Early November 2022 my wife picked up the 'rona from a customer. She tested positive. A day later I was down too. After 5 days I was feeling better and sacrificed our last home test hoping to get released. Positive.
Flashback to the first week of February 2020 - I was sick with the worst flu and bronchitis ever, dragged myself to the Dr who smiled and said I was lucky to have been drinking water, take these pills for the cough and come back in a week if I'm not better. A week later I went back and the entire staff was wearing space suits. They suspiciously listened to my claims of pneumonia, gave a chest x-ray, and an Rx for some pneumonia pills. Looking at the symptoms, I'll call it an early case of COVID, although unverified because of lack of a testing protocol in Feb 2020.
Both times my smell was impacted. First time my head was messed up for months - was it depression and anxiety from family stress and lockdown or the so-called brain fog? Both times the tinnitus screamed louder than usual for weeks afterwards. Now, over a month later, coffee still smells like kerosene and coats my tongue with the chain smoker's taste of rotten flesh.
I'm not discounting psychologically challenged folk's tendency toward hypochondria, nor the possibility of morally challenged folks manipulation. But I do agree that the lingering effects of COVID19 and it's offspring aren't yet fully catalogued and understood.
