Sigh…
Okay, so let’s start with the good news.
When I first tested for COVID last Sunday, a bright red Test line appears almost immediately. I was one hot mess the next couple of days. Fortunately I was able to get a prescription for a five-day regimen of Paxlovid, which quite remarkably short-circuited the worst symptoms. By Friday I was starting to feel more myself and semi-functional, though I’m still tiring easily.
So, having wrapped up the Paxlovid last night, I gambled that a new home test would bring good news. Sigh. My luck with games of chance has always sucked. I was initially hopeful as the Test line was blank, but as you can see in the photo, a pallid red line did occur. According to the instructions, that means I’m still positive.
I wasn’t going anywhere soon because my wife Barb, with whom I shared this crummy gift, is still recovering. Not that I missed being out last week, one of the gloomiest weather weeks ever in a city where they aren’t infrequent. But it broke my heart to have to cancel on covering tonight’s return of the Jean Banchet Culinary Awards, and postpone a couple of other appointments. So homebound I am.
As I mentioned earlier, I not only avoided COVID for nearly four years, but I didn’t have so much as a sniffle. Did I get… complacent? Careless? In any case, here are some situations in which I could have used better judgment.
Booster shot: I planned to get four shots, for flu, COVID, RSV and pneumonia. But I decided I’d space them out so if I had a reaction I’d know what caused it. I got the flu shot with best intentions to get the COVID booster before I left on the 16th for the three-day Everything Local Conference. But yeah, yeah, got busy, didn’t get around to it. Unforced error.
Masking: I’ve actually stuck with mask wearing on public transportation, unless the vehicle is very empty (I won’t be making that exception going forward). I took Amtrak to and from the Everything Local Conference in Springfield and had a mask on for almost the entire time both ways.
The same was not true at the Conference, though. I did not mask up, and hardly any of the hundreds of attendees did. That doesn’t mean that was where I picked up the bug, but I definitely let my guard down in a way that won’t happen again for a very long time.
Crowded indoor events: I’d been to a number of these — work events, dinners, concerts, etc. — since the pandemic new normal set in. Most of these were unmasked, with no ill effects. So yes, maybe another case where complacency had set in.
In addition to the Conference’s panel discussions and an awards dinner, there were after-hours bar gatherings on two nights of the conference. They were fun! I hung out with old friends and made new ones! And if I was being vigilant, I might have thought twice and just gone back to my hotel room.
Travel: I’m sure that all of us know a bunch of folks who traveled with a bunch of strangers on planes, trains and cruise ships, then tested positive for COVID. I was eager for the Conference and was determined to go. Amtrak was the only logical option: We don’t own a car and a rental would have been very expensive, and driving for hours nervous about the car breaking down in the middle of nowhere in sub-zero weather didn’t sound attractive at all.
Nonetheless, I was on pins and needles for a couple of days before the trip, as the cold wave had prompted Amtrak to cancel most of the trains coming in or going out of Chicago. The train I which I was scheduled was the last option of the day, and it went — more than three hours late, so that was three hours hanging out waiting with a bunch of strangers.
The trip back was less problematic, but still a long haul in a rolling tin can with poor ventilation.
This trip continued a streak of travel snafus for me. This would be no big deal if I traveled often, but I literally left Chicago three times over the past five months, and it got fouled up all three times.
First, last August I was on a flight from Midway to Detroit that was scheduled to get there around 4. But first Southwest Airlines held the flight for a tardy (and overweight) freight shipment. Because of the delay we got near Detroit just in time for a line of thunderstorms to cause ground delays. We had to divert for refueling to Cleveland — where we spent seven hours on the ground, arriving in Detroit around 1 a.m. after they finally found a flight crew that could take us there.
In November I had to make a day trip to Detroit for a memorial service. The event was wedged between two evening events here in Chicago, so I booked an Amtrak round trip looking forward to 12 hours of enforced captivity to relax and catch up on some work. I awoke at 4:30 a.m. to prepare for my early train out, and found a notification from Amtrak that a derailment in New Buffalo, Michigan, had canceled all trains between Chicago and Michigan. So I had to rent a car and drive 600 miles round trip in a little more than 24 hours.
Then this month, Amtrak got me to Springfield (albeit three hours late), got me home… and then I got COVID.
So, in my return to vigilance, I am going to prioritize COVID boosters, regardless of what’s going on in my busy life. I am going to wear a mask anywhere where human contact is likely. I’m going to avoid indoor gatherings lasting more than a couple of hours. And I think, to be on the safer side, I’m going to following the wisdom of Dorothy Gale in The Wizard of Oz:
There’s no place like home.
For the Eggplant Lover in You
In partnership with University of Illinois Extension and UI Health, Local Food Forum is happy to share a series featuring healthy, tasty and affordable recipes. The series supports UI Extension’s Eat.Move.Save. program, which provides tips and information on how to eat healthy on any budget.
Thanks to Bianca Bautista of UI Extension Cook County, who produces this fun and informative feature. This week’s subject is eggplant, a vegetable that can be a) polarizing and b) something that many people are perplexed how to you. I like it — homemade baba ghanoush is one of my specialties — but my wife is not a fan.
Hopefully today’s installment will provide lots of inspiration.
I doubt this is of comfort to you to know, but my spouse & I were both current in our vaccinations & like you, mask on public transit. We enjoyed most of December in Berlin but both of us came down with what we thought at first was a mild winter cold two days before flying from Berlin via Frankfort to O’Hare.
The long flight home certainly didn’t help, nor the lack of masking on board. We both tested positive back in Chicago. This COVID is evolving & it is important to keep up on vaccines but the vaccines plus masking still do not ensure one from contracting it. Getting rest and keeping up nutritionally help build strength and bolster our immune systems to fight off many things that otherwise weaken us. Here’s to full recovery to you and Barb! ♥️😊 Sue