Get. Vaccinated.

Well, as usual, it’s been a while since I’ve posted anything. I’ve been busy trying to revive my social life since Covid first hit. I’m sure I’ll write about that sooner than later but that’s not the point of this post.

In the process of reviving my social life and generally, just not being at home, the inevitable happened. I wound up getting sick.

It started after a run. I got back after my first 10k in a while. The weather here is cooling down and I felt cold. Really cold, and my throat was sore and my chest felt as though someone was sitting on it. Hoping it would pass overnight I went to sleep but woke up with chills and feeling short of breath still. My throat was sore and I figured that I was at the very least coming down with a cold. As usual, the first thing I did was go and get tested.

The next morning I got my results back and it was the worst possible answer. Positive. Those first days were scary living alone as i wasn’t entire sure what to expect. The thought crossed my mind about what I would do in the event that I woke in the middle of the night not being able to breathe, or what would I do if my oxygen levels dropped suddenly. How would I get myself somewhere that EMS would have access? Now, I keep myself in pretty good shape and I was double vaccinated so the bulk of the symptoms were gone in 3 days. The ones that stuck around were my loss of smell and taste as well as a stuffy nose and sore throat.

After 10 days I was no longer symptomatic and was allowed to leave my house. Now a week after having “recovered” enough to leave the house and partake in the usual activities, there are some lingering effects that that were really something that I was dreading.

One symptom that I’m dealing with is that my sense of smell is still not back. I can taste again thankfully. I don’t know what I would do if I lost my sense of taste for any long period of time. But my sense of smell is almost as important when cooking. Based on my digging it could be anywhere from 3 weeks to 9 months to come back. That’s a scary prospect but something that I think I could learn to live with or would get used to.

The other symptom that I’m struggling with is the fact that my lung capacity has been reduced to feeling like I’m a pack a day smoker again. I get winded running up stairs or talking for too long. I’ll take big breaths and it will still feel like I’m not getting enough air. On my way home from the gym it felt like someone was pressing with their body weight on my chest. This has reduced my runs to 5k every second day and even that’s a struggle. Weight lifting is the same but I think that this is due to the fact that it’s been almost 3 weeks since I’ve done anything substantial. At least, that’s what I’m hoping. By most accounts, it looks like it will take me 3 months to get back into the shape I was before I got Covid. This is the goal and the wish that I have for myself.

My quality of life is absolutely suffering due to these lingering effects and I’m really hoping my prediction for how long they’ll last is wrong. I couldn’t imagine how this would be if I wasn’t in good shape to begin with or what would happen if I wasn’t vaccinated. I consider myself lucky. Based on the symptoms I did experience, it would likely have been a lot worse if I didn’t give myself the best fighting chance against it.

Get vaccinated. It’s the best chance you can give your body to fight this virus. The number of people in hospitals that are unvaccinated VS the ones that are, make this pretty obvious. But there’s more than that. Get out and get active. start with a walk, or short run. Get to the gym and lift weights, find a sport, get off the couch. A healthy lifestyle is a good defense against illness as well. Your body is better equipped to fight a virus if it’s not fighting to keep your heart beating and your lungs breathing on a daily, regular basis.

Covid is no joke and I wish more people in this province and this country would take it more seriously.