The Pandemic and I (16) – testing positive

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Meh. I am now Covid-19 positive.

Yesterday morning I was sent home from work after getting my results from a weekly PCR test. Luckily I have no symptoms apart from a slight loss of taste and smell. No temperature, no aches, no tiredness. I saw my doctor for blood pressure, breathing etc – all normal. I need to go for a new PCR test next Tuesday, and if negative can return to work.

Honestly, I’m not that surprised I have it, and had already mentally prepared for such a situation. Currently we have four resident positive cases at work, plus in the region I live in the infection rate is super mega high. I had the 1st dose Pfizer vaccine on 29 January, and while I was under no illusion the vaccine would prevent me from ever catching it, I think having it has (thus far) helped keep the symptoms at bay (fingers crossed).
Okay, so a bit of a mashup for today’s post, pandemic meets Six Sentence Stories and my contribution is dedicated to dear Covid-19, with the prompt word being: Plow (a somewhat apt word right now, lol😏 )

Ode to Covid

Covid, dear Covid, I know you so well, how you cause merry hell in your search for kicks and spats and brawls, how you make us redesign our daily routines, rewrite our blueprints and protocols. I know you so well; the clang of your bell, the rap of your fingers on the doors at work, your spiriting away of the seniors and an ex-colleague of mine, the vicious spells and altered states you leave behind. I know you well through masks and gloves and disposable fatigues, have seen you in action through the misty lens of a medical visor, tried to counter you by offering my arm to a needle full of Pfizer. Week-on-week tested negative, negative, negative, as you wormed your way into our lives with nothing more to give than fear and sickness, isolation, and now me – made positive. Nice work, you did it, you plowed my defences – mon gestes barrières – and though our personal war has just begun, I am yet unwounded and happily breath the air you propose me to quit. Covid, dear Covid – old friend now – I aim to persist on whichever battlefield you decide to see fit.

***

Funny, how in my last pandemic post I wrote this:

“Maybe the vaccine will help me, maybe not. Maybe if I catch Covid-19 the symptoms won’t be as bad as my body is now currently learning to recognise it and remember it for future combat.”

Go body!

Body-Rap. France. 1988.

Staying in?

LOL. I have no choice now.

TVTA, it’s time for your next round of injections. Ouch!

Airgam toys catalogue page. Spain. 1977.

Staying upbeat? 

You betcha! The TVTA scanning room is already abuzz with new materials waiting to go, go, go! Our intrepid office cat Wooof has chosen this time of infection to break out his special gold-edition Hello Kitty mask. And I will use my time off to laze in bed in between bouts of copious alcohol drinking catch up on projects. 

Upbeat idioms!

See you later!

Another popular English expression heard among my French colleagues (such as “What the fuck!” and “Good job” and “Let’s Go!”) is…

“See you later!”

So, vintage mates, see you later!

Stay safe and healthy out there everyone!

[edit 19/02/21 : I saw the copy of my positive result and they state now the results of any variant detection. Luckily I didn’t get a variant, though I trust they would have told me if I had. My test on 16/02/21 came back as ‘Weak Positive’, so still some work to do yet before I get back to negative. Will add here a HUGE thank you to everyone who sent well wishes – it’s really appreciated and really helped cheer me up 😎 you guys rock!]

Disclaimer. This report is meant to offer an overview of the fluid impact upon a care worker in the French medical system. No names of any persons or institutions are given. Some of the reportage here concerns decisions made at a French national level which is available to the public at any time. No breach of confidentiality or professional workplace standards is made or implied. Any health advice stated here is exactly the same as that given by the World Health Organization public advice pages 

47 thoughts on “The Pandemic and I (16) – testing positive”

  3. Thank God for that shot. May not get mine until late midsummer, but that’s how it goes. Glad your symptoms are minor–may they remain so before disappearing altogether.
    Oh, and yes, brilliant Six on that sneaky, burrowing, lowly COVID!

