I don't often get sick, and when I do it's not often all that bad or for all that long. Most of the time when I sense a bad headache or a fever coming on, I'll go to sleep early and wake up fine. In our marriage this has been somewhat frustrating for my wife, who's often been more impacted from the same strain of whatever's going around. But my resilience has apparently changed in recent years.
In the latest case, I've been pretty messed up the last two weeks. It's a weird one. First of all, I had a typical sickness about a month ago, I figured it was the latest strain of Covid, and was laid up for less than two days. I felt fine for a couple weeks afterward except for some lingering phlegm. Then, whether there was something else that hit my weakened system or I just had a bear fully getting better, the brain fog started.
Here's what I mean when I say I had brain fog. I was very tired, my eyes constantly wanted to be shut and I could've fallen asleep any time I laid down. My well of energy ran out quickly and, with my job of taking care of the kids and various other tasks around the house, I was extraordinarily exhausted at the end of the day. The main issue, however, was it felt like my brain wasn't working right. It was like being groggy, like right after you wake up, all day long. Like you were right on the verge of a headache but didn't actually develop one. It was hard to concentrate or focus, and recall of information was a struggle too. It was dull, numb, and while not exactly oppressive, got to be quite annoying and, eventually, worrying. There was a point where I even wondered if I had brain damage or something. I certainly wasn't feeling myself, and needed to rely on habits much more than brainpower to get through the days.
The worst of this happened during the week and, with everything going on, my wife didn't even notice. This isn't a shot at her. I didn't look sick. I did everything I normally do, for the kids, around the house. I wasn't drinking at all and was going to bed earlier than usual but neither of those things are crazy. I should've told her, but to be honest I struggled to even explain it to myself, let's blame my head not working right. The fog started to life toward the end of the work week, right after finally getting that headache, it was five or six days in total I think, and seemed like forever. I'd just started looking at getting a doctors appointment but decided against it. Most of the weekend I was doing great, and almost back to normal.
On Sunday we drove across town to take our eldest to a pitch and putt golf course. It was his first time playing (kinda-sorta) actual golf. On the way I started feeling queasy, disoriented, and that continued after getting out of the car. We still played, and even went out to dinner afterward, but once more I wasn't right. Again this was a weird illness. I finally booked an appointment, though the earliest I could get (through UofM/Fairview) was a few days away.
After internally waffling those days in between, I was better each day and am always hesitant to go in, I followed through and got checked out by a professional. She didn't find anything obviously wrong with me, either with an in-person look or through a few blood tests. My white count was a little low and everything pointed to a recovery from a virus. Still, I'm glad I went, even if it costs us a bit. I'd never felt like that before and really wanted it to end.
So it's been a rough one, and though I'm probably still not 100%, I'm close. Unfortunately, since the start of Covid this is becoming almost like an annual occurrence. The challenge has been vastly different symptoms each time I'm wrecked by a longer-term illness. The last one was purely respiratory, this one not at all. If I go through it again at least I'll know what I'm dealing with. But hopefully I don't, that was no fun.
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