Still Out There

By Lou Pastina

I got my flu shot this year like every other year. My father always got one, and my siblings and I always followed his lead. He made it to 93, so he must have been on to something. I read that this year’s vaccine wasn’t matched well to this year’s strain. I don’t know if this has anything to do with the current controversy brewing at the CDC with its new director, but I started feeling wonky about two weeks ago. I thought well, I got my shot, so I should be ok, but then I went to bed, and I had those terrible night sweats that brought back memories of Covid.

It’s hard to believe that peak Covid was only four years ago. So much has changed in the time between. What we thought was just another strain of the flu, turned out to be much more dangerous and deadly. The world’s response was amazing in retrospect, but so many suffered and succumbed. I got my Covid shots back then, but it didn’t stop me from getting Covid, not once but three times. Those were scary times, with family members hospitalized, and the mermaid and I taking care of each other and others. Those night sweats combined with long stretches of sleep, the inability to taste or smell, those awful sinus headaches spelled misery worldwide.

So, I went to urgent care and opened the door to a packed room at an office that had just opened minutes before. I considered this to be an omen, although there wasn’t an air of panic as there was four years ago. My turn eventually came, my vitals were taken, and they tested for flu, RSV, and yes, Covid. He gave me a prescription assuming that I didn’t have Covid and off I went. The call the following day confirmed that it was indeed Covid, and I was told to just let it run its course. I asked what the protocol was these days, and the response was – after the fever stops (with no medication) wait 24 hours then resume normal activity. In addition, I should isolate for at least five days since inception. According to Chat GPT (which knows everything these days), the current strain is a lesser variant of the original one that made its way around the world four years ago reminiscent of the 1920’s swine flu epidemic.

It’s been well past the five-day point, and I am feeling 100% better, but it was a painful reminder of a time when it seemed like the world was going to end. The experience taught me that with Christmas coming right around the corner, I should appreciate the great gifts that I have been given and not focus on those things that I can’t control. Something my yogic mermaid tells me periodically. Somehow the world seemed to remember those things back then. I still remember standing outside our homes and banging pots and pans in appreciation of the healthcare workers who were risking their lives every day for us all. While I was sick this year, I missed a few dinners, a theater night, a gig, but got to focus on the things that are important, like family, friends and God.

There are folks all around us who have great struggles in their lives related to their health, their families, their jobs, their finances. Sometimes these struggles are hard to see. My time being sick was a reminder, that life is about service to others, about being kind, about being present, about showing up for neighbors, friends and family. And while this was a reminder that Covid is still out there, it also was a reminder that, so are we – strong, resilient and there for each other.