Yes SK, you are exactly right about trying to teach while masked - shouting over a bunch of high school kids playing musical instruments in a barely air-conditioned building is hard enough without a mask and miserable with one.

I feel much much better on the Paxlovid.

The first night I had a fever and chills so bad I could not stop shaking. The next day, while waiting for the minute clinic, I simply could NOT stay awake. I was falling asleep in the waiting room. When my appt was done, she told me to go to the car and wait for a few minutes, then pick up the script at the drive thru and I was simply too tired to wait - I had to drive home and go to bed (I sent Mr Lisa back for the script later.) That whole day I couldn't stay awake for more than a half hour at a time. The next day, one dose into the Paxlovid, I already felt so much better - that was the day I posted. And with each subsequent dose there has been a noticeable improvement in my headache, the level of congestion, the clarity of my thinking, my fatigue - all of it. I feel maybe 80-85% back to normal now, less than 48 hours after feeling like death warmed over, and I know there's no way I would have recovered this quickly without the Paxlovid. So far no stomach issues though the disgusting taste remains. Here's hoping nothing pops up and there's no rebound after I finish but so far so good!

Glad you’re feeling better, but don’t let it fool you into overdoing! Take your time and rest up.

(I think I read somewhere that long covid is more of a problem if you don’t take time to recover.)

Lisa, I'm so glad the paxlovid is working so well for you!!! Wow! I hope you are fully recovered quickly!!

quote:

shouting over a bunch of high school kids playing musical instruments in a barely air-conditioned building is hard enough without a mask and miserable with one.

My situation is definitely better/easier. I'm teaching college kids, in air conditioned buildings. In my class with 60+ students, I really need a lapel mic but the building itself is new and the tech is actually not all finished. Yesterday, when I had students doing an activity (and so all were talking). There was no way I could get their attention without yelling, and even then with my mask on, I wasn't convinced that they could hear me.

So when I wanted them to stop, I raised my hands in the air and rotated my hands (like the way you show applause in ASL). I got students near me to do it as well, and gradually everyone would realize they needed to be quiet. So that's what I'll do for now.

When they weren't doing an activity, they could hear me, but if the room were even a tiny bit larger, it would probably not work.

Still, three back-to-back classes, masked, is not fun.

I'll keep doing it though.

Sorry to hear that, Lisa. I hope you're feeling better.

Finished my last dose of Paxlovid this morning.

Never got the stomach issues, thank goodness. Also never got rid of the weird taste - it's still there but hoping to get rid of it soon! Also got a progressively more and more dry mouth, til I was basically chugging water constantly and no mater how much I drink I am still thirsty. And despite drinking copious amounts of water, I don't seem to be peeing more than usual, so I'm not sure where all the water is going . Also notice my pee smells really weird. I believe Paxlovid is cleared by the kidneys, not the liver, so I guess that makes sense - it's probably the drug by products that I'm smelling.

Covid wise, I'm feeling pretty good. Definitely still get winded if I climb stairs and I have a dry cough that wakes me up at night. I'm a little dizzy and lightheaded at times and still a bit brain fogged and tired. But I have a lot more energy today than I've had the past few days so hopefully I'm over the worst of it. Guess we'll see if any symptoms come roaring back now that the paxlovid is done.

Sounds like progress.

Thanks for the updates. It's helpful to hear some firsthand experiences with Paxlovid. I think I may have posted it in the other thread, but my friend got the other antiviral that isn't as effective as Paxlovid, but that can still help. Her doctor is prescribing it instead of Paxlovid because she was seeing a lot of side effects with Paxlovid. I imagine if the side effects bad enough, people decide to stop taking the drug, which clearly kills the effectiveness totally...

Hope you're fully back on your feet in no time!

Hope you feel better soon and are finished with it!

For me, teaching starts up on Thursday. I have two small seminars, and I'm sure everybody will be unmasked. That includes me. I would have difficulty teaching in one, I think.

Taking my chances, of course. I survived my wife's infection, so perhaps I have plenty of antibodies!

Lisa, I'm glad you're getting better, may this be a trend that continues!

quote:

I would have difficulty teaching in one, I think.

P*D, why? I'm not trying to pick a fight with you, just genuinely curious.

I requested a lapel mic for my largest class (60ish students) but it was fine without on the first day (this class only meets once a week). My other two classes have 10 and four students respectively, and I will keep masking for those classes as well.

I masked for a full year to teach in a building with no air conditioning, then 7 months in a building with air conditioning. When the mask mandate in schools was dropped I stopped wearing one. I did still wear it out in public places other than school (my thought was 6+ hours a day with 20 unmasked 6 year olds was going to more or less render the mask useless, but at least I wouldn’t get it or spread it amongst folks with more casual contact).

We did wear them when we went to Stratford to see a play last week. 90%+ of the audience was also masked. It was required but strongly recommended and they were giving out free masks at the door (though we did bring ours).

Sharon just tested positive for Covid. I suspect I’m next.

Sorry to hear that, Steve. How is Sharon feeling?

Also Lisa...how are you feeling?

quote:

Originally posted by Steve Miller:
Sharon just tested positive for Covid. I suspect I’m next.

Maybe you'll follow in P*D's footsteps and manage to dodge it.

Hope that's the case. And that Sharon feels better soon.

Sharon feels like she has a cold. No fever -yet.

Feeling pretty good.

Still a little tired and worn down, throat is a bit post-nasal-drip-scratchy, but overall fine - no congestion, cough is mostly gone except for the occasional tickle. Noticing that I tend to get hot and sweaty really easily -- like completely drenched look-like-I-just-got-out-of-the-shower sweaty, which is actually really gross -- and my heart rate tends to spike at the slightest exertion. That's pretty annoying so I hope it goes away. Coworker says it's happening to him too, so I guess it's a covid thing. Trying to take it easy and see how things go but no rebound so far and the icky taste is finally gone!

Some brain fog - had to write a check yesterday and had an unusual amount difficulty figuring out how to spell out the dollar amount - I could write the numbers but the spelling out of the amount threw me for a loop. It is odd that is is only certain things that I seem to struggle with. Wasn't really expecting that.

Good luck Steve - hope Sharon feels better soon!

So sorry that you've finally been faced with this modern plague but appreciate your detailed account. Still more, that the trajectory is so clearly upward.

Great to hear that the Paxlovid has been so effective for you. (I wonder why the response to it has been so variable for different people.)

I wish there were more specific testing to determine which variant one is suffering from. It would be useful to better understand how they differ from one another in symptoms and responsiveness to treatments. It seems that at early in the game, such things were much more carefully studied.

Weird about the discrepancy between how much fluid you're taking in and how little is leaving your body. Do you notice otherwise unexplained weight gain and/or swelling of the extremities, feet and ankles especially? Seems to me I recall kidney issues were typical of Covid early on (they were running out of dialysis machines). Hope your doctors are keeping track of this, especially testing kidney function. Covid seems to be many diseases.


Your symptoms have clearly been very unpleasant especially at the start, but again, thankfully, the trend of steady improvement is reassuring for us all, and very good news for you. Excellent!

However your cognitive symptoms manifest (the check writing problem is typical of early cognitive dysfunction), but as long as these symptoms continue to disappear, everything sounds really promising. It would just be useful to understand more cause and effect for us all.
(Certainly your self expression - always notable - doesn't seem at all impaired.)

I'm so glad you're clearly on the up and up. The Paxlovid is doing its thing and it sounds like you have a robust immune response. Great! Hoping to hear you continue to kick this nasty thing out of your system, and with few or no residual effects.