After some deliberation, I decided to come home for Christmas and attend the family party in spite of the Omicron surge. My brother-in law caught a cold before the party but tested negative for COVID on both a home test and a PCR test. My Dad woke up on Christmas Day with a nasty cough that evolved into a pretty bad cold. He also tested negative for COVID. Both my Dad and brother in law are fully vacksinated and boosted. My nephew who is vacksinated but not boosted was down with a fever and nausea for a few days after Christmas. He also tested negative.
As for me, I was symptom free during Christmas and tested negative with a home test prior to the party on Christmas Eve. I attended church with my mother then put in an appearance with the extended family on Christmas Day. The next day on the trip home, I had some weakness and a bit of a tickle in my throat. I figured that I was just tired from the driving. I got extra sleep and took it easy for the next couple of days. It appeared that I had fought off whatever it was and thought I was in the clear. Not so fast.
December 30 (Day 1)- Feeling weaker and weaker as the day progressed. Mild sore throat and very watery stools. That's not out of the ordinary for me especially if the pills are out of whack. It wasn't until lunch time when I had no appetite and could barely eat one small hot dog that I began to get a little worried. I wanted to get tested again but there were no appointments and home kits were sold out. I left work early and when I got home, I felt no better after extra pills and a big glass of water. I ate nothing for dinner. Took my secret formula of Lactoferrin plus Benadryl, which knocked me out and put me to sleep.
December 31 (Day 2)- Pretty much out of commission. Spend most of the day in bed. Developed a cough, sinus congestion, a mild headache and a low grade fever. I could not find a thermometer but I estimate that my temperature was about 99.5F. Concerned but no feeling of panic or doom. I certainly have felt a lot worse than this in the past with other infections. Took Motrin, cough syrup and a double dose of Benadryl with Lactoferrin.
January 1 (Day 3)- MUCH better in terms of strength and energy. Voice sounded awful and still had a pretty bad cough. Fever was gone (98.1F) and my appetite was beginning to recover. Felt well enough to do a 1 Mile junk run. Of course, I did very poorly (9:36) but that has been the case with or without the virus.
January 2-3 (Day 4 and 5)- Pretty much the same. The cough lingered for another 4 days and I began coughing up small amounts of phlegm. My voice didn't really recover until Day 7. I was well enough to work on January 3 but as per CDC guidelines, I stayed home until the 5th day was completed.
The big question: Did I have COVID? If so, it was almost certainly the mild Omicron and not the more serious Delta. My Mom is pretty much convinced that it was NOT COVID because nobody in the family tested positive and my Dad's symptoms were very similar to mine. I'm not so sure. The loss of appetite and the watery stools are 2 common Omicron symptoms. Moreover, home tests are not always reliable when it comes to Omicron. I read reports of people testing negative on Day 1 then positive on Day 3.
How would I rate this in terms of discomfort? On a scale of 1-5 with 1 being a typical cold and 5 being a bad flu, I'd rate this as a 2. If this had hit during the week and COVID was not a concern, I would have missed just 1 day of work. Basically, a 2 day illness plus a week of residual crud. Most people who caught Omicron said it was a 3-4 day illness with a quick recovery. Perhaps the Benadryl plus Lactoferrin made a difference. The best way to tell at this point is to go for blood donation next month. That will reveal whether or not I have COVID antibodies. I actually hope that it was COVID. I will be less likely to be forced into taking the vackseen if I can prove natural immunity and because my case was so mild, I will feel fully vindicated for my decision to decline it.
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