My Christmas COVID-19 Chronicles — And The 10 Days Of Pain

A log of yucky symptoms and excruciating thoughts during this holiday bout of sickness. Tis the season, I guess.

December 7th, 2023

One of my family members got the virus. With close contact and no air circulation, it’s only a matter of time until I get sick too. It finally happened after nearly 4 years, I guess.

So might as well jot down my experience with this once-in-a-century pandemic encounter. I’ve never had an illness besides the common cold or flu. I’m assuming this one will be a bit more painful.

Temperature — Didn’t check.

December 8th, 2023

I went out to get groceries and saw the autumn trees, as the last of the red trees shed their leaves. Wore a mask for the first time in ages. So far, no major symptoms, but I’ve got an inkling that the ball’s starting to roll.

Symptoms show up 2–14 days after contracting the virus, and I’ve been exposed to it since at least Wednesday. I’m not sure if this is from lack of sleep or sickness, but I feel a tinge weak. My heart’s beating faster than usual. It’s kinda rubbery.

Earlier that day, I was working on reimplementing a page of a website. It was loading super slow and the workflow was more convoluted than necessary.

I couldn’t think or focus though.

I stared at my screen for about a few minutes, but nothing came. Head empty, no thoughts. I was thinking to myself — “just use your dumb brain to make the ideas and do the things already.”

Something bizarre happened a few days ago too. Or maybe it was last week, I don’t remember. But not too long ago, I thought I went insane.

I needed to check some work on my laptop, but my mouse was missing. I swear on my life, it was not there. I saw an empty desktop — it looked exactly like this.

I went nuts trying to find it, searching the desk multiple times. Maybe it was under the laptop, maybe I moved it to my bed. But I couldn’t locate this device anywhere, and I didn’t remember moving it anyway.

The more I get slowed down, the more I get agitated at myself in my head. “How the living hell, do you lose a mouse?! Why can’t you just remember where you put the things?! RAHHH — ”

Then I looked one more time, at the very same spot.
And it was freakin’ there again.

I swear, I’ve felt tired and woozy, but never have I experienced a full-on hallucination like this. Either that or I’m just blind. No, screw that, there’s no way I missed something that big when I looked directly at it.

Some human psychological effects at work? Was I just yet to experience true insanity, and this is my first time? Or maybe it was a precursor to these COVID chronicles.

I felt a slight soreness in my throat as well. But again, I wasn’t sure if it was really there or if I was imagining it. It did get stronger toward the night though. I’d find out the next day.

Temperature — 98.7°F.

December 9th, 2023

Past midnight, I felt the soreness in my throat getting tighter and tighter. Not going to lie, I thought I was prepared, but I’m kinda apprehensive now. This talk about it feeling like a “knife in your throat” isn’t helping either.

The sores increased further, and in my sleep, I was thinking — “I don’t want to do this…” Swallowing became difficult, and the itch in my throat was so annoying now.

And so came Saturday morning, which is when I actually started jotting these thoughts down. Yeah, I pretended the past two days were written as they happened when in reality I just started at 9 AM today.

For all anyone else knows, this entire recollection might be fake.
I might not even be a real person.

But yeah, there was no improvement come sunrise. I’m definitely feeling that “sick” feeling now. Feeling sick is a strange phenomenon. Sores, weakness, and pain suck.

At the same time, the elevated warmth almost feels comfortable. And the unease reminds me I’m alive. That sounds weird, but I hope the meaning’s clear. No light without darkness or whatever. Senses are certainly more vivid when you’re hurting.

I don’t think I’ve gotten ill in a few years. No seasonal flu or anything. So I haven’t experienced this feeling in a while.

Anyway, I’ve shot myself with this thermal gun, right between the eyeballs. Well, slightly higher, because you’re supposed to scan your forehead. When I did, it went “beep beep beep beep beep.” The display went red, with the value hovering around 100.4F and 101.3F.

Well, I scanned again, and now it’s down the green/orange. 98.4F on the left. Then red again when I did the right. But I checked the same spot a few minutes before and it was orange.

I dunno what’s with this device.

In any case, I think there’s enough empirical evidence to ascertain I’m sick. On the bright side, I’m getting lots of practice swallowing pills. I’ve had a lot of trouble in recent months. I somehow lost my ability to do it.

Maybe I just wasn’t using my throat correctly.

That sounds weird.

So yeah, might as well not do anything for the next week. At least I have a valid reason now. Or perhaps an “excuse” is the proper term.

