Pgh Lesbian Correspondents

Within this COVID-19 pandemic, some of us still get regular old sick.

I’ve had perpetual sinus issues for months, but three specific acute type bouts. That’s when the pressure is actually hurting my face, the headaches are terrible, and I feel exhausted. During the third bout, my doctor thought maybe I was enduring a bacterial infection versus a more common viral infection.

So she sent me some horse pills and to get a COVID-19 test, asking me to quarantine until the results came back. Spoiler Alert – I was negative.

I was hoping the antibiotics would start to work quickly, but it took the entire course to really feel better – 10 days. I woke up every day with a headache that worsened over the day. I was absolutely wiped out. My appetite was diminished. And I had my classic Sue symptom – I craved hot tea instead of coffee in the morning. That is how I tell if I am truly sick versus “just” dealing with allergies. Allergies want coffee with just a bit of cream, sick wants strong tea with sugar. Isn’t that weird?

But I had telehealth, insurance, a partner to drive to the pharmacy, lots of cranberry juice, so I was okay. And as soon as I knew I was negative for COVID-19, I felt huge relief. And some guilt for that. And then more relief.

However, I would advise that you not try to run a Zoom meeting while sick. I was staffing the room, missed a lot of things, missed people trying to get in, and ended up shutting down the whole thing accidentally. It was not a good look for me.

In fact, being sick was problematic in general because I felt so cruddy that I lost track of time.

My therapist actually told me about balloon sinoplasty– inserting a small balloon into the sinus, filling it to widen the sinus passage, and flushing out the ‘sediment’ with saline. It makes sense that years of living in unhealthy air climates would create a build up that clogs things from the inside. I’m looking into that solution very soon.

And that’s good because I can feel the symptoms creeping up on me again. Thank you for that, Mother Nature.