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  4. I was so sorry to read your first paragraph – and wish you all the best for a speedy recovery! Amazing how you are not only ‘coping’ but getting creative with it – and add your very own touch of humour and humanity. Thank you for the story x

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    • Thanks for the well wishes, Bruce. I’m still doing good save for the loss of taste and smell. How cool is that, your mum pulled through! I’ve seen it work too, with some of the old uns making a perfect recovery – it’s like they have super powers or something 🙂

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  7. Dude!
    Les Considerata*

    (Full Disclosure: Decided to play the music vid from my Six while writing comment… should provide a slight whiskey-and-bullet vibe to the following comments)

    … I’m not a doctor, but I’m more than willing to comment as if I were** in that even though you are feeling ill and such, keep the computer on/note pad in easy reach. There’s gold in them thar fever states***

    …Six Sentence Story?!
    damn, gots to get back on topic.****

    I repeat, ‘Damn!’ ‘cellent Six, yo.

    (In a fever-creeped, scary-the-way-scary-can-be-when-we’re-young-and-the-parent-units-act-concered-with-what-we-thought-was-just-a-sickday-from-school.)

    Your line of work would appear to me as on a par with a former career, commercial fishing, which is often described as 90 percent boredom, 10 percent sheer terror.

    Suspect, given how much attitude is a factor in any battle with dis-ease, you will fare well.

    I should stop before I get pulled into multiple war movie tropes…(for starters? Bill Murray in Razor’s Edge…yeah, I know, I best hit ‘Post Comment’.)

    (Hey, least I didn’t reference Fight Club*****)

    not a real French idiom
    ** provided it is stipulated to that any medical education inferred was acquired during the late ’60s and early ’70s, especially the class on anesthesia and non-invasive brain surgery
    *** not a ‘real’ idiom but, the Western, gunslinger thing was still stuck in my head.
    **** compliment. some blogs/Six Sentence Story locales are more encouraging of a SOC approach to writing, if you know what I mean
    ***** d’oh!

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    • Merci beaucoup, Clark! Yeah, you’re right about the golden fever states. Normally when I write I get to the point where I think I’m happy then leave it to simmer a couple of days before returning to the edit with fresh eyes.

      With this I wrote it as soon as I got back from work after hearing the news* then published it soon after. I like the rawness of it now, after reading it back.

      *a 4km cycle ride home is a bizarre and lung-sapping experience when wearing a heavy duty FFP2 mask. After 2ks I was convinced I was hallucinating and being chased by pink razorbacks!

      Yikes. The notepad, as always, is on standby!
      😎

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  9. Oh no! Sorry to hear that. I’ve had a couple of friends and relatives that have been in similar situations as well over the last few weeks – waiting for the rest results ect. Take care and here’s to a speedy recovery. 🙂

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  15. Hopefully it won’t effect you to badly TVTA, so far it’s not hit me to badly. My wife’s smell and taste has been gone for 3 weeks so far. Stay warm and rest. I have another week in isolation before I can venture out again. Stay mentally strong. Hopefully it won’t trouble you to much.

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    • Thanks, Neil. Will do. It’s bizarre regarding the taste/smell thing. One of my colleagues who had it said her taste came back after just 4 days, while another said it lasted 2 weeks for her. Having to wear a mask at home is crazy, but at least I’m used to it as I’m masked up at work all the time. Hope you and your wife keep on with the recovery, and we all can stay mentally strong during this. Keep up the great work!

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  21. Hi TVTA…Darnit! That’s TWO of my bestie blogging buddies that have been hit by the pesky Covid virus….and it ain’t fair! I wanna use more vulgar language to refer to this plague but I have the image of a respectable Jedi Master to uphold. However, I am so happy to hear that so far the symptoms you have are mild in comparison to what other folk have experienced – maybe that initial fizz of Pfizer did help on the battleground that is your body (hehe! “fizz of Pfizer”! I should copyright/trademark that catchphrase).
    Anyhow, I’ll wish you all the best in emerging victorious in this battle and my Force Meditations are with you. MTFBWY!

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  22. It may choose the battlefield, but my dear friend it will crash upon our shields, as long we hold them…
    I know it is difficult to hold the line when you look to your left and see the naysayers, and the keyboard warriors flee for cover .
    But look to your right mate, and you will see us standing our ground with you.
    You are not walking alone .
    …, After awhile crocodile!

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