I’ll just run more training epochs for this object detection model on my laptop, as I have for the past week or so, and get a hit of dopamine each time I see the metrics rise. What a nerd I am.

Anyway, time to verify the status, and tear open this test kit.

Drop the drops, stick the stick in the nose, and it’s… negative.
Huh.

(I guess looking back, the test kit was also expired.)

10 hours later

Pill two. And pill three. I just woke from a 4-hour sleeping session. It feels like I pulled an all-nighter — the fatigue and headache is excruciating. My eyes are extremely warm, as with many other areas of the body. Closing them only emphasizes how hot they are.

I’m beginning to see a pattern here. About every half day, the sickness evolves with a new/upgraded symptom. First, it was an itchy throat and slight weakness. Now it’s sores galore, and the fatigue is amplified.

Headache, neck ache, backache, leg ache. I noticed these develop in the last few hours. And the chills are universal throughout the body — too hot and too cold at the same time.

This is the first time I’ve had dinner in bed in years. I’ve retained my sense of taste. At least I think. The hamburger patty I had for lunch was oddly… fruity. Not how one’d expect a burger to taste.

Or maybe it’s just a strange choice of brand.

I don’t know what else this can be besides the virus. Maybe it’s too early and will appear in a re-test tomorrow. I’ve checked off half the symptoms so far. As for what I’ve yet to encounter — nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, and total loss of taste/smell. And a surprising lack of coughing. The sore throat feels better than it was last night.

But yeah, tomorrow is day three, and the peak’s said to be 3–5 days in. This is gonna be fun.

Especially with the lack of ramp-up time to get used to it. I went from never getting sick for the last few years, right to the big C — O — V-I-D. Again, assuming that’s what this is. Quite a doozy, for sure.

Temperature — 100.7°-no wait, 99.4°- no wait, 100.3°F —

December 10th, 2023

Hmm, strange. I don’t feel much worse than I did yesterday. Maybe this isn’t the peak after all. The sore throat is back though, enough so that swallowing’s become annoying again. My heart was also pounding hard last night.

I went to sleep at around 10:50 PM. Had a slight wake-up at 1 AM due to noise. Also, it was literally freezing temperature outside — 32°F, so I had to keep shifting the blankets to capture heat.

But then it became ridiculously hot, so I tossed them off again. And repeat the cycle.

When I was woken again, it was 6 AM. And I fell asleep again until now — 10:40 AM. So that’s nearly 12 hours of sleep total.

I’m gonna make some garlic bread today. I should eat more in general — I’ve probably eaten a third of my normal daily food intake. It’s like high school and college again — where starving for most of the day was routine.

There’s a point where I get so hungry the hunger just stops. But after a few hours, the feeling comes back with a vengeance. Then, if it’s still not addressed, it fades away for another few hours, before oscillating back again.

Having everything remote and being at home for so many years, I haven’t felt this in ages. Work, break, and leisure are all a couple of steps away from each other, if even that.

I’ve already eaten half the bread myself, but I still feel hungry. This sore throat is getting pretty bad. It’s like a toothpick is stuck in there. Not quite knife-in-your-throat level yet, but getting there.

11:07 PM

Alright, scratch that. The pointiness-sensation index has increased quite a bit. It’s gotten to a point where I have to physically move my entire body to contract my throat muscles in a way that doesn’t “stab” me as much.

I mean to be fair, I’ve never had a knife in my throat, so it’s not like I have a frame of reference anyway. But let’s say it’s gotten to an uncomfortably close distance to the proverbial cliff.

It’s gone from “Well, this kinda sucks” to a “nervous laughter” scenario. Like, “Haha — hoo boy… that sure was a doozy… hahaha… (Please don’t hurt me.)”

I don’t what happened in this half-day cycle, but the antibody soldiers let a lot of ground go in this pathological war. I swear for a second, I thought I was already through with the sick since I was feeling better.

But now, another wave’s storming through.

Besides the jabbing in my throat, the chills are back too. It feels cold as hell again. And I’m coughing slightly more — it’s the kind where you occasionally make those nasty retching sounds.

I had enough energy to get some work done, at least. I’m not totally wiped out like I was yesterday. But it looks like this isn’t the end yet. In fact, the rough part may just be beginning.

Temperature — 101.1°F.

December 11th, 2023

I stayed up until 4:00 AM. I shouldn’t have, but I did. The sore throat isn’t as concentrated, but the overall pain seems to have increased. And my temperature reached a peak of 102°F.

