It's my own fault. Only last week I was marvelling that I hadn't (officially) caught Coronavirus despite having three school aged children and three family members who work in supermarkets. And now I am self isolating after a very strong positive on a lateral flow on Sunday.
I started feeling ill in the night but thought it was an anxiety attack which I am no stranger too. Tight chest, high heart rate, lump in my throat. I woke feeling better but halfway to buy ingredients for ramen with my girls I suddenly felt really unwell. I mean, drive straight to the hospital unwell. However I hadn't eaten so opted for the first aid properties Mcdonald's provides and actually did feel better. I am diabetic so often a lack of food will leave me feeling sick and dizzy so I honestly thought my blood sugars had dipped.
Getting home I felt bone tired so had a nap. I woke, ate the aforementioned soup but still felt exhausted. My throat felt scratchy and I had a slight headache and cold symptoms so decided there and then to do a lateral flow. The test line came up strong before the liquid had even reached the control line zone. I had a brief jubilant throwback moment from my trying to conceive, pee on a stick days but the sobering thought that this line did not mean a new addition to the family soon quashed that!
In many ways it felt inevitable. I read one scientists report that we would all catch Covid-19's omicron mutation no matter our vaccination status.
So why bother getting jabbed I hear some of you say. Well. Three days in I feel crap but I am moving about, my breathing is mostly OK and generally it feels like a bad Fibromyalgia day with a cold on top. I am hopefully not going to be ill enough to need hospital treatment and I will hopefully come through this as a statistic on the Government's "infected but survived" covid count.
No-one else in my immediate family has tested positive (yet) and I am hoping and praying my husband especially doesn't catch it as he is considered vulnerable with a life limiting lung disease. Even this "mild" version of covid could kill him.
Therefore as soon as that line came up I grabbed some essentials and moved into our lovely caravan on our driveway where I will stay until my self isolation is up. I miss my family dreadfully but I love them enough to stay away from them.
I am shocked by stories I hear about people covering up their positive tests. Even if they are symptomless their mild illness could be deadly to someone like my husband. Only today I read in the news about a woman in the US who was recovering from cancer. She checked with her friends that they were vaccinated and covid free - one of her so called friends had tested positive but lied about it for the sake of a card game. That poor cancer survivor died.
So here I will stay, protecting my friends and family and hoping I didn't infect people before I knew I had covid. And if I am offered another booster down the line I will take it.