Covid quarantine ending... and I don't want to go back to work.

I've had covid. It sucks.

I'm double vaccinated, so I didn't get it badly. My main symptoms were heavy fatigue, a couple of days of cracking headaches, and total loss of smell and taste. My sense of taste has now come back fortunately, but my sense of smell is totally absent.

I've been isolating from my family, locked in a bedroom upstairs, for my 10 day isolation period. It hasn't been too bad; I've played computer games, binge watched netflix, and slept a lot. The last couple of days I have been up and about spending some time in the garden. Today was the first day when an hour on my feet didn't send me straight to bed exhausted, so that is a win.

BUT tomorrow is back to work  for me. I don't mind that, but I really would have liked another proper day in the garden. It's been so long, and a miss doing those nice winter jobs.

Good to hear you’re back on your feet. Sounds like you still need some R&R.

RnR would be lovely. I think I was already exhausted when I caught it, so had a lot of catching up on sleep to do, as well as generally being ill. I heard last night that lots of people are ill off work at the moment, a few others with covid, plus general winter bugs.

I can't really justify staying off any longer, but at the same time I won't be signing up for any extra duties this week.

When the lock down was over and I had to go back to work after months at home I cried. So sad!

Hi Michael,
You said that you still don't have your sense of smell back yet. I'm really curious how that is effecting you.

I've never had a sense of smell and I'm usually amazed to hear about people who have lost it and how it effects their lives. So I'm always curious about it. According to the most recent scientific studies people smell their food as they're eating and you can smell about 300 different things. Whereas, I can only taste 6.

How is it going?
Debbie

I'm generally feeling much better now. Essentially back to normal, with a bit of lingering tiredness. As you surmised though, the sense of smell has not yet come back at all. There are a few obvious issues.

1) I can't sniff test clothes to check if they have another day of wear in them.
2) I can't smell my own BO. My youngest, who is four, had a nightmare the other night. He climbed into bed with me and snuggled up under my arms. Come the morning he was dispatched to have a hair wash because his hair had been up under my arm pit. I couldn't tell at all.
3) Food is bland. I can at least taste something, but all the subtlety is gone :( This makes me sad, as I am a foodie.
4) I can't smell hazards. I my classroom at work I have some of my beekeeping supplies, including a honey warming cabinet. A pupil accidentally switched it on yesterday and it overheated (it wasn't setup for use, so the thermostat wasn't installed properly). The groups that came in told me it smelt funny, but it took me two days to work out what was going on. I would have immediately recognised the smell of warming honey had I been able to smell it myself.

Lessons learned in the first week: Assume all clothes are dirty, and always assume I need a shower. Have some one with a trusted nose if working with anything flammable or otherwise hazardous.