Day 30-Governor Newsom reinstates the mask mandate in California

B. and I. are watching this series…

1/14/22. Friday 

9:30-10:00 – I’m up but I’m sore from last night’s speed walking and have difficulty getting out of bed. I’m also very congested.

10:00-10:30 – I go downstairs to say good morning to the dog. She’s still asleep on the couch, but rolls over on her back when she sees me come downstairs. I pet her tummy three times, she grabs her toy, and we go outside. I sit in my patio chair and wait for her to go potty. She does her business and we return inside: coffee for me; turkey for her. I go to work.

10:30-1:15 – I spend this block of time listening to my Chapter 2 Audio Lecture for Specialty Class 1B, checking Google slides, and coughing. L. will need to splice-and-dice this lecture.

-I create a master Home Page for Specialty Class 1B.

-I also create a list for L., detailing the changes that I need.

1:30-2:30 – I sit in the shower, ice my eyes, and drink my coffee. Lotion. Make-up.

2:30-3:00 – I drive to B.’s

3:00-4:30 – We drive to Cocina for lunch, where I have an excellent chicken taco combo and a margarita. I’m still congested, have a post-nasal drip, and basically feel exhausted. Long Covid?

5:00-9:00 – Return to B.’s house where we spend the next four hours watching episodes of The Servant.  B. asks me if I’m feeling better and I, again, casually say that I think I have “Long Covid.” He stares at me blankly so I ask him if he’s ever heard of the term, “Long Covid.” B. says, “Sure…it’s taking you a long time to get your sense of smell and taste back.”  I never lost my sense of smell and taste, although I did lose my appetite.  

I explain that “Long Covid” is a debilitating “disease” that appears to be afflicting 30% of people who contracted Covid-19. These people are in pain, can’t function, some can’t breathe properly, and for the first year of the pandemic, their symptoms were rejected and ignored by the medical community. In desperation, the “Long Haulers” formed message boards on social media, generated support and attention for the syndrome, and put their cause on the map.  Now they are finally taken seriously, but treatment is sketchy. 

I tell B. that I’ll email him a couple links to a few, short podcasts about Long Covid, so he has an idea of what I might be going through. Maybe I don’t have it...but I just don’t feel like myself…

I leave. 

9:00-9:30 – Driving

9:30-11:00 – Blog posts

11:00-2:00 – I watch the new Sex and the City reboot, entitled And Just Like That.

3:00-4:00 – I do a blog post and accidentally fall asleep.

4:00-6:00 – Asleep

6:00-6:30 – I wake up and do my skin care routine.  Nighttime routine. Bed