During the 2021 holiday season, I indulged.
I made many chocolates; I ate many chocolates. With the delicious toasted coconut rum I delivered as a present and preferred to drink myself came many, many sips of Coke - something that isn't exactly nutritious to the human body. I drank excessive amounts of wine, offsetting nightly buzzes with midnight bon-bon bites (See's Bourdeaux, to be exact) that waited for me by my bedside.
There were extravagant meals out, there were rich meals in. There was prime rib, good (not crappy) pizza, bean dip, burritos, Mexican hot chocolate, margaritas, shrimp salads, Kahlua coladas, cheese dips, fancy crackers, creamy potatoes, and cake. Rich, chocolate cake the likes I haven't had in years.
Yes, there was hiking and sunshine, and walking in the rain, but I noticed after two days of celebrating that I had rings under my eyes. It was all the indulgence, and it was worth it, because I haven't behaved like that in a very long time. After all, it was the holidays. And I was with family.
Gone were my regimented daily meals complete with fresh spinach (yes, you can put spinach in almost everything), hard-boiled eggs for breakfast, healthy salads, light dinners, and limiting myself to one cocktail on the patio.
Lengthy conversations called for drinking bottle after bottle of good wine, which - as a healthier choice - has its merits.
I had a good time. And up until now, I had been the picture of health, rarely getting sick, and never believing I would succumb to the dreaded pandemic virus of our time, COVID-19. Were my holiday sins to blame for my disease?
Back home in reality and workdom, I had a teacher work day at school where I saw no people whatsoever, except for those very far away. My second day back, we had professional development. I hugged one colleague Happy New Year and chatted with a few others, but still remained vigilant and away from people, for the most part.
Following my third day at school, I got a call from da boss that I was exposed to COVID. Someone I had spent more than 15 minutes with within less than six feet had tested positive.
Up until then, COVID couldn't get me. I even boasted that in a text to my boss, telling him I was too hearty. Well, I'd managed to avoid getting it for almost two years!
My fourth day at school and sixth day home from vacation, I sneezed once or twice. I felt chilly, then I felt warm. I didn't feel right. Many students were out, and still I kept my distance the best I could, knowing I'd been exposed. By mid-afternoon, I had a fever and got an experienced Samoan colleague/grandmother to do the mom's back-of-the-hand test on my forehead to see if I felt warm. She said I was.
I went home early, crawled into bed as soon as I could, and hoped for the best. The next day, I didn't feel too terrible, but I didn't feel right, so I stayed home. The day after that, now one week after returning from vacation, I was standing in a long line of about 200 people, not physically-distancing as well as we should have, waiting for a COVID test. It turned out to be negative.
On Sunday, in order to snap myself out of my non-viral state of sickness, I hiked my favorite mountain. After all, my test was negative, and being "sick" was making me lazy. It felt good to hike. However, it either had a reverse effect or the virus overcame me, and by Sunday night, I was feeling terrible.
The next morning, waiting again in a 2-hour line to be tested, this time in my vehicle - throwing up twice while doing so (not my most attractive state) - I was feeling 3000% more miserable than two days early.
This time, the test was positive. COVID had gotten me.
Since that day, my condition didn't improve. Instead, I had a steady, dull headache from COVID Symptom Day 4 (Sunday night) through Day 7 (Wednesday afternoon): a very irritating pain that wouldn't go away with aspirin or other pain relief, there to remind me I was still mostly feverish.
Throughout my experience, I had all the other COVID symptoms, including fatigue, body aches, sore throat, congestion, runny nose, and fever. Even my digestive system joined in, with a spot of diarrhea every other day. I was watching out for blue lips or inability to breathe, which thank goodness never happened.
Suffering, tossing and turning, being too hot, occasionally nauseous, not being able to walk very well, moaning now and then, putting cold pillows on my head and ice packs on my neck, I did it all in the fight against the fever. Even with the air conditioning blowing on me, I couldn't cool down some nights.
It was like having a bad hangover for five days straight.
But there was no booze. Just misery.
Besides the symptoms, there are the aches and pains that come with spending way too many hours on an old, soft couch, or in bed, sleeping too long.
I never wanted to be this sick again.
I wanted my mommy.
And the worst thing about COVID is, when you're sick, nobody can come near you.
My sister the nurse, with whom I celebrated so heartily over the holidays, has kept in touch daily and recommended I make myself some "health drinks." Health drinks are usually vodka mixed with some sort of fresh citrus. They're popular in her neighborhood, in the Valley of the Sun, where grapefruit trees grow giant golden orbs, and neighbors have remnants of orchards past.
Drinking alcohol didn't sound like a smart idea considering I'd had a fever for about a week and already felt like I was dazed half the time, but she said it would help me forget I was sick. It worked for her and her husband when they had COVID. They're avid.
In my saloon-drinking past, to battle remnants of colds that just won't die, a well-timed shot of whiskey (or five) somehow kills the virus. In Germany, the Greek waiters practically shower you with ouzo when you complain of Erkältung. I know it works, but COVID is so prevalent, so dangerous, so... overwhelmingly in the media.
No one on the news tells you to have a "health drink." Maybe they should.
Yesterday, when the sickness wouldn't die, I finally succumbed, mixing a vodka drink with concentrate orange juice and cranberry juice for color. I felt better immediately, had more energy and started cleaning my kitchen. After a second drink, I think the fever was gone. How does that work?
Unfortunately, I've only found "real" orange juice available here at Jack in the Box, with my breakfast meal - Simply Orange. Oh, it's good. And thank goodness for my friend Angelle, who brought me fresh oranges later in the day after I suffered through the concentrate in a carton. Though I was done with the vodka (wasn't about to drink too many, and the supply was limited), I peeled one of her helpless oranges as quickly as possible and put it into my thirsty mouth, enjoying every luscious bite.
I wasn't fit for work today, because I don't think I'm completely out of the woods considering the contagiousness of this virus. However, the only symptoms I'm having right now are couch back pains, and thirst for a COVID cure: fresh-squeezed OJ and vodka.
Indulgence could be the cause, but indulgence may also be the cure.
Yes! Health Drinks in moderation to feel better.. Our ancestors used it. Why shouldn’t we?