Ah, well, here we are. 18 months of washing our hands 15 times a day, of changing our clothes immediately when we get home from anywhere outside, of showering constantly, of sanitising every single grocery item, of wearing our masks everywhere, and we still caught The C Word. One postponed hen party, one husband working from home even though he despises it, and at the time of you reading this, 11 days since my first positive test, I'm ready to tell you about every thought and feeling I wrote down during my time with this horrendous thing that I tried so hard to avoid.
Disclaimer: Just in case it wasn't obvious, I just wanted to make something clear - we definitely did not rip our masks off for 'freedom day' or anything stupid like that, and if that's you, you have some things you should rethink. The main theory we have is that one of Stephen's colleagues passed it on to us during the period of time where he thought he just had a cold as he kept testing negative, before such time where his symptoms got worse and he did test positive. Anyway, it was his positive test that prompted us to take tests ourselves, and thus began the isolation diaries. It was either that, or I was just unlucky enough to have caught it while out in our local town centre, which is enough to make me never go outside again so I'm not loving that one. The isolation diaries start on day 1 of me waking up knowing I most likely have it, due to the positive lateral flow test the day before.
Day 1: Friday 23rd July
I'd taken the day off today to prepare for my hen party tomorrow, as I'd have to travel for it. Instead, I spent the day taking a PCR test to confirm my result. I didn't have any symptoms so I still felt a little hopeful that it could come back negative - that was until I noticed that I couldn't smell or taste anything anymore. A very sad realisation. I curled up in bed for the evening and watched 'New York Minute' and then 'Dumplin'. Both absolutely amazing films and I recommend all of the films I'll mention in this blog post, so please check them out if you haven't. I just have one question for all UK streaming services - why do you not have any other Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen films? This is horrendous. Do you hate fun?
Day 2: Saturday 24th July
Today I discovered that I could still taste squash, ketchup and fresh tomatoes. Interesting how grateful you can be for those three things when you thought your sense of taste was gone for good. I had another evening of watching two films - this time it was 'Isn't It Romantic?' and 'A Cinderella Story' - again, absolute must watches if you haven't. I found out that my PCR came back positive, but at this point, I wasn't surprised. I put my positive result into the NHS Covid App after midnight which means that my ten days of isolation according to the app would actually finish on August 3rd, instead of August 1st which is ten days from when I started having symptoms, but that's okay! (this actually got pushed back to August 5th anyway due to Stephen also catching the virus)
Day 3: Sunday 25th July
To my surprise, I could still taste drinks, which was great. I developed a cough and noticed that Covonia cough syrup tastes absolutely normal, (so thank goodness I do like the flavour of it!) I didn't watch any films on this day and I can't remember why, but I do remember that I watched a lot of Youtube. I will not be taking questions about my current screen time at this time. I also watched Modern Family, and if you haven't seen that, you simply have to - it's so feel good, and hilarious. I was pretty sad on this day as it was the first day that UK Churches could operate without booking in advance for the first time in 18 months, and I couldn't go.
Day 4: Monday 26th July
We had a huge online grocery order come in today, and I managed to make it through my day of work, (from home, don't worry), without too many complications, even though the fatigue was definitely starting to set in. We watched 'Clueless' together, and then my husband developed a fever which lasted for a few hours, and he ended up getting a positive lateral flow test himself. Luckily for him, he's fully vaccinated so this is the only symptom he's had during the entirety of his isolation period up until this point. Once that fever went away the next morning, he didn't have any other symptoms at all. Vaccines work!
Day 5: Tuesday 27th July
Ah. The day I was probably the most miserable throughout this whole thing because this was the day that my vaccination booking was made for, when I booked it in weeks ago. You have to wait 4 weeks between the day of your positive PCR test and the day you can rebook your vaccine for, so I was absolutely devastated by this. I tried so hard to be responsible for my own health and those around me by getting my vaccine, and I'm now not allowed to for another few weeks.
Anyway, we watched another absolute classic, 'Legally Blonde', and I started craving Vapiano's, so this was the day I started making a list of all of the places I want to go get food from once I can fully taste again.
Day 6: Wednesday 28th July
Stephen's home PCR test kit that we sent away for past midnight on Monday finally arrived, and he took that and sent it off. I started to feel like myself again today which was fantastic. We watched more Modern Family and then we watched 'Safe Haven', which was one of my favourite Nicholas Sparks films years ago and I totally forgot how much I loved it. We also ordered some cute new bedding on this day - one of my favourite homeware bits to pick up.
I can't remember exactly which day this started happening, and if you've had covid, I would love to know if it happened to you too, but my skin totally dried out around my nose and under my eyes. I used my trusty Fourth Ray Beauty Hyaluronic Acid Serum before bed for a few nights, (which I used to do anyway but being ill makes you lazy), and it was absolutely fine again so here I am recommending that for maybe the third time on this blog.
