Covid-19 The Sequel

 

At least I'm not pregnant

There is something positive in my life!!!

This is my second encounter with Covid.

The first was in March 2020 as reported here on my blog .

The first time I caught a pre-alpha strain, and this time it was Omicron. I'm trying Covid bingo!

 

 

 

On Wednesday the 15/06/2022 I went to pick up my nephew and his girlfriend from the airport. Either I caught the virus right away on this occasion or it was when I had dinner with them on Sunday the 19th.

We went to the Oeiras marina for dinner and as it was a little cool the following days I thought I had a cold. This is a common myth, instilled in us by our grandparents, and I myself have a hard time avoiding it. It is not the cold that causes a cold, but exposure to a virus .

Anyway, on Monday I started to have slight symptoms, with a scratchy throat. The next day, on my sister's birthday, my throat was worse. That day we found out that Rebecca, Tiago's girlfriend, was positive. 

 

 

 

 

So when Thursday morning came around and I felt much worse, I decided to do a self-test, which came back positive.

I warned my co-workers and the next morning I called SNS24, going through the usual steps to schedule a lab test for the day itself. In fact, I received the sms from the SNS and went straight to the laboratory, where I didn't have to wait because I was the only person waiting to be seen. 

An hour later I received the positive result of the confirmatory test by email and accessed the SNS website to validate the Declaration of Isolation.

My period of isolation started on Friday the 24/06th and ended on Thursday the 30/06.

Initially I thought I was in a position to do remote work and filled out the corresponding workflow.

However over the weekend my symptoms got a lot worse. On Saturday night I had a very sore throat, with difficulty swallowing and some shortness of breath. At that point, I confess I got a little scared.

Sunday was slightly better, but I decided to call the Médis doctor. I was prescribed ibrufen, paracetamol and a steroid (prednisolone).

At the end of the day I decided that I wouldn't be able to work. I sent a message to my boss asking him to reject the Remote Work CAS, and I sent a message to Human Resources that I would be out of work for 5 business days.

 

I have not yet mentioned that this year, I have been participating in a Vodafone reskilling program in order to change roles within the company. The program started in September 2021, and involves a heavy daily workload, in addition to normal working hours. 

By chance, the final project of the program happened in the two weeks I was symptomatic with covid. The final project was ambitious and took a lot of work. It was about assembling the basic structure of an e-commerce store in just two weeks. In the first week I still managed to work with a good rhythm. When the symptoms set in, especially the enormous tiredness and headaches of the last few days, everything became much more difficult.

Furthermore, just 3 months ago I got a dental braces, and on Wednesday the 22nd I went to the appointment to put the missing brackets and adjust the tension of the wires. This always causes a lot of discomfort for a few days, but to make it worse, the wire came loose in the last molar and started to drill a nice hole in my cheek. As on Friday I went into isolation, I had to wait for July 1st to solve the problem. 

Anyway, the last two weeks were quite challenging, but I managed to get everything to a good end.

In my case, the main symptoms of covid were a great tiredness, a strong inflammation in the throat, some dry cough, and now in the end the headaches started, which still continue.

On the 1st I already worked, and on Saturday the 2nd, I resumed training in Serra de Sintra, in the company of comrade Rui Faria.

It wasn't an easy workout. after 5 kms I started having difficulty breathing and feeling dizzy in the head. What matters that Rui adapted his rhythm from him to mine. From then on we practically walked the whole time, with some breaks to jog a little.

At one point we ran into some friends, Miguel, António, who mentioned that until they fully recovered from the covid, it still took a good 2 months, which is also Rui's experience.

But, covid or not covid, it felt incredibly good to be in Serra, with a good friend, all the time in the beca-beca.

At the end, some minis to finish off an excellent morning. There is no Covid that stops us!