Invoking Plan `B'

 

#15,790

While I have been absolutely scrupulous in wearing (double) masks when out in public, avoiding crowds, and literally spending less than a hour a week outside my home to do shopping and other errands, my luck may have run out this past week. 

I've had a mild cough since mid-January, which I've chalked up to sinuses.  But Friday night I began to have chills, night sweats, and have been running a temperature between 100.5 and 101.5 since.  

So far my other symptoms have been mild. My pulse-ox is normal (pulse oximeters are cheap, and a great addition to a home first aid kit), and I've no shortness of breath. I haven't bothered to get a test, but COVID seems a likely culprit. 

I've two Flu Buddies checking in on me each day (via skype), one of whom is an RN, and I'm more than prepared to stay home for the next 10 days. 

I mention this for two reasons. 

First, while I've focused primarily on avoiding infection, I've also prepared a `Plan B', just in case. Since I live alone, I have long standing arrangements with friends to check on me, a full pantry, and the tools (pulse-oximeter, thermometer, chicken soup, etc.) to deal with an illness or home isolation.   

Unless things worsen considerably, I expect to be able to manage this at home. 

Second, as one might expect, I'm a bit ragged from 36 hours of fever and fitful sleep, and will try to take the next day or two to rest.  So my blogging may be sparse the next couple of days. Super Bowl Sunday is usually quiet, anyway.

That said, if something particularly interesting crops up, I'll probably crawl out of the woodwork.

While I'd hoped to gain my COVID antibodies from a vaccination (and will take it when it becomes available), in the end we all have to play the hand we are dealt.