No hablo Español

It’s been quite a week. We visited my sister and family the Wednesday after Christmas. The next day Nick went to work and the following evening his boss called to tell him that he and his wife had Covid. Not good, because Nick seemed to be coming down with a cold. I got him to take a test Saturday, but it was negative.

We skipped church Sunday, not wanting to expose folks to his cold and by Sunday evening/Monday morning I realized he’d shared his cold with me. Yuck, but whatever. I had an appointment with the sleep doctor Wednesday morning and since I was still feeling bad I thought I’d go ahead and take a Covid test before I went. That’s when I found out that when Nick took his test, he had gotten out the English instruction and thrown them away when he was done. All I had was the Spanish instructions. I don’t read Spanish.

 

I stared at the instruction a while, muttered some English curse words and pondered. The good news is that it had pictures – a great help. Between the pictures and using Translator on my computer for a few key words I began the test. I’ve taken Covid test before and I know what the results are supposed to look like, but as I checked the results, I realized that in spite of the pictures I’d managed to screw it up. It’s supposed to have one line – the control line. But this one had two. What had I done wrong? 

Evidently, I’m a little slow these days. I probably stared at if for over a minute before I realized it was giving me a positive result. After trying to avoid this plague for nearly three year it finally got me. That afternoon I had Nick test again and this time he was positive too. Thank God we’ve had every vaccine and booster that’s available. There has been much sneezing, coughing, stuffiness, some headaches. But it’s like we’ve both had bad colds, it never felt deadly like so many had to deal with in the beginning. In fact, Nick kept going to work – with his boss and his wife home sick themselves, he was the only one there and my Nick would much rather be working than sitting home, even when he’s sick.

 

I talked to the doctor’s office to see if either of us should be on PAXLOVID. She said no, just to treat myself with over-the-counter meds and to stay hydrated. Okay… but I’m over sixty-five, diabetic, over-weight, have high blood pressure and have sleep apnea. If I’m not a candidate, who is? 

After five days of feeling pretty bad I’m feeling better. I took a sleeping pill last night and that really helped. I still have cold symptoms, but I can tell it’s on the way out and that’s a good thing. Keep washing your hands, test if you get a ‘cold’ (hopefully your instructions will be in a language you can read), and stay away from people if you’re positive. I’m really looking forward to feeling good again!