Covid update (2)

Not about the renewed threat from the delta variant. Not even about how depressingly unnecessary the renewed threat from delta is. More about the how Covid has affected us.

Both of my regular readers probably recall that the whole family got the thing in late November or early December. Well, we never had the child tested, but she had symptoms similar to, but less severe than her mother.

General update:

• Grandma was in the hospital for over a month. She was sent home in dreadful shape and still on a feeding tube. She rallied and transitioned to liquid, then chopped, then normal diet; but she remains on hospice and is still bed-bound (before Covid she needed increasing levels of assistance in walking and transfers but was decidedly not bed-bound). Her specialists say that Covid accelerated the progress of her underlying condition.
• My wife and I both experienced bouts of unexpected fatigue throughout January and February. One advantage of working from home is that if you have a irresistible need to take a ninety minute nap at 2:30pm the only disruption is the need to make up the lost time that evening.
• My wife seemed to recover well at first, but in March started to grow weaker. In April she was diagnosed with long Covid. One of the main features of the extended version of the disease is a swelling on the heat and lungs which puts pressure on them and reduces their efficiency. The treatment of choice at the moment is supplemental oxygen, avoiding any kind of intense exercise, and waiting for the swelling to go down. So we're lugging O2 bottle around when we go out, and she's been scheduled for consultations with half a dozen assorted specialists. Best guess is that we're in this boat for another six months, give or take.
• My on-going symptoms faded around the end of February. But my better half remains worried on my behalf to this day. So I asked about attending the long Covid clinic and got the expected answer (I'm not sick enough to justify any of their overbooked time), and have restricted my exercise regime to low intensity (walk, don't run; go steady, not hard on the rower; very modest levels of moderate resistance training). I began to feel something like my old self again around late May. Mind you, the gray that appeared in my hair hasn't gone away like it did the first few times it showed up (always during a particularly stressful period in the last ten years or so). I tell my self that a little salt-n-pepper at the temples is "distinguished". Sometimes I even believe it.