After all the effort I have taken over the last four years trying not to catch Covid-19, it finally caught up with me this month. Luckily, having had about 8 vaccine boosters over the years, and it being long enough since the first appearance of the virus, it seems to have been a strain I could cope with. However, it couldn’t have come at a worse time.
I had only just managed to get going with regards the GP referred exercise scheme, and I’d been to the gym only once. I was currently trying to push myself more and more. In my head, I want to be out of the wheelchair and jogging, but in reality even if I just get stronger in the chair, I will feel a lot better. So this felt like quite a setback.
It took me a couple of weeks to conquer which ever variant I had once we worked out it was Covid, as it hadn’t been immediately obvious until I realised I could not smell anything. I spent my time in bed, and on the sofa, with lots of tissue, sanitiser, and nose sprays. I was coughing up swathes of phlegm from my chest, which has given me trouble with my shoulder, and I was finding it difficult to breathe. Along with inhalers, a nebuliser, and some oxygen, I managed to get past it.
It felt like a terrible flu/chest infection, and I struggled with fatigue for a quite a while after, but then the coughing, and struggling to breathe will do that anyway. I am fortunate, in that I do not ‘think’ I have actually succumbed to long covid.
Since I tested negative, I have been able to move forward with my exercise referral scheme, and I am intent on getting much, much stronger.
Stay strong