The One Where Kylie Gets Covid Part 3

Day 5 of COVID…

Symptoms are still pretty ordinary. I started the day off feeling relatively good - just the voice is still gone (it’s like an octave and a half lower than it usually is). Put it this way, I make a pretty fine Bass at this point.

I thought it would be smart to teach online today - I mean, I know I have the sick leave, but I might need that at some point, right? So I started to teach online and within 10 minutes the little voice I had was completely gone - but not only that, the act of using my voice brings on fits of coughing. I just can’t seem to shake it.

It particularly didn’t help that the Yr 6s seem to have been forgotten today, and no teacher turned up. There I was trying to ‘teach’ 25 Yr 6s who were running around the Piazza and unable to hear me from the one girl’s computer that seemed to have no volume at all. Later on I got a phone call from the Deputy Head saying they were now supervising the girls, and then chiding me for ‘teaching’ online because I was clearly unwell. Yeah no shit Sherlock! I just don’t want to give over my sick leave. Suffice to say that I am not teaching online at all tomorrow.

Another fun thing is I will one minute be feeling chipper and almost normal, and the next I can barely get out of bed or walk down the stairs, I’m so weak. This is nuts.

At least I don’t have the aches and chills I had in the beginning. Although it seems that later in the day, every day, I feel like an elephant is sitting on my chest. This is no fun at all.

I have discovered one little covid remedy though. A candle-lit bubble bath with Star Wars on the iPad always makes things better…

So to all who say covid is nothing - come spend a day in my shoes. This is not nothing. I have been quite unwell with this and I wouldn’t wish this on my worst enemy. Although an anti-vaxxer? - maybe…

The One Where Kylie Gets COVID Part 2

 Those people who say COVID is not a big deal, go away now.

Only a couple of hours after finalising my lessons for day 1 teaching with covid, I began to develop fever, chills, and aches. Tried to sleep because I felt incredibly fatigued, but sleep alluded me. So I woke on day 2 with the prospect of a day’s teaching ahead, feeling like death warmed up.

I got through the day but as I did, my symptoms fluctuated and worsened. No longer chills or fever, then chills and fever. No longer aches, then aches. It’s madness.

I made the decision therefore that today (technically day 3) I wouldn’t teach from home, but just rest. So far I have raging sinus pain, stuffy nose, cough, and muscle aches. My voice is about 2 octaves lower than normal. This is ridiculous. I feel completely crap.

This better pick up tomorrow or I will be very annoyed…

The One Where Kylie Gets COVID Part 1

 

Well, they said it was inevitable. And to be honest, I’m quite surprised I managed to last this long, what with the mask mandate having been lifted a couple of weeks ago.  But here it is - I now have COVID.

Let me give you a little background, which is kind of necessary given I haven’t posted in a year!

Only if you’ve been living under a rock would you have missed the COVID19 pandemic that has gripped the globe since early 2020.  We’ve been through it all: lockdowns; isolation; 1.5 metres ‘social distancing’; toilet paper shortage; hand sanitizer shortage; limits on grocery items (mince, pasta - clearly we’re all making spaghetti bolognese in iso).. wearing masks; not wearing masks; wearing masks in confined spaces but not when outside; vaccinations; check in with the covid app; showing your big green tick so you can get into cafes; you can’t make this crap up. 

So just before Christmas the Premier opened up Queensland borders to vaccinated domestic travellers. That’s when covid finally arrived in full form in Queensland. We had a major spike in January, so much so that she delayed the start of school by a week for Yrs 11&12 (and online only), and 2 weeks for everyone else. Of course that didn’t mean much for the Catholic schools who just put everyone back online. Face to face teaching resumed from February 4 with all teachers and students required to wear a mask.

The masks came off on March 4, and it has taken me only 16 days then to get COVID. I’m pretty sure I will have gotten it from my Junior Chorale. We haven’t had rehearsals for a couple of weeks because I was unwell, then we had the day of our colours selections for the new build, and then there was also the week the Premier cancelled school because of the floods - so our first rehearsal back was Thursday 17 March.  Additionally, some bright spark decided that we need to convert our rehearsal space, which was St Ann’s Chapel, into a classroom, so when I arrived to rehearsal this week the wooden collapsible doors had been pulled closed and I couldn’t open them much - only enough for girls to get into the room. This, coupled with mask-less singing and no air refresh device, created in my mind a perfect storm for COVID transmission.

I started to get a bit of a sore throat on Saturday evening, on my way to the AFL Lions v Port Adelaide. I didn’t think too much of it as I often have sore throats from air con, but by the end of the evening it was pretty fiery, aided by the idiot who was vaping in front of us. I had trouble getting to sleep as I was quite wired, so when I woke the next morning with the throat raging, I didn’t really think that much of it, but decided to do a RAT (nasal swab) anyway. Negative. Ok, all good - off to Shelden’s new church to spend time with him and Lou.

Got home Sunday afternoon and felt really whacked, so I decided reluctantly to have a lie down - its Gabby’s birthday dinner party tonight so I wanted to rest up. But by 4pm my throat was even worse, and I felt very tired - so I did another RAT - this one an oral one - and yup. COVID…

So I’ve let school know, and I’ve set up all my lessons to teach online tomorrow as I don’t feel too bad at the moment. Seems that quite a few teachers are out with COVID as the Deputy immediately emailed me back with updated protocols. We could be in for an interesting time…