2021… I thought you were the year… but maybe you still are?

The last you heard from me I was 32 years old and while we were all in the mist of a pandemic, I still managed to turn 33. Pretty soon I will have been right back where I left ya but another year older… I could not let a whole year go by without getting the blog back.

A lot has happened in 2021. The clock struck midnight and 2020 was in the past… well we all thought it would be. I managed to go a whole year without getting Covid 19… that is until 2021 hit. 2021, you were supposed to be my comeback year, what the hell happened???

That is right. I got COVID.

Here is the thing. I never thought I would die from Covid, that was never a fear of mine, even though I am considered at “risk” but it still scared the living shit out of me. So when I got it, I was living my worst nightmare. Well, literally, it was the worst pain I had felt in ages.

How it started:

I went to Costco and Smiths on Sunday morning, grocery shopped and went straight home. The following day, I worked remotely and then hit a hard workout. Tuesday rolled around and I felt so sore. Like DOMS sore. I thought, “damn that was a good workout, but F I am so sore.” I worked remotely again. Wednesday hit, and I could barely move. I felt like I had the flu, and DOMS combined and so I took the day to rest, I slept a lot and the next morning was 1000x worse. First thought, “no f’ing way I have Covid, there is no f’ing way”

Off to the COVID testing line I went. Thursday, I can barely walk up stairs, I am coughing my lungs out and now having difficulty breathing. No results yet. Thank god my sister is an MA, she was able to bring by some goods. Porch drop of course. Friday morning, confirmed… you have the RONA. Yay me. Quarantine 2 more weeks. My symptoms were the worst the first 4-5 days, by the time that Saturday rolled around, I was feeling more like myself. 2 weeks in quarantine and symptom finally free… or so I thought.

2 months later:

Working out, still hard to do, breathless walking up stairs, have a handy inhaler now.

3 months later:

Makes lunch… Sausage, broccoli and rice… the norm. Same thing I ate the day before… what is that smell? What is that taste? Is my lunch bad?

3 months 1 week later:

Walks into Starbucks… what is that rancid smell?? Gross my latte tastes sour.. What and the actual f is happening. I will tell you what is happening. Parosmia, “a change in the normal perception of odors, such as when the smell of something familiar is distorted, or when something that normally smells pleasant now smells foul.”

Literally, FML.

How it is going:

So yeah, 3 months later, I did not “lose” my taste and smell like most, I had Parosmia, fully distorted taste and smell. Everything I ate was rancid tasting, chemical tasting or like wet dog. It is hard to explain. But it made me want to die. Literally. Months went on and nothing seemed to make it better until I saw a kick ass ENT who was able to bring a little light to this dark ass tunnel.

Where I am at:

Covid hit me hard. I survived but I am still experiencing the effects of this shit hole of an illness. My ENT was able to place me on a round of steroids, and found some research that was being done in the UK about smell training to help my senses and heal my olfactory. We are all just wandering around here in the dark as we continue to navigate covid though so if you have experienced prolonged distorted taste and smell due to covid, email me. I would love to swap experiences.

How is my taste and smell now you ask? I would say 40% back. I do smell training twice a day and I really think my taste and smell has improved. It has been 8 months since these symptoms appeared and it has been 10 months since I had gotten Covid. I have recently been able to incorporate foods that once tasted disgusting back into my everyday diet. Hot coffee still smells like wet dog but Iced Coffee is great again, thank the lord. I tried carne asada for the first time a few days ago and it had a slight funk aftertaste but it tasted for the most part, normal.

My Covid experience flared up my anxiety, messed with my mental health and killed my foodie vibe so I have not been writing. I was not really sure how to navigate life, let alone a blog. So thanks for sticking around.

Excited to get back to me again.

Promise I will not be gone for that long again.

XOXO

T

If you have questions about my covid-19 experience, please leave a comment or email me directly.