Rest

During my acute case of COVID in November 2023, I called the nurse’s line at my doctor’s office so often that the nurse stopped needing to ask me my name. While in the beginning, my acute case of COVID felt less severe than the one I had the previous year, I kept experiencing what I thought were odd symptoms.

The first week, my temperature yo-yoed almost every day. Never beyond a low-grade fever, but to me, it was odd to have a low grade temperature go away and then come back over and over again.

The second week, I developed headaches that were more constant, more severe, and of a different quality than my typical migraines. Migraines are normal; these headaches were far from normal.

The fourth week, I continued to call the office as the previous week I thought I was a day or two away from being well again when I relapsed, for what would be the first time.

Every call with the nurse, she told me to rest. Rest, rest, rest. I got so sick of hearing that word. While my body was clearly not capable of doing much of anything besides rest, it was still frustrating to be told that was really the only thing I could do (besides take large doses of painkillers for the headaches). At some point, I was going to have to stop resting and start living again.

Nine months later, rest remains a crucial part of the healing process. I don’t need to rest all the time anymore. There are days of near normal living; and there are days of hybrid living and resting. Yet, there are still days where all I can do is rest.

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Feature image credit: rest by sentya irma from Noun Project (CC BY 3.0)