COVID

Many apologies for the delay to those who patiently await my post for their Monday evening reads. I am writing this my 6th day of COVID brought to you by Johnson and Johnson.

When I got back from my trip to Bariloche (don't worry I will be posting about this soon), I immediately took a nap then went grocery shopping, and went to my normal Thursday classes - normal post-trip things. Friday morning at about 6 am I woke up hot like burning hot, and I knew. I just knew. I don't know how I knew but I did. I fumbled around with one of the at-home COVID tests I had brought with me for moments just like this, and without my contacts in, sitting in the semi-darkness, I swabbed my nose. For this COVID test, I had to put the swab in the solution and mix the swab around and then drop the solution on the little test-pad thing. Within seconds (literally like 3 seconds) of adding the drops, the little line under "T" popped up. Being the good chemist that I am, I still waited the entire 15 minutes for the test to go to completion. Leaving me with a very nice dark positive line.

My first kinda selfish thoughts were how upset I was that I wasn't going to be able to pick olives that weekend with Sol and her fam. My second thought was how awful I felt for going to classes the night before. I should've tested before going to classes, but everyone in my program has been traveling and everyone who traveled was okay, so I figured I'd be okay.

I texted Sol to let her know at 6:44 Friday morning probably freaking her out because why on earth would I be up texting her then. She calmed me down before I let the teachers I had seen Thursday night and my travel buddy, Amanda, know.

It has been very humbling to be sick alone with COVID in a different country because you don't have access to what you're used to. When I say access here, I don't mean access to healthcare or access to particular medicines. If I needed to go to the hospital, it's probably more accessible here considering there are public hospitals that don't charge you hundreds or thousands of dollars just for a check up. I mean access in a more personal sense. For example, I don't have access to my medicine cabinet with meds that I've stockpiled over the months/years because I didn't use all of the package. I don't have access to the random soups I've bought just in case I got sick. These small things seem small and silly, but you feel the blow when you realize at 6am on a Friday that you can't leave your apartment for a significant amount of time, and you did nothing to prepare for this.

Luckily, I had access to something greater than my container full of year old meds. I had (and have...I'm still sick lol) my community of people here. Sounds cheesy, I know. However, I don't think I have ever received so many sincere offers to help ever. Ever. I was overwhelmed (in a good way) with the number of people who asked me what I needed and if they could bring me something. I really didn't know how to respond to these besides "gracias <3" because they felt so different than offers I've received and have given myself. What I mean is if I think about what I would've done in the US if someone told me they had COVID, I, of course, would've told them to let me know if they need anything. Then, I would've moved on with my life because the offer would've been out of politeness. Of course, I would've gotten them something if they needed it, but I would've assumed they were just going to order something from Amazon or do curbside pick-up at HyVee (or Kroger, or Target or Walmart or wherever).

Maybe I'm making things up since I did have a fever for a couple of days, and even if I am, I'm still beyond grateful for the people who reached and for the people who were able to help me. I'm grateful for Sol and Ceci and Sonia and one of the students I work with, Luri, for bringing what I needed and for making sure I had everything that I needed. I can imagine I haven't been the easiest of patients to deal with. I am very United Statesian in that I am very individualist and feel terrible asking for help. In cases like this, it is not because I want to prove that I can do it myself but because I don't want to be a burden. I did not want to burden those who offered to help no matter how much they offered. I can imagine they all met up to plot to kill me and my stubborn unwillingness to ask for help.

Unfortunately, I did, in fact, need help, so I eventually accepted that I was pretty darn sick and succumbed to the very nice, very thoughtful community I have here.

Not only am I grateful for my people, I am also grateful for vaccines because COVID sucks. I was lucky that my symptoms were mild in the sense that I could recover at home, but I can guarantee that they in no way have felt mild. I cannot even begin to imagine how my body would've dealt with COVID without the help of my vaccine and booster (although I'm pretty certain my Johnson and Johnson vax did next to nothing). After two days of a fever, terrible sore throats, awful congestion, and nagging headaches that don't let up, I'm finally starting to feel more alive again. I still have an annoying cough and constant headache, but I am slowly improving day by day.

For those of you who looking for new shows to watch, check out:

Heartstopper - super cute, quick watch

The Anatomy of a Scandal - trigger warning, but kept me interested the entire show

Lovesick - also cute, had How I Met Your Mother vibes

The Good Place

Thanks for reading my little update! My post on my trip to Bariloche is on the way!