The wheezy coughing keeps increasing in frequency. I’ve had some solid 16+ chain combos going for me. As a result, the concussive force is causing chest sores as well.

I had apple juice in the morning. I think this is the first time I’ve drunk anything besides water in years — at least while at home. Hopefully, I don’t get a sugar addiction.

But yeah, time to take another test. Looks like this type of test kit only has a 5-minute window to read the results. The pressure’s on.

And there we go. It’s finally confirmed, if it wasn’t obvious already. The liquid hadn’t even finished flowing before the blue line appeared. It was instantaneous as soon as it hit the “T.”

It’s strange how even with barely any sleep/food and more of the virus in my system, I still feel better today than two days ago. I was wiped out then — couldn’t stay awake at all. I’ve now heard it’s the 2nd day that’s worst, and that was the 2nd day. So maybe I’m already past the rough part.

A lot of medications going on here. Endless cough drops and Cepacol. Vitamins, Tylenol offbrands, and fengyoujing. Strangely, the thing with anesthetic in it feels like it made the throat sores worse.

It’s dinnertime again, and I’m still starving. I ate half of the leftover garlic bread, but that was everything I had today so far. Now that I’m positive I’m positive with COVID-19, come think of it, I don’t think I’ve experienced the loss of taste yet.

Or maybe I just can’t tell the difference. Anything that isn’t drenched in soy sauce or salt is often “tasteless” to me. That’s just me, I’d get behind a podium for some sodium.

What I can say though, is that these tomatoes are still freakin’ sour.

Temperature — 99.8°F. For now.

December 12th, 2023

Good flippin’ grief, this has to be the peak strength sore throat gets. I had an inkling it was worsening since last night the medications were hardly doing anything. And now they’ve worn off in the morning.

The Cepacol I just took isn’t helping either. Well, it never did, but it still isn’t. It still hurts like hell every time I swallow. And even if I try to resist, the gag reflex kicks in, delivering another stab to the ‘ol esophagus. It’s supposed to be extra-strength, but I guess the pain’s extra-strengthier.

I need those saliva-sucker tubes used in the dental office. Just leave one of those in 24/7 — “sluuuuuuuuuurp.” I swear, I’m flinching and throwing my head down with every involuntary throat contraction.

God, nothing is working. Oral spray, cough drops, pills. Maybe it’s because they’re mostly off-the-counter stuff. But at this point, the only thoughts I can write are, “Holy sh*t, there really is a knife in my throat.”

You know what, screw it. I’m gonna try to eat, even if it’s torture. I’m sick of this garlic bread, but this is the last quarter. I’m the only one eating it, and it’ll probably go stale soon if I don’t.

9:39 PM

Ate a massive amount of fried rice for dinner. It hasn’t recouped the food debt I’ve accumulated, but it’s something. Though eating felt like I was swallowing a fork and knife with it. Okay not really, but it hurt a lot.

I think today’s symptoms were the worst yet. I was wiped out in terms of tiredness on day two, but the knife feeling in my throat today keeps cutting deeper. I keep repeating the phrase “knife in throat,” but that’s the only way to describe it. It’s easily the worst, and most prominent part of this ordeal.

Not only that, I still have tiredness, tingly weakness, plus a clogged nose and sore chest from coughing nonstop — which now hurts my throat as well. It didn’t do it before, but I guess it’s gotten severe enough.

It’s because of this darn itch that’s also in my throat. Like a speck of dust that can never get cleared away. I’m not sure if “annoying” is worse than plain pain, but it’s hella irritating. Literally.

Then a mild headache, backache, neckache —the same stuff from before. It’s not the mouth though, so those are no biggie. But I even felt a stomachache coming for a moment.

A subtle reminder that I haven’t had the vomiting symptom yet. I should just go to bed.

Temperature —Hovering around 100.2°F.

December 13th, 2023

No improvement in the hurty-ness of my throat. Also, it’s 4:04 AM.

404 Error: Sleep Not Found.

Drinking anything is the absolute worst. There’s something about liquids that hits the throat in the worst way. And the consecutive, reflexive swallowing compounds the pain.

There’s so much pressure in my head. My back and neck feel like I lifted steel all day. Even my ears are sore now — how that’s possible even I don’t know. But the inside of the ears seems to have swollen.

It’s a day short of the 1-week mark, so I’m beating a dead horse at this point. There are no more metaphors or similes to be had. I’ve said everything I can — throat hurt, things sore, and me tired.

