I guess it was just a matter of time before the dreaded lurge caught up with me.
I always tried to stay as safe as I could , but there's only so much you can do when you re a musician - you have to get out there to earn a living or you cant pay the mortgage but that of course means frequenting many a venue and mixing with all sorts of unsavouries - and that's just the band - no seriously it cant be helped can it - new pub , new people . You want the audience to enjoy what you do so you interact , chat , socialise , network etc etc .Same old same old except now in the times of covid its a game of Russian roulette.
Is the person you re talking to contagious , asymptomatic , am I asymptomatic - am I a super spreader without even realising , is my cold really just a cold , is my sore throat just that etc etc .
No-one wants to get just a normal cold coz, lets face it , you feel like shit but you know it aint gonna kill you - but no-one knows with covid how your going body is going to react , some might not have any symptoms aside from the odd sneeze ( My Son ) whereas I ve had a baaaadddd throat for over two weeks and felt pretty rough.
A few days before I actually started feeling ill and subsequently testing positive I was utterly exhausted - an unnatural tiredness and had very achey gums and felt ' out of sorts ' - not ill exactly but not well either and then woke with a sore throat one Tuesday morning - 18th Jan to be precise .I was working that day ( I do the invoicing for a company in the Bay a few hours a week ) so I did a lateral flow test to be on the safe side and it was negative.I decided to wear a mask in work just in case and as it turns out I m bloody glad I did coz the following day I did another lateral flow as I was meant to be gigging that night - this time it was positive .
Strange feeling getting the positive result - I immediately got hyper vigilant and I dunno but I
felt guilty - god knows why but I did - in case I gave it to either of my kids I suppose
.As a PCR test showed My Son and I were both positive but My Daughter was not.
The first 4-5 days was hard going - my throat was raw and I couldn't sleep or swallow and was clock watching so I could take my next batch of paracetamol , kettle on constantly drinking sometimes just boiling water to help soothe it .Dodgy stomach , headache , sniffles , sneezing , violent coughing bouts .No fever , no loss of taste or smell.I presume its the Omicron variant but that's just a guess.The PCR test we had didn't specify.
Its funny how much you take just nipping to the shop / park/ daughter's bedroom or anywhere else in the house for that matter etc for granted .My Daughter pretty much hid in her room for two weeks - but cant say I blame her and glad she did as she stayed negative throughout whilst My Son and I were united in our covidness .
So I m on day 12 now I think and still have a bad throat and finding it a struggle to sing, and felt worse again yesterday in fact - was achey and coughing again and still testing positive .
Today is a better - I still feel shitty but its my first negative lateral flow for a while .....lets hope they stay that way :-)
