I had a dream and not a very pleasant one. In it, I was reading an article but somehow living it too. A thirty-something Caucasian doctor, usually fit and well had COVID and deteriorated, requiring intensive care. Her symptom the day prior to deterioration was restless legs, a syndrome which already exists and may signal other pathology.
I woke at four in the morning, with the inability to keep my own legs still. They felt hot but the cool air outside the duvet didn’t help. Which came first: the dream or the restless legs, I wondered.
Things settled eventually as fatigue got the better of me and I drifted back to sleep.
When I woke, both my shoulders ached but I felt overall better. I had developed a sporadic cough, but by sporadic I mean once every few hours. It was dry and tickly but one which cleared after a single cough.
After brushing my teeth I had a glass of orange juice, a clash of flavours I usually can’t stand. This time, it wasn’t a problem, but the test confirmed I still had no smell or taste.
For breakfast, I had half a fry-up. It made me reflect back to the weekend and the harder I thought, the more I became convinced that my fry-up on Sunday was the last thing I remembered being able to smell for sure.
In the evening, I was mindlessly eating grapes. Then Fi had one and reported how sour they were. I had already eaten half the bunch. Well I guess from hereon, I’ll just become the house dustbin and eat everything that would otherwise go to waste.
Aside from writing, I took things easy today. A nap helped replenish my energy. It’s odd because we read stories about people dying from COVID, needing ventilators and developing kidney failure, but I have seen this all first-hand and been part of the clinical learning curve with this virus, how if people deteriorate, it tends to be between days eight and twelve, how different cohorts of people are possibly at higher risk of deterioration. I think that makes it harder to overcome the psychological aspects of this disease. There is without doubt, a lingering concern that next week would be the one, if it happens. Suddenly, being an ethnic minority matters a lot more…
Every few days... 