When the COVID-19 pandemic hit last March, Vertis and I, since we are both well over 70, went into a really hunker-down mode. We stopped going to church, we wore masks, and generally took all the precautions recommended. Things went along fine, but just a couple of weeks before Christmas, our grandson, Coulter Mason, who works around us in downtown El Dorado, and at 23 thinks he’s bulletproof and is pretty casual about wearing a mask, announced one of his good friends had tested positive for COVID-19. His mother, who is the same casual way about masks, had also been around Coulter. We hadn’t been in close contact with Coulter, but Vertis and I tried to keep our distance, and we continued to tighten up our exposure to any possible carriers.
It was the Tuesday before Christmas when I woke up with a little headache. It seemed minor, and I ignored it, and took a hot, soaking bath, which is my cure for nearly everything. I even ate a normal breakfast, and was at work by eight o’clock. That is when I started feeling a little worse, and as the morning progressed, I gradually felt generally terrible. Now it was more than a small headache; it was the headache of all headaches, and about ten o’clock I headed for home. By noon, I knew I had come down with something, and since one of COVID-19’s primary symptoms are headaches, I began to believe I had the virus. Another hour and I stared searching the internet for COVID-19 symptoms and anything else that might help me get over it.
It was a little after lunch, which I skipped, and I had gone from “Maybe I have the virus” to dead certain “I have the virus.” In my mind it was “What else can it be?” Of course, it could be a lot of viruses, but COVID-19 was sure on the top of my list. Well, Vertis and I agreed that I probably had enough symptoms to justify a COVID-19 test, and we called to get a test appointment.
My internet search turned up several drugs, all of which were only used for advanced, serious symptoms. However, it did turn up several vitamins which we already take: B-3, C, and zinc. I upped my take of those by adding them morning, noon, and night. I didn’t take anything else - not even an aspirin. Vertis and I regularly take a handful of other vitamins, and I continued to take those.
Well, about one o’clock, I drove to Dr. Bob Watson’s office parking lot, and one of his nurses came out to my car to administer a COVID-19 test, where a nasal sample is taken from deep inside your nostrils. I jerked back on the first swab try— hell, it was painful — and had to go through it again on both nostrils. Yeah, it hurt.
I went back home and plopped down on my favorite couch in our den. As I leaned back and tried to relax, I was as miserable as I have been in a long time. I said a couple of prayers and just rested. It was mid-afternoon when I realized I was feeling a little bit better, and gradually by six o’clock, I was much improved. I actually felt like having supper, and that’s when the headache seemed to leave me. I went to bed feeling better than I had felt all day, and the next morning I got up at five o’clock, my usual time to have coffee and read the paper, feeling almost totally back to normal. I went to work and since then I haven’t had a hint of a COVID-19 symptom.
Later that morning, as Vertis and I discussed the day before and talked about what the COVID-19 test was going to show, we had doubts that I actually had the virus because Vertis, outside of having a minor sore throat and a runny nose a few days before I came down with my symptoms, hadn’t been sick at all. As close as we stick together, I thought it would be virtually impossible for me to have it and her not to catch it.
Well, my test was right before Christmas, and I wouldn’t find out the results until the Monday after Christmas. Then, on Christmas Eve, Lara, our daughter, and her son Coulter began having symptoms, and these were right in line with COVID-19; loss of taste etc. Both of them ended up with a strong case of the virus and tested positive. After two weeks, they are just now free of all symptoms. I’m typing this column on Sunday the 10th of January, and our gifts are still under the Christmas tree. This afternoon we’ll gather to open presents.
The Monday after Christmas I received a voice mail from my doctor telling me I had tested positive for COVID-19. In discussing this unusual response to the virus, it doesn’t seem to make any sense that a couple of well over 70 individuals would have very minimal symptoms (We considered that Vertis couldn’t possibly not have had the virus) and a 23 year old and his mother who is certainly decades younger than Vertis and I would be sick with loss of taste and smell and several other symptoms for two weeks.
Our best guess as to how the virus spread links Coulter’s friend, who Coulter was around when he tested positive, and then Coulter passed it on to the rest of the family. But why the difference in symptoms? The thoughts below are my best guess.
Vertis and I have kept in shape over the years, and I played competitive, tournament tennis for over twenty years. I can vouch for the strain and conditioning your lungs receive by playing singles tennis in Arkansas summers with 95 degree temperature and 80% humidity. Yes, even though I stopped playing tennis after a leg injury a few years back, I still walk four to five miles a day five or six times a week, and Vertis either goes to HealthWorks or rides a stationary bike at home. I’m six foot two and I weigh 175, and Vertis, while I’m not privileged to reveal her weight, is not overweight by any means. We have never smoked, and we take a literal handful of vitamins a day. So what is it? Working out? Vitamins? Not smoking? Prayer?
My best answer is “All of the above.” Actually, I could have received a false positive test, and Vertis and I may not have even had COVID-19. However, a couple of doctor friends have commented “Yes, you and Vertis almost certainly had COVID-19.” I’m going to get tested for antibodies in a couple of weeks, and then we’ll know for certain. I’ve been told to wait for 30 days after symptoms have passed to get an antibodies test. I’ll keep you posted.
In the meantime, until Vertis and I get vaccinated, we’re going to wear a mask and keep social distance, but when this damn pandemic is over, we’re going to have a mask burning party. It can’t come too soon as far as I’m concerned.
Richard Mason is a registered professional geologist, downtown developer, former chairman of the Department of Environmental Quality Board of Commissioners, past president of the Arkansas Wildlife Federation, and syndicated columnist. Email [email protected].