My COVID odyssey - part 2.
Thanks to all for your good wishes and thoughts in this thread I posted yesterday (wow, lots can happen in 24 hours) -
https://www.democraticunderground.com/114229839
Just after I did that post, my wife drove me the few miles to the doc office, where a nurse came out to the car and did a nasal swab (it felt like she swabbed my brain - that was deep). In an hour, I got a ping in my inbox - negative for flu A, flu B, RSV - and a big ol positive for COVID. I then had a videoconference with my doc (actually, my wife's doc - we go to docs in the same practice - both are excellent) a few hours later. She strongly suggested, due to my being over 65 and slightly overweight, to go with the Paxlovid - particularly in its seeming ability to reduce chances of long COVID. She called it in, a few minutes later my wife went to grab it at Walgreen a few minutes away - I took the first dose (three pills, two different drugs) at 4 PM.
Had dinner, resumed our binge of the Great British Bake Off (our second time thru, on Netflix) - I headed to bed at 10 (much earlier than typical for me) in the spare bedroom. My wife and I are trying our best to do some distancing from each other (she's OK for now) - I slept through to 8 AM and already felt better - no cough, less congestion, less sneezing, no temp. Took the second dose before breakfast - no sense of taste or smell (but as I type this I do get a faint sensation of the metallic taste noted as a side effect of the Paxlo vid). My energy level is not great - but at this point I feel like I have a mild head cold. Absolutely no other side effects at this point.
So - I feel very fortunate for Medicare and the Supplement and the Part D, for my doctor - the whole efficiency of the process to go from positive home test to confirmation to medicating. Mostly, my caring wife - as I hear her sneezing, I fear she will be next - so we will get to nurse each other through this. Also thankful to my DU friends for your concern and kind comments.
I wanted to share this just as an FYI to anyone going through similar experiences.
Off to start planning my 2023 garden!
= new reply since forum marked as read
And I'm glad you have each other, a great doc, & great healthcare coverage! 
on top of it, NHL.
Here's ro continually getting better.
And your 2023 garden! Anything in particular you are excited about?
since my tomato book came out in late 2014, lots of the years involved talks, trips, Zooms - then adding the work with Joe Lamp'l a few years ago to do our course for his Organic Gardening on line academy. It was great, but exhausting - I don't want to be a public person, and with the last 8 years behind me, want to get back to gardening for my wife and I, but using Instagram to do some coaching and teaching as the year transpires.
Also the breeding project I began in 2005 is nearing its end - I want to get back to just playing in the garden. We want to focus more on flowers - and have less peppers and eggplants, (yikes!) less tomatoes - but more beans, squash, melons, cukes.
With so many seeds around here (thousands and thousands of different packets and jars), it always takes me weeks to decide what to grow! I will also be doing some work locally with a Veterans Farm garden group. And still have a number of talks and Zooms already on the calendar.
Long answer to a short question!!!
We got it at my house after Thanksgiving. We went through every symptom for a week, and the next week was about back to normal. A month later I still have a sporatic cough, but I have Asthma.
I hope your household gets through it quickly without much pain.