Day 7: Thursday 29th July
Today, I was very frustrated. We had another online grocery shop come in which was great, but quite a lot of it was substituted and we had to ask one of our very lovely neighbours to grab some milk and tissues for us - very grateful to have neighbours who have become friends! I was thinking a lot about some things that have annoyed me while I've been unwell, and it ranges from Stephen's workplace asking him if he was physically coming back to work the next day when I still had 5 full days of my isolation left to go, regardless of whether his test would come back positive or not, (it did), all the way to seeing photos of covid/lockdown protests and being confused that people could still be thinking this is all a hoax. There were a number of days where I thought I was actually dying and I'm very grateful to those who asked if I was alright because this is no joke.
Here is a list of things not to do when someone tells you they have Covid: ask why they tested if they didn't have symptoms - everyone can and should be testing whenever they feel like it, to keep themselves and those around them safe. I'm definitely going to make a habit of testing all the time if I'm going to be attending a large event, even when I'm fully vaccinated in October. Next up: if someone tells you that they have Covid and they'd like for you to get a test - don't argue with them, just go get a test. I promise it doesn't hurt as much as everyone says it does, and they're telling you to get one because they want to protect you and the people that you hang out with, it's not an accusation.
Today was also the day that my entire team at work met up and went out for drinks, so I put on some make up for the first time in about two weeks and joined them on a Teams call, so that I could (sort of) meet them all, as we're a very cameras off team, so I really haven't seen that many of them. They will unfortunately have to remain little people who live in my work computer for a little while longer, and I was really sad that I couldn't make it. Putting some make up on did make me feel a bit more myself though which was really nice. We sat and watched 'Abducted' together in the evening, which is another absolute banger of a film. Our covid fatigue was absolutely terrible on this day, I literally could not stay awake no matter what I did. This was also the day that Stephen's PCR came back positive but he was already feeling absolutely fine by this point, so yay for vaccines!
Day 8: Friday 30th July
I'm pretty sure my sense of taste is returning/getting stronger, which is such a relief. I've read that most people have their sense of taste and smell return from as early as a week after their first positive test, but for others, it can take months. I literally adore food and I am terrified of it taking a long time to return, so I'm hopeful that it won't be too much longer for me. We watched another Nicholas Sparks adaptation, but this time it was 'Dear John'.
I started to feel sad in the evening as I thought about how some people used to tell me I was 'lucky' that I didn't catch this while I was working in a school while everyone else was getting it, and I just wanted to express that I wasn't lucky. I was literally stressed to the max showering, sanitising, changing my clothes every time I went outside, avoiding public transport as much as possible, not leaving the house for anything except groceries etc, and I'd still been doing all of that for the most part when I did catch it, and it's not fair to call it luck. Some of us are doing absolutely everything we can to avoid this, and it's not fair when we get it and the people who are currently burning their masks and partying as if we're not still in a pandemic have nothing happen to them at all. I wouldn't wish this on anyone, but it's definitely not 'luck' when people don't get it. It takes a lot of work.
Day 9: Saturday 31st July
I woke up feeling like my normal self again for the first time in forever, and my sense of smell started to come back very slightly. I sat down and turned the bullet points I've been making in my notes app all week into everything you've read so far. I'll come back to it tomorrow and write Day 10.
I read a tweet where someone said they can only describe their experience with covid as 'so ominous', because of the way the illness unfolds, and I could not agree more. If I had to describe it, I would say it's like having a witch standing over a cauldron deciding which symptom to give you next. I would start to feel better, just to be hit with a raging headache all of a sudden. The next day, my cough would disappear, but then I suddenly wouldn't be able to keep a meal down anymore. I never had more than one symptom at once so I always felt like I was recovering when it eased up, but then the next symptom would be thrown into the pot, and I'd feel like absolute Hell again. It's literally evil.
Anyway, we watched 'PS I Love You', and it's one of the best films and books ever. I've also read Postscript, which is the sequel which came out last year, and I loved that too - highly recommend if you're a fan of the first book/film.
I also did a work out for the first time in three weeks on this day, (because it's not recommended to sweat on new tattoos for two weeks, and then I was ill for a week), and it was super hard and I paid for it in muscle pain the next day, but it was worth it to feel a bit more like my usual self again because I usually work out every other day.
Day 10: Sunday 1st August
Today has been another day where the covid fatigue massively hit us both - I'm at least lucky because I don't work weekends, but Stephen does. We still don't have a clue whether he caught it at work and carried it for a while asymptomatically due to being double jabbed, before giving it to me, or if he just simply caught it from me while he was looking after me.
Through all of this, I just want to say a huge shout out to him because he makes me feel happy and loved every single day, even when we're both super unwell and we can't do anything except watch movies, (11 of them in total! We watched 'Superbad' on Sunday night for good measure alongside all of the rom coms), and make lists of places to go eat when we can taste food again. I am very lucky 🤍
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