Experiencing COVID-19: It Could Have Been Worse

Another week has passed, and I still haven’t written about fusion power experiments on both sides of the Atlantic. It’s on my to-do list, but I’m putting it off until I’m less distracted and more clear-headed.

Besides, this has been a distracting week.

Or I’ve been distracted. Which isn’t quite the same thing.

So – Tuesday I saw a doctor, who told me that I’ve caught COVID-19: along with about 80% of all Minnesotans.

I decided to skip getting a blood test to verify my COVID-19 status: partly because it wouldn’t make a difference on how I deal with the situation. And partly because I didn’t see a point in expending resources just to satisfy my curiosity.

I also left a urine sample and got an antibiotic prescription. The latter wouldn’t do a thing for COVID-19 or any other viral ailment: but was a good idea, since part of what I’ve been feeling looked like a bacterial infection.

Lab results came in Friday. Good news, it’s a bacterial infection. Not-so-good-news, this particular microcritter is resistant to the prescribed antibiotic. So I spent a few very cold minutes Friday afternoon, picking up a new antibiotic.

It’s a new one to me: ciprofloxacin. I looked it up, of course, learning that it’s a quinolone antibiotic. And, like every other pharmaceutical, it is not 100% safe and utterly risk-free.¹

But I figure that it’s much less risky to try using an antibiotic to deal with a urinary tract infection, than ignore what’s happening and hope for the best.

Prayer and Making Sense

If you’ve been reading my stuff, then you’ve read why I think prayer is a good idea.

And why I don’t think prayer and medicine aren’t an either/or situation.

I don’t remember how long it’s been since I talked about this, so here’s how I see life, health and using my brain.

Being healthy is okay. Being sick is okay. What matters is how I act. It’s even okay to help others get or stay healthy. Life and physical health are “precious gifts.” Taking care of both is a good idea. Within reason. Obsessing over either isn’t. (Catechism of the Catholic Church, 1509, 2288-2291, 2292-2296)

Prayer isn’t always easy, but it’s always possible. Which is a good thing, because living as a Christian without prayer doesn’t work. Prayer is what makes sharing the love Jesus has for us possible. (Catechism, 2742-2745)

Happily, I’ve kept up my daily prayer routine this month. Although one day I didn’t do my ‘noon’ set until around 4:00 p.m. Maybe there’s some deep spiritual significance there, but I figure being feverish and mentally fogbound was a factor.

Part of a Majority? Me?!

I’ll admit that going along with 80% of everyone in the state feels a bit odd.

Back when my number-two daughter and son-in-law were jumping through the bureaucratic hoops of adoption procedures, she picked three words to describe me:

• Eccentric
• Scholarly
• Eclectic

Maybe it was “academic” instead of “scholarly.” But that’s basically what she meant.

And she’s right on all three counts. I don’t do “conventional.” And haven’t tried since I was in my teens. I’m simply not good at it.

So, like I said, being part of an 80% majority feels a bit different. On the other hand, it took me about two years to catch COVID-19. And that’s not quite another topic.

Anyway, here’s the seemingly-inevitable list of stuff that may or may not be related:

• “Feverish, Weak; But Other Than That, a Pretty Good Week”
  (February 5, 2022)
• “COVID-19 and People Who Need People, Another Year”
  (January 25, 2022)
• “Science, Religion, COVID-19 and an Unexpected Opinion”
  (November 8, 2021)
• “Groundhog Day, and Me in Three Words”
  (February 2, 2021)
• “Sickness, Death, God, Love and Questions”
  (February 23, 2019)

¹ An antibiotic:

• Wikipedia
  • Ciprofloxacin
• Mayo Clinic
  • Ciprofloxacin (Oral Route)
    Drugs and Supplements