JUL 14, 22 .. MAY 14, 22 .. IT HAS NOW BEEN TWO MONTHS

Disclaimer : We two both KNOW! Like us, you too are bored with, and you too are sick and tired of the covid-19 pandemic. And IF you think that covid-19 is nothing to worry about, and YOU (who very well may have received both basic, two-dosage vaccinations and both booster shots) will never get re-infected, then please, just stop reading right here!

– – – – – – – – 

However, IF like Patti and myself, YOU have been in three Emergency Rooms in three different cities, December 2019 (Seattle, Washington), January 2020 (Phoenix, Arizona) up to and including our most recent infection dating to May 14 – 19, 2022 in Royal Oak, Michigan, and IF YOU have (as we two both have) received both basic vaccinations, and both booster shots, and have not yet contacted the covid-19 subvariant BA.5, please beware it has the ability to hammer you too! Please do your very best to keep-your-guard-up. Sad to say, the pandemic is NOT over.

As a result of the December 2019 and January 2020 covid-19 infections, both Patti and myself have both been dealing with Long Covid Symptoms.

Two full months ago, on Saturday, May 14th, 2022, Patti and I landed in the Detroit Metro Airport after a night of flying. We left Anchorage, Alaska, Friday evening May 13th (yep, Friday the 13th).

The next Thursday, May the 19th, Patti TESTED POSITIVE for a variant (we feel the BA.5) of covid-19 in the Emergency Room of William Beaumont Hospital, Royal Oak, Michigan.

We now believe, with every fiber of our beings, that we contacted this second covid-19 infection during our May 13-14 flight from Anchorage to Detroit. Makes perfect sense. From Saturday May 14th until Thursday May 19th is five (count them 5) days during which the covid-19 virus manifested itself into serious symptoms (Patti was experiencing a horrible head cold or flu, coughing a lot, sleeping for hours at a time, falling asleep while sitting in a chair, etc) that we could no longer ignore. 

So What Captain? Two months have passed! Get on with your lives!

Let me refer you to an (at least for the two of us) interesting article from CNN that we read online today.

https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/14/health/omicron-ba-5-variant-immunity-severity/index.html

I quote in part from the above CNN article..

But suddenly, many people who had recovered from Covid-19 as recently as March or April found themselves exhausted, coughing and staring at two red lines on a rapid test. How could this be happening again — and so soon?

The culprit this time is yet another Omicron offshoot, BA.5. It has three key mutations in its spike protein that make it both better at infecting our cells and more adept at slipping past our immune defenses.

Lab studies of antibodies from the blood of people who’ve been vaccinated or recovered from recent Covid-19 infections have looked at how well they stand up to BA.5, and this subvariant can outmaneuver them. So people who’ve had Covid as recently as winter or even spring may again be vulnerable to the virus.

– – – – – – – – 

Our Bottom Line : Two months after getting, and dealing with, our second covid-19 viral infection, we both are still paying a steep price in terms of lingering symptoms from this second go-around. 

On June 25th I wrote : IF Covid had a personality and could communicate with me, it is now saying to me : “Captain, you only think you have been dealing with my fatigue. Now that you have come down with me for a second time (the first time being in late 2019 while still in Asia) I am really going to up-the-ante!”

And, in terms of what I previously felt was Long Covid Fatigue dating back to my December 2019 covid infection, it has indeed upped-the-ante, at least for me. Fatigue like you wouldn’t fathom unless you too were experiencing it.

What’s the answer? No one knows!

What to do? The same-old-same-old boring advice. Advice that many or most of you DON’T WANT TO HEAR. Wear N95 masks. Socially distance. Avoid indoor crowds of people. Wash your hands.

We feel that we owe all of you this honest appraisal of how we are doing. In some ways very VERY well thank you! We’ve NOT been hospitalized. We are still alive. We ARE still functioning (Our partial Gratitude List : We just purchased a new washer/dryer, we are going to our meetings, taking walks, reading to one-another, eating well, loving Jeopardy and Wheel of Fortune, watching sports events when they are on, I am still publishing posts here online, etc) but doing so while, at one and the same time, feeling like we are walking knee-deep in quick-sand.

And, like you, we too are sick and tired and bored with it all.

Cap and Patti

• ← JUL 12, 22 (3/3) .. A DAY WITH GREAT EXPECTATIONS ..
• JUL 15, 22 .. A PERFECT SET OF CIRCUMSTANCES →