On March 11 of this year we were planning a birthday party for my husband (13th) I had hired someone to Spring clean the house; off to the doctor for my regular blood draw to check my thyroid – then home to wrap gifts, order the cakes, etc. etc. etc. Except as I was leaving the doctor’s office, I didn’t feel so good.
By the time I walked in the front door I commanded every one to stay away from me, the nice lady who was cleaning my house offered me an extra mask, I accepted and disappeared into the guest room and went to bed. Body aches, high fever, night sweats, complete lack of appetite…I was diligently taking my temperature, drinking water, taking ibuprofen (oops) and canceled the party,
On the 2nd day of high fever, etc., I got online and had a telehealth appointment with CityMD. I explained my symptoms, shared the reality of my health situation which is my normal temperature is usually below 97.0…so for me to be at 100, was really high. She asked me if I had trouble breathing. I told her I did not. [To be fair, they hadn’t yet determined that people could test positive and be asymptomatic. They hadn’t yet realized that folks who were barely symptomatic were testing positive. They just didn’t have enough tests to go around (for those of us who don’t play professional sports).] She told me that I likely did not have it and could go back to work. Insert sound effect used on “Let’s Make a Deal” when the contestant trades in thousands of dollars worth of prizes for a bucket with a hole in it.
I was stunned. I said, “that is the last thing I’m going to do – to them or me.” She said, “Do you want a note to get out of work for a couple of days?” RUFKM?. No, punkin’ – I want to keep myself from infecting the nice people I work with – and the rest of my family and friends. I thanked her for her time and I logged out of my session.
I relegated myself to the guest room for the better part of a week; I stayed away from everyone and everything I loved (we have 4 dogs) until my fever was gone for 24 hours – and then remained in quarantine for another week. I didn’t even realize for another few days that I couldn’t really taste anything. I slept a lot. By the time I was ready to get back into the swing of things, they had shut down the world.
We’ve been very careful with masks and being home and not having people in and wearing masks and not going anywhere much and talking to folks from the porch and wearing masks, and putting on a mask when we do go somewhere and having masks in the car, in my purse and on the counter on the kitchen…just in case.
WHO FUCKING REFUSES TO WEAR A MASK?! FUCK YOU. FUCK YOU, YOU SELFISH FUCK.
The entire world is experiencing something simultaneously – and America cannot call “Winner!” I’m not going to repeat all of the laughable and ridiculous statements our president made for the first many weeks of the pandemic. However, I am going to say that his unwillingness to take the word of experts, to put the American people before his own convenience and to acknowledge human frailty as shared condition has cost hundreds of thousands of American lives. Oddly enough, I had to ignore the word of an expert to protect my family.
You just can’t make this shit up.