I just sneezed involuntarily. I saw my life flash before my eyes. With that compressed air rushing through the throat, then the head, and basically everywhere that’s already in pain. Didn’t kill me like I thought it would, but still freakin’ hurt.

Note to self — do not let myself sneeze again. Get under those blankets even if you melt to death.

Another day, another dinner. I ate a metric ton of pork and rice with gravy, and my stomach still feels hungry. But contradictorily, I couldn’t finish my meal either.

I kept eating and eating, but I only got hungrier. It just made me realize how hungry I really was. But even with the most delicious of foods, after dozens of spoonfuls, it tastes horrific.

So towards the end, I had to resist my gag reflex because of how bland the taste was. I finished the meat, but unfortunately left a small portion of rice unconquered.

Well, I tried my best.

Temperature —99.0°F internally, but it feels like 300°F externally.

December 14th, 2023

I stopped sleeping at 3-something in the morning. The pain is absurd at this point. I coughed so hard, and my throat hurt so much that tears came out each time.

Also, I just went to the bathroom to spit stuff again. But in the ever-faint luminance of the nightlight, I noticed what I expelled was oddly dark.

Turns out I’m spitting out blood. Or I guess blood-stained saliva, to be precise. Not a lot by any means, but enough to warrant feeling a bit freaked initially.

I did a Google search, and apparently, it happens with COVID if you cough too much or too violently. Well, I’ve been doing both. Who knows how long it was going on for?

If there was any hope of being well enough to do today’s meeting, well, this erased all doubt.

Looks like I can check off the diarrhea box today as well. Too much information probably, but this is a sickness log so that’s expected. I’m only missing vomiting from the symptom list. Then I’ll have all the medals to summon the demon lord.

New symptoms every day, so many phases. It’s like multiple diseases in one. At least I found a decent remedy for the sore throat — ice water. I tried straight ice, but it’s too large to hold for long, there’s not enough available, and it tastes bland.

Oh right, ice cream exists. I don’t remember the last time I had it. No more than once a year, if even that. Those small cups with the wood scoops would come in handy during these times.

I’d scream for ice cream, but my throat hurts too much. Hopefully, the deities of dessert understand non-verbal cues.

Temperature — 98.8°F.

December 15th, 2023

Hey, what do you know? I can swallow without triggering the reflex to punch something in pain. Well, part of the time. It still hurts, but it’s an improvement. And any lack of worsening is good by me.

The headache is still a major headache, but I’ll take that over the prior. I slept 8 hours this time, but I’m still tired. Turns out, yawning hurts the throat like hell. I need someone to slap the fatigue out of me.

Apart from that, today is lucky day 8. Other than superstition, the internet says days 8–14 should be the days I see recovery. That, or my condition collapses and I have to go to the hospital. No pressure.

The only new symptom I feel is a toothache in my top left molar. And I don’t think COVID even causes that. Under normal circumstances, the sore throat has significantly improved, save for the painful spot on the right. That’s the worst place that’s tormented me the most.

I don’t know how it got better so quickly, as it was the usual agony in the morning. But come afternoon, I can drink water without reflexively dunking my head into my desk. It almost feels bizarre, taking a gulp and hardly feeling anything wrong. Unless it hits that one spot, of course.

A lot of hard coughing, but nothing I haven’t handled before. Hell, a few years ago, I wheezily choked on air for months without even being sick. I don’t know why it stopped, but unless I’m turning blue, this won’t ever come close.

Heck, maybe this ride’s finally nearing its end, and I’ve only got a few days left to recover. Or I’m blindsided by another “sike” moment. It’s happened twice already.

Temperature — 98.4°F.

December 25th, 2023

By the 17th, there was almost no soreness left. The only symptom remaining is a persistent cough and excessive mucus. But that’s waned as well. Like I said, I’ve had plenty of coughs before — so this is nothing. It’s essentially been over for me.

I still do feel tired. I’m unsure if it’s fatigue from the virus or something else. But on the flip side, being sleepier means better sleep. Seems I don’t have any major long-term COVID symptoms yet.

In the wake of this sickness, many celebrations have been postponed. Birthdays, and of course, Christmas Day. Today feels less like a holiday than when the decorations went up at the beginning of the month. It doesn’t feel like there’s 6 days left in the year either.

Maybe that’s just the apathy I’ve reached. In either case, things are coming to an end in multiple ways. Come January, it’s time to regain the lost momentum.

But for now —it’s Christmas.