So yeah, COVID-19 isn't fun

Look, I know what you’ve probably just said after reading that headline.

“Of course COVID-19 isn’t fun -- it’s a deadly respiratory disease!”

I’m also here to tell you that anyone reading this should avoid infection like the plague.

My case seems to be on the milder end of the spectrum -- something I attribute to having previously been vaccinated. That said, the fatigue is something that wears me down in a way I can’t remember ever feeling. Early on, I had severe body aches that felt as though I had been hit by a truck, but that has subsided.

But it’s the fatigue that my mind keeps coming back to. As I type this short column, a feat that isn’t physically strenuous in any sense of the imagination, I find myself stopping because fingers start feeling physically tired after a few sentences. If anything, they feel like they’re made of jelly, requiring me to stop and rest a moment, massaging them whenever I do.

Walking a short distance leaves me out of breath as if I just finished a strenuous run. It’s a bizarre feeling to get winded so easily.

Most bizarre however, is not being able to smell anything. Thankfully I can still taste food, but I cannot smell anything that I know should have some scent. This feels especially strange when I’m near something that I know should have a very strong scent, but elicits nothing when I step close to actually smell the thing. For example, a scented candle that should smell like cinnamon buns doesn’t smell like anything no matter how close my nose is to the wax. Combine this with the occasional times I somehow pick up a weird essence of something in the back of my nasal passage and I can’t make heads or tales of what’s going on.

This morning, I had some bacon for breakfast and while washing the plate, I suddenly smelt the flavor of bacon. I realize that sentence is itself very odd, but that’s the best way I can describe it. It’s a fleeting thing and leaves almost as suddenly as it happens.

I realize I’m beating the proverbial dead horse here, but I can say from experience this isn’t something anyone should mildly dismiss. We know how fatal COVID-19 can be and now as the pandemic in Wyoming nears its second year, we should be aware just what it is we deal with when we contract it.

I also understand the feeling of being fatigued by hearing about the coronavirus daily and yearning to return to a time when masks, nasal tests and the possibility of seeing the local hospital overrun by COVID-19 patients wasn’t a concern.

After catching this illness, I can say that we need to remain vigilant regardless of how we feel.