Getting sick suddenly isn't what it used to be

(NOTE: This post was written a few weeks ago as I was starting not to feel so great. In tomorrow's post, I'll let you know what the outcome of that process was. Hint: I'm proud to now be an official U.S. government statistic.)

There was a time (say a year ago) when you could start to feel sick and it was...OK. You took your zinc pills or drank orange juice or threw back a quart of your grandma's magic elixir or whatever and it was fine. The only question was whether you were getting a cold or the flu.

Now, however, it's a little different. You may have heard—it's been in all the papers—that we are in the midst of a pandemic. The novel coronavirus or COVID-19 or The Rona or whatever you want to call it has inserted itself into our lives in the rudest of ways.

So now, of course, whenever you start to feel achy, tired, feverish, stuffed up, etc., you're thinking, "Is this COVID? Can it be COVID? I have COVID, don't I? I HAVE THE RONA."

Even if you don't.

It's difficult to rule out coronavirus in your self-diagnosis, even if your taste and smell are perfectly fine. Everyone seems to manifest the symptoms of the virus differently, so having your taste and smell intact doesn't necessarily mean you only have a common cold.

It could. It's just not definitive.

As the virus has spread, it has gotten to the point that each of us has either definitely had it, knows someone who has had it, or we're pretty sure we had it but never got a test.

As of this writing, I'm in the "known someone who has had it" category, but every little symptom I manifest makes me think, "THIS IS IT."

So far it hasn't been it.

As I type this, I'm not feeling great (NOTE: In English class, they call this "foreshadowing.") Given my chronic lack of sleep and generally packed scheduled, I can expect to get that "not feeling great" thing about once each winter.

Because someone in my house had COVID and recently got over it, The World's Most Famous Virus is naturally on my mind. Do I have it? Have I joined the ever-growing case numbers?

<Takes sip of coffee>

Ah, the unmistakable taste of Maxwell House.

I never thought I would say this but, if I'm lucky, I'm only coming down the flu. (NOTE: Again, this may or may not have been the case. Tune in tomorrow...)