Starting day 3 with Covid, and I’ve got to say…it’s not fun. I have what’s considered ‘mild to moderate’ disease at present. Mainly bad cold stuff, dominated by a world-class runny nose (more like a sprinting nose), sneezing, sore throat, a hacking cough, body aches and big-time fatigue. I’m typing this at one-third my usual hunt-and-peck pace, which means I’ve gone from slow to glacial.

I’m surprised it’s taken this long for the virus to mow me down. During the early days of the pandemic I was teaching in the pediatric clinic at the Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency*, where I was the pediatric director until my retirement last year. We’d go see kids maskless (we didn’t know any better at first), and often times the child or parent would be sick with cold symptoms, coughing all over us. In retrospect, a lot of them probably had Covid, but somehow I managed to dodge that bullet – repeatedly.

Since then I’ve learned a lot about staying Covid-free. Masks, gloves, eye shields, and Covid vaccine and boosters galore… I retired a year ago figuring I’d beaten the whole thing. Then last week my wife, Elisabeth, came down with it and three days later – despite masking and isolating from one another – it was my turn.** Not sure where we got it, but one thing’s sure: Covid is one tricky, patient virus.

Anyway, that’s enough whining from the patient for now. I’ll be back soon with another post, this one about the upcoming World Parkinson’s Day…

___

* Hey, kids! If you want to grow up to be a truly excellent family physician, the Santa Rosa Family Medicine Residency is the program for you. Great residents, great faculty!

**Please understand, I’m not blaming my beloved. Elisabeth has been way more careful with masking in public than me – kind of ironic that she caught it first…