Well, it happened. I spent two years on Maui during the worst of the pandemic, without getting so much as a cold. (I do tend to get repeat bouts of cellulitis, due to my illness of a decade ago, but nothing from an external contagion.) Now, after just six weeks in Arizona, I caught it. Well, that's what happens when you leave a Blue State for a Red State, I guess.

Luckily I'm "fully vaxxed", meaning I've had the two initial doses plus a booster. So instead of rushing to the hospital, I only rushed to the toilet at 4 AM, projectile vomiting and projectile, um, the other way…at the same time.

You would not have wanted to change places with me, having to clean the mess in the bathroom, still sick, before the dogs came in and thought I'd left them a treat.

All this was accompanied by stomach pains as severe as I've ever experienced. (And that includes the time I ate at Chik-Fil-A.) I had a slight fever, not much. Once my innards were emptied, I went back to sleep.

This morning, I woke so stiff that taking the dogs down the stairs for their walk was nothing short of agony. Going back up was worse. After reporting the problem to my family, my daughter Jennifer came by (masked) and brought the doggies to her place so I wouldn't have to worry about them. (They also have more chance to play there, where there's a pool they can use, than here if I can't take them to the dog park.)

I didn't feel up to cooking breakfast, or, in fact eating at all. After awhile I tried a bowl of cereal with banana and raspberries, but that came up a few hours later. So I stuck with Powerade Zero, most of which gets absorbed before it can be puked. I slept a lot. I was wary at dinnertime but was hungry so tried some coconut milk yogurt and a few pistaschios, and those stayed down.

I haven't actually given myself a Covid test yet. I have four, and intend to use one tomorrow. That's because my grandkids all had Covid a few weeks ago (I didn't see them while they were quarantining), and their symptoms were identical to mine.

Sleep seems to be helping, so I'm heading to more of it.

I'll keep you posted.

Update

March 24, 2022

Well, it wasn't COVID. I took two tests days apart, and both came out negative. So I started trying to analyze the actual symptoms I had, and I realized I'd had them before…when I had kidney stones.

An MRI requested by my doctor confirmed: Although I don't now have a kidney stone, the evidence is that I passed one recently (an emlarged urethra). Funny how, in the age of COVID, that's the first place my head goes when I feel sick or even weird.