Chat
03-20-2020, 02:15 PM
With this coronavirus panic seizing the nation, I'm curious how everyone else is faring. When we left for Arizona last week Thursday everything was normal. When we came back the following Tuesday there was no toilet paper and no eggs left in the grocery store and all the restaurants were closed. There was still some whole milk on the shelves so I was able to get 2 gallons (milk is my one "essential" item and of course this year we lost our milk goat). I didn't need eggs or toilet paper. I'm still not 100% sure what the panic is about. Every description of this virus sounds exactly like what went through our area in January/February so I'm thinking this may just be a panic and they slammed the gate after the goats left the pasture. I'll say this... if what folks had this past winter wasn't COVID-19, then the flu shots everyone got last fall were absolutely worthless.
Phil and I got laid up in mid-February by what he called a "cold" (due to the lack of nausea) and I called a "flu" (due to the fever, exhaustion, and extreme chills). Phil had a dry cough that didn't stop for almost three weeks. I only coughed for a week and it wasn't too bad, but it was different from any cough I've had before. It was not in my throat at all. It was the only cold/flu I've ever had that didn't start with an ominous tickle at the back of my throat. This cough was lower down and my throat never got sore. We didn't get runny noses either (weird!). I scoffed at Phil when he asked whether we could have gotten this new virus. But now that I'm reading reports about the symptoms I really think that's what we had. It felt very different but I can't say "worse". In fact, my sickness passed with fewer lingering effects than the usual cold.
The thing I will never forget is how absolutely freezing cold and exhausted we were. For two days I sat huddled so close to the wood stove I thought I'd catch my pants on fire, but I was still shivering. Phil kept going to work (he works from home on his computer) but he wrapped himself in two blankets and sat in front of an electric heater and still thought he was going to die of hypothermia. Climbing stairs was exhausting. I'd start panting halfway up, and by the time I reached the top I had to stop a while to catch my breath before I could keep walking. I slept 10 hours the first night, then the following afternoon I collapsed on the couch and slept another 3 hours. I never sleep that much! When I woke up in time for chores on the second day I felt a lot better and the chills were mostly gone. Next day I was almost back to normal, but for those two days I felt like a human popsicle with a dry cough and no energy whatsoever. Was it coronavirus? Who knows. But I wouldn't be surprised if it was. There were an awful lot of people who had a "weird flu" after Christmas. I think this thing has been circulating for several months and we just didn't know it because we didn't have tests and it resembles other cold/flu symptoms in many ways. It would be nice if we were panicking over something that already happened, but who knows?
What I do know is that if anyone is prepared for the Apocalypse, it's this goat packing crowd!
So what's your story in all this mayhem?
Phil and I got laid up in mid-February by what he called a "cold" (due to the lack of nausea) and I called a "flu" (due to the fever, exhaustion, and extreme chills). Phil had a dry cough that didn't stop for almost three weeks. I only coughed for a week and it wasn't too bad, but it was different from any cough I've had before. It was not in my throat at all. It was the only cold/flu I've ever had that didn't start with an ominous tickle at the back of my throat. This cough was lower down and my throat never got sore. We didn't get runny noses either (weird!). I scoffed at Phil when he asked whether we could have gotten this new virus. But now that I'm reading reports about the symptoms I really think that's what we had. It felt very different but I can't say "worse". In fact, my sickness passed with fewer lingering effects than the usual cold.
The thing I will never forget is how absolutely freezing cold and exhausted we were. For two days I sat huddled so close to the wood stove I thought I'd catch my pants on fire, but I was still shivering. Phil kept going to work (he works from home on his computer) but he wrapped himself in two blankets and sat in front of an electric heater and still thought he was going to die of hypothermia. Climbing stairs was exhausting. I'd start panting halfway up, and by the time I reached the top I had to stop a while to catch my breath before I could keep walking. I slept 10 hours the first night, then the following afternoon I collapsed on the couch and slept another 3 hours. I never sleep that much! When I woke up in time for chores on the second day I felt a lot better and the chills were mostly gone. Next day I was almost back to normal, but for those two days I felt like a human popsicle with a dry cough and no energy whatsoever. Was it coronavirus? Who knows. But I wouldn't be surprised if it was. There were an awful lot of people who had a "weird flu" after Christmas. I think this thing has been circulating for several months and we just didn't know it because we didn't have tests and it resembles other cold/flu symptoms in many ways. It would be nice if we were panicking over something that already happened, but who knows?
What I do know is that if anyone is prepared for the Apocalypse, it's this goat packing crowd!
So what's your story in all this mayhem?