My Life with Long-haul - Part 1
Link to previous post in this series - The Intro
In January 2020, my boss informed me to block out the last week of February in her calendar for vacation, as she was going to Mexico. As I looked out the windows in our office, I saw the gray Chicago sky and the dirty snow piled on the ground. I thought about how cold and miserable it is in late January, and how in February I usually feel like I can’t take another day of it. I thought, “I want to go somewhere warm in February.”
Prior to this, every vacation I had ever taken was planned several months in advance, and I saved my money for it the entire time. But, for the first time in my adult life, I was financially comfortable, and could swing a small trip without painstakingly saving for it for months in advance. Especially, if I visited a friend. Plus, not only was it an ideal time to go somewhere warm and sunny due to Chicago weather, but it was also the perfect time because one of my bosses would be off that week, too. It was a bit easier to take off work when at least one of my two bosses was off, as well.
So, on an impulse, my first and only impulsive vacation ever, I decided I was going to take that week off, too. This decision took me about 3 mins. Then, I thought, who do I know that lives somewhere warm and that I would enjoy visiting? Immediately, a good friend popped into my head, and she lived in Orlando, FL. I texted her and asked her if she would be up for me visiting her that week. Within a few minutes, she responded “Yes!” I then got on Southwest’s app, found reasonable flights, and booked them on the spot. I texted her my flight info, and we were set. From the inception of the idea, to the entire thing being planned and executed, was a time span of about 12 mins.
I think it is interesting that the only time I have ever planned a trip like this in my life, was the one trip that ended up completely changing the entire course of my life. The universe had plans for me.
Within the next couple of weeks, we talked about what I would do while I was there. I wasn’t interested in Disney or anything like that. I was interested in the beach and/or a pool, a trip to a psychic spiritual commune, and a karaoke bar. Mostly, I was just interested in seeing my good friend, warmth, and sun.
And, to be honest, I could use a change of scenery. I was nursing a super broken heart from a break-up before Christmas. The holidays kept me distracted. But, after New Years, I was doing nothing but wallowing in misery, on my couch, in the gray cold Chicago environment over the failed relationship. I could use the distraction.
When it came time for the trip at the end of February, there were little whispers here and there of something called the “Coronavirus” in China. Most of us, myself included, weren’t paying too much attention to it. We certainly hadn’t been told to stay home and not travel. So, when the time came, I hopped on a plane in Chicago, and I flew to Orlando. An airport with people from all over the world flying in to go to Disney.
I stayed there for around 5 days, I think? I don’t remember exactly. The first few days I enjoyed time with my friend and her family, we all went to Daytona beach on a little overnight trip, we got mani/pedis, ate at some yummy restaurants, and I got to go to the spiritual camp and have a reading done. But, on my last night there, all of a sudden, I started feeling sick. Like REALLY sick. I went to bed early, hoping that whatever it was could just be a fluke.
The next day, I am unsure how I managed to get my stuff together and get to the airport. And had I known anything about Covid, and the fact that it was actually already present in the US, I would have cancelled my flight and quarantined there and not put anyone in danger. But, I didn’t know. So, I somehow managed to get myself ready and in a cab to the airport, and I flew back to Chicago.
Upon finally getting home, I felt like I was at death’s door. Fever, sore throat, fatigue like whoa, hardly able to breathe, and all the works. The only time I had ever felt this sick before is when I had H1N1 flu in ?2014? (I think?).
My memory is failing me right now, so I don’t remember if I flew back on a Saturday, then I had Sunday to recover before returning to work. Or if I got back on a weekday, and was supposed to go in to work the next day. Whatever the case, I ended up being so sick that I had to call in to work for like the next 3 work days. By the 4th work day that I was supposed to be back, after having been gone for like a week plus, one of my bosses was seriously stressing because she desperately needed me for some tasks I was supposed to have been doing.
The previous night, I had woken up out of a deep sleep, gasping for breath. I could hardly breath and it caused me to panic. I mustered every ounce of strength I could, and I somehow managed to get myself into an Uber and over to the nearest urgent care that was open. During the Uber ride, the driver saw how sick I was and that I was going to Urgent Care, and made a sarcastic joke asking me if I “had been to China recently?” I didn’t have the energy to respond to him, and just stayed quiet with my eyes closed and my head against the window.
At the facility, they didn’t even have Covid tests. So they had no way of testing me. They took x-rays of my lungs and said it must be an upper respiratory infection. The prescribed me antibiotics and an inhaler. My insurance covered the pills, but not the inhaler. I had spent all of my money on vacation, and could not afford the inhaler, so I opted not to pay full price for it, and I just took the antibiotics.
The next day, even though I felt like death still, I pulled my ass into the office to try to get caught up on the things that they needed me for. At this point, I almost never worked remotely, so my work laptop was at the office, and I couldn’t do any work unless I went to the office to get it. Again, had I any clue that I had Covid, I would not have gone in. If I listened to myself, I wouldn’t have gone in. But I gave in to the corporate pressure that was so pervasive in those days of going in to work even when you were deathly ill.
Upon getting there, one of my coworkers had been staying up-to-date on the progress of Coronavirus, and she was concerned I might have it. She had bought masks, and offered me one. I accepted it, and put it on. When other people in the office saw me wearing it, they laughed at me and accused me of being dramatic.
When my other boss saw me (the one who had gone to Mexico and who wasn’t stressed about me being out sick), she took one look at me and in a very firm voice said, “Go home.” I started making excuses about why I needed to stay and all the stuff that I needed to get done. She said, “I will talk to everyone that needs you to do stuff, and I will tell them I sent you home. We can’t take any chances if this could potentially be Coronavirus.” So, I grabbed my laptop, and went home and tried working from bed.
Then, I received a follow-up call from the clinic, and they stated that after reviewing my x-rays, they decided I had pneumonia, and I don’t remember what they told me to do or what they prescribed. I just remember thinking, “ok, I have pneumonia.” It felt like a relief. Cause I had been secretly worried that maybe I did have Corona, and maybe I had unknowingly put a whole bunch of people at risk.
I spent the next few days working from home and still feeling awful. At this point, I was going on around like a week and a half of being sick. Eventually, I felt better enough to go back to the office. I still felt insanely fatigued and short of breath, but I no longer had a fever and sore throat, etc. At this point, it was probably around like March 9th. By this week, Corona was a much hotter topic, and there was concern it had come to the US. On March 12, we were told to take our laptops home and everyone would do a trial of working from home on Friday the 13th. We wanted to see if our IT systems could handle everyone doing it at once. Then we would come back on Monday, and if things got bad enough in the future, we would be equipped to start working from home.
We all worked from home on Friday, March 13th. I was relieved as I still felt so awful. At least I would have one day to take it a bit easier, and then have the weekend to do some more resting before going back on Monday. What none of us realized, is that we wouldn’t go back to that office until Summer of 2021.
To be continued…..