Three years into the pandemic and I have been COVID-19 free … until now. Despite having all my shots and boosters, it has hit me like a train leaving me sicker and weaker than I have ever felt in my life. Oh, how I lament my naïveté at thinking I was somehow immune.

Day One: a little kitschy-kitch in my throat that develops into what probably feels like a smoker’s cough. I don’t smoke.

Day Two: my head feels like there is pressure. I experience very sharp pain in my right eyeball. A feeling of exhaustion comes over me so I go to bed at 5:00pm (!!!) … and I don’t wake up until 9:30am the next morning. The entire night, I alternate between being frigid and absolutely sweltering. In the morning, my sheets are soaked in sweat.

Day Three: I can’t seem to do anything for more than five minutes without taking a rest and lying down. Going from my bed to the kitchen, for example, leaves me exhausted. I haven’t eaten in three days. I am not hungry at all. Just subsiding on water. It feels like it is taking more effort to simply breathe and get the same amount of oxygen in my lungs as it would under normal circumstances.

Day Four: my throat feels like someone used extra-course sandpaper in an attempt to scrub it raw. My tongue is completely white. I assume it is this. My teeth hurt. My head is still pulsating. This is the day I have lost both my sense of smell and my sense of taste. Which sucks because I haven’t eaten much and now everything is just texture. Fucking wild. Debating switching my diet to raw vegetables in an attempt to find a positive in this.

Day Six: I’m now on Day Six and while definitely doing better than last weekend, I am still so exhausted and my nagging cough and sore throat just aren’t leaving yet. I don’t know what, if any, long term complications will arise but this is definitely something I have never experienced before.

Day 22: sore throat and coughing like a life-long smoker who goes through five packs a day.