Short Stories

1. I Had Covid

Something was going through my body the night of February 29th in the 4th floor room at the Holiday Inn, 20 minutes away from Mohegan Sun. I couldn’t sleep, I was changing the thermometer on the AC constantly, and things felt off. On the car ride home the next day, my body weighed 100 pounds more and I was collapsed on Alex’s lap like a 5 year old on a road trip. And leaving Alex’s uncle’s apartment to go home, I hugged him using all my mental energy to look like I was fine while my body wanted to shake.

When we finally got to the Oasis, I collapsed in bed and woke up with a 101.7 fever. And I never get fevers. It’s usually the other thorns of sickness. I skipped work Monday, downing everything known to man – Vitamin D, Echinacea, Tylenol, Advil and gallons of water. This was early covid days, and the early old wives tales were drinking a ton of water and Vitamin D may help.

Tuesday to Thursday were filled with more of the same regimen, but I made my way into the office. Thursday night, I told myself it would be okay to go off the 6-8 Advil a day protocol. I went off at 6pm and had a raging fever at 10pm, once again shaking vehemently. 101.4. Something wasn’t right. I had also started to develop a rash on my torso.

Friday wasn’t a work day either and went to City MD. They asked a few questions, and proceeded to take a flu test. I was negative. And then he asked me, “have you traveled anywhere internationally lately?” I said no, and he mumbled something along the lines of “ok then you don’t meet the testing criteria” – I don’t even think he specified for what, just this unknown virus that would consume our lives for the foreseeable future.

So the conclusion – and from his mouth – “You have a virus, and it’s not the flu”

I went home and collapsed again. After a 3 hour nap, I was sweating but it felt amazing. The cool sweat like maybe my body had broken through. I still stayed on all those drugs and water and the feelings would go in and out and in and out. Tired for a moment, then okay, then this, then that.

The rash and skin / joint ailments was the final stretch. And this lasted a long time – several weeks. I put Hyrdocortisone on my rash to try it, and I have never felt a sensation like this before, sprinted from my desk to Equinox, took the coldest shower imaginable, and went back to the office.

The quarantine showers were different. I would get out and my feet would be cracking, and I was learning and using brands like Skin Food that I have never heard of before. And for one shower, maybe you could shrug your shoulders. But the joint pain (couldn’t do pushups for weeks) and cut up hands and feet lasted for weeks.

My body reacted to something extremely aggressively. And you can read all the articles you want. Of course I had covid symptoms, because I had a virus. And yes, of course I read about young Italians developing rashes, and of course mild asthma actually helps to fight off the virus in your lungs (which may explain the no cough).

The cause? I don’t know, I was in the steam room on the morning of the 28th and the guy in front of me was just coughing quite a bit and let one out that was so gross and so deep. Immediately, the (angel) thought went through my head I should probably get out (remember, early covid days). But then I said “fuck it” (devil), you’ll be fine, and not only stayed in, but breathed it in. Like you’re supposed to do in a steam.

I had a “mild to moderate” case of covid. And can’t imagine what a severe case is like.

2. Changing the Way We Communicate

We all know the way we communicate has gotten progressively worse. Less face to face, less voice to voice, and way more text to text or like to like.

Today, I found a simple way to at least put a pause button on this sliding scale of dangerous communication. By turning off imessage.

Let’s dive in. Someone likes something. Someone loves something. But why only like? Why love? Why nothing? Thoughts that shouldn’t even be entering our minds. Literally.

Someone is typing and you see that bubble image? Who gives a flying fuck (excuse my French). I would much rather be not looking at my phone when someone is typing thinking about that then just putting my phone down and reading the text when it comes in.

These different reactions are new. Facebook went way downhill when comments stopped and likes started. Comments harness creativity and originality, while a like is sooo easy. But a love? Stop it. That really means that person loves you. And a !! – I mean, that’s gotta be the most important reaction since someone could smile. And if anyone puts a ? on a text you literally might as well take two steps back and end the sentence.

We’ve learned to use the reactions because it’s just another gadget among gadgets. We’re all addicted to our iphones. It’s been proven. And they are toxic and the feeds and reactions and nonstop communication and news that runs through them is creating a much more polarized population. I don’t need any study that has already come out or will come out to tell us that.

It’s sad because apps and email and the like run through our phone. So you can’t just put it away (mind you, we should be able to but that’s a different conversation). For now, I’m just remembering what the moment is and that it’s not seeing a reaction (a love, a thumbs up, a !!) or watching those bubbles. Little bit of stop and smell the roses / take a step back and ask yourself is this really what I want day to day, minute to minute.

We’ve turned into a world of reaction rather than a world of response. And it shouldn’t be sitting well with us.