptoms and that I’m able to isolate without employment complications, but I’m a bit bummed that the first business trip I was able to take in over 2 years tags me immediately. Dice rolls, I guess.
The worst part for me, at the moment, isn’t the symptoms- rather, it’s not being able to hug my family for another week.
For me, COVID was the sweatiest illness I’ve ever had. I had a zoom court hearing that I couldn’t reschedule, and I’m pretty sure the shirt and suit I was wearing for it will need to be boiled, or excommunicated, or both. The naps helped, for sure.