Well, I guess I’m part of history now.
Some of you readers may have noticed the absence of my byline in the April 8 edition of the Star. During that week – and for half of the prior one – I was in isolation, after testing positive for COVID-19.
It started as a slight cough on Tuesday, March 30 and I progressively began to feel worse as the evening wore on. Waking up on Wednesday, March 31, I felt pretty terrible and I looked at my phone to see that a friend of mine I had visited the weekend prior had messaged me, letting me know that she had tested positive and that I should be tested.
Sure enough – after my nose was swabbed and a 20-minute wait in the health department parking lot – a nurse came out to deliver the grim news: I was in fact positive for COVID-19. Here I must also commend the efficiency and caring of the health department nurses, who were professional and kind with me, and who explained very clearly that I needed to isolate for 10 days and could not leave isolation until my symptoms abated, and I was fever-free for 24 hours with no medications.
I went home, and by George I felt terrible those first few days. The muscle aches were the worst part of it for me, and I spent many hours lying in a warm bathtub with Dr. Bronner’s Peppermint Soap, and taking ibuprofen to try to keep the pain at bay. I also had some headaches, fever and respiratory symptoms.
By about Easter Sunday, I was starting to feel somewhat better. However, waking up on Easter Sunday, I realized that I had experienced one of the most infamous COVID-19 symptoms: losing my sense of smell.
That week was spent combatting boredom and watching a strange mix of movies and YouTube videos. I think I watched Tora!,Tora!,Tora! and Little Miss Sunshine back to back one day. It got rather boring, honestly, and I was ready to leave my plague house by the end of the week.
So far, I’m on my second week back at the office, with all my symptoms gone, except for a slight cough. My sense of smell has also returned and is getting close to normal again.
As miserable as COVID-19 made me feel, I feel thankful that my case wasn’t as severe as many others have been. With 581,172 COVID-19 deaths in the U.S. and more than three million worldwide, it’s easy to see that this virus is something to be wary of.
I hope to receive my first dose of the vaccine soon and I hope more people in Graham County do too.
Wear your masks and be careful, folks.
Charlie Benton is the staff writer for The Graham Star. He can be reached via phone, 479-3383; and email, news@grahamstar.com.