Rhino's Ramblings - A Touch Of COVID

By Robert Thomas - Opinion/Commentary

After logging thousands of kilometers literally through a war zone and back it seemed that the story of COVID - 19 was well behind me and somehow with my multiple vaccinations I was a man of steel and the virus we all feared bounced right off of me.

Sadly the truth of the matter is after weeks away and being in one of the countries in the world with a very low vaccination rate and a high incidence of COVID - Ukraine - I finally caught it. But not abroad but right here in Moose Jaw.

And to be full disclosure I have been vaccinated four times. Once with Astra-Zeneca and three times with the Pfizer vaccine.

If I was going to catch COVID it should not have been here but logically it should have been in Ukraine, Moldova, Romanian, Bulgaria or Turkey but of all places statistically speaking it should have not been right here in the friendly city.

I will be honest with you and state after Kharkiv and all of the dust of G-d only knows what was in it from the continual shelling I should have caught COVID abroad and not here at home.

In many ways though avoiding COVID while I was abroad was a blessing as really there would be no medical care for me there and I would not have the same abilities to just stay endlessly in bed as I can here instead of there.

When I was in Ukraine COVID was rampant. I arrived in Odessa to find out all of my friends there had it. They were all on 14 day quarantines except for Alec who helped me get around the first little while because he never gets sick from anything. Although he did have a headache and stuffed up sinuses and ears he chose not to bother telling anyone about.

One of the big treatments my friends in Ukraine took to help them get rid of COVID plus the after effects was large doses of Vitamin C.

My one friend told me she had never been so sick and it took 10 days for the COVID (she was unvaccinated like so many people are in Ukraine) to go away but there was no real after effects.

I was vaccinated when I got COVID and after suffering for three days of the chills and then being too warm and sweating I felt a lot better. Except unlike my friends I had after effects.

After effects such as being really tired, sinuses that were blocked and my head would sweat and be cold like my body had been but now my body was OK.

These are some of the effects many people in Moose Jaw tell me about their most recent experience with COVID - the great fatigue you get from it.

I will tell you honestly the thing I feared the worst about COVID was the pneumonia that often accompanies it.

Just a few days prior to contracting COVID I did have a minor bought of pneumonia but as the doctor told me in Ukraine this was a result of breathing in a mixture of dust, cement, rocket fuel, burning plastic, smoke, ash and whatever else was in the air in Kharkiv.

I know the next question is going to be why did I not just wear a mask?

It sounds like a simple solution except when you realize the two main mask colours - blue and white - are also the colours both forces use to identify their soldiers. Blue if you are fighting for Ukraine and white if you are on the Russian side.

Wearing either mask would make me a target for any sniper who might be lurking.

So there I was a few days after hockey wound up with a really bad case of COVID. The doctor never confirmed it but a home test did.

Sadly though COVID impacted MJ Independent’s coverage of news events as I really had no idea when I would suddenly be overcome by the need to immediately sleep and the brain fog made it really hard to focus.

It is like when I was heading downstairs to do laundry and Katie the Wondercat decided to join me. The thing is I tripped over her, due to the COVID fog, and bounced down five stairs and straight into the dryer headfirst which literally knocked me out.

It was about 11:30 pm on Friday evening and I managed to wake up at 11:45 pm so I first thought I was out for just 15 minutes. I then got back upstairs and found out it was actually Saturday evening and I was out for over 24 hours.

I thought about going to the hospital but ended up just falling asleep.

It left me all wondering is it having actual COVID that is bad for you or is it the after effects and the lingering symptoms after a person is COVID free?

Sleep seems to be important after having COVID. You always seem to be tired.

My friends in Ukraine tell me this is not a symptom they suffered from COVID but rather it was the actual being sick from COVID which hit them hard and it lasted 10 - 14 days. The chills and their body overheating sticking around for up to two weeks.

As my friends tell me in Ukraine they do not have the super cures we in Canada have for COVID they used large doses of Vitamin C and fluids to help get rid of it.

Meanwhile in Canada I drank large amounts of water spike with tons of Real Lemon juice - and no sugar - to help wash it away. I had no special medicine to go after COVID once I caught it. I think it is the same for a lot of people.

Fluids and a lot of sleep seems to be the main magical cure out there.

With time though and up to 12 liters of fluids everyday I think I can say it looks like I finally have managed to wash the COVID after effects away.

For other people I do not know if this is the same experience you had when it came to COVID as some who did have it described it as nothing more than a bad cold - while others tell me about the fatigue and stuffed up sinuses that take weeks until a person is able to breath through both nostrils again.

This is a sickness that seems to want to linger long after it does not show up on tests and should be long gone.

It may not be true of everyone but at the same time that is my experiences with it.

For those of you who have had COVID and now suffer from the after effects from it remember it will take some time but every couple of days I found it seemed to get better.

With that said to the readers of MJ Independent who look forward to the Council stories and questions that I am known to ask I apologize and here is hoping the after effects of COVID are now behind me and I can continue to bring you the news from a different angle.

The Good, the bad and the downright ugly.

Please take care out there.