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Covid Finally Got Me
All good dramas need a compelling opening scene. Mine started with a migraine. Not an ordinary migraine like I get once or twice monthly. This was a leviathan, a pounding throbbing pulsating torment that blinded me for hours. The pain was what I imagine first-time hikers experience at 25,000 feet on Everest except I had no Sherpa to get me through.
I cancelled the art classes I was scheduled to teach and spent the day in bed. The pain subsided twelve hours later and the next morning I felt great and returned to work. My temperature was normal and I had no reason to suspect Covid. That all changed while driving home. I was dizzy and nauseous and my vision became blurry. The headache returned and my nose ran like a faucet. When I got home, I ate soup and plopped into bed.
Around 1:00 am, I had a dream where an old friend said, “Test yourself now.” My t-shirt was drenched with sweat and my body shivered uncontrollably. I staggered to the bathroom, grabbed a Covid test kit and swabbed my nose. Two dark lines came up immediately. I woke my wife and told her I tested positive. She donned a mask and went back to sleep.
I took a long hot shower. In my feverish stupor, I visualized squiggly little demons floating in the air around me. They had scrunched-up faces and were laughing. The squigglies were actually the light flashes common to a migraine aura, precursor…
