My wife and I had Covid for the first time in Feb. of this year. We avoided it this long which has amazed people. We are both in our 70's and took every vaccine offered at the earliest opportunity. To everyone their own. With every hospital in the state at full capacity and no pulmonary equipment available, it seemed like a good idea even with the risks.
The current strain seems much milder than the former ones, which is normal for any mutating organism. My wife took Paxlovid and it was like a mild cold. I couldn't take the antivirals due to the interaction with heart rhythem drugs. I had mild overt symptoms (mild flu-like). However, it drug on for a while and I eventually suffered after effects. I had (covid toe) which my daughter is still bothered by two years after the fact. She has eventuallynlost every toenail at one time or another. I lost 2 toenails and a thumbnail.
My worst issue was that as I started to improve my atrial fibrillation acted up again and I went into permanent a-fib. I had to be reconverted and go into the hospital to have my meds adjusted to the max dosage. Since that time I have never returned to the condition I was in before the illness. My ER doc told me that since the onset of Covid their numbers show that ER admissions due to sudden onsets of a-fib have increased almost exactly 400%. That is an incredible number.
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Covid is certainly milder than the original, but it is not a benign disease. I leaves a large number of victums with serious permanent issues. I know many more people with these long term serious issues than I know people who died in the original onslaught. Because the original symptoms are mild many people don't pay a lot of attention, but it is a disease to try to avoid at all possible and is not just another flu or cold.
a friend back in east texas related that his wife developed type 1 diabetes as a side effect of covid in late 2022....and then added that her doctor was treating five other similar cases - in a town of +/-100,000. my step-daughter is a pa, and says there is an incredible spectrum of damaging maladies that show-up among covid "survivors". i had never heard of the "covid toe" prior to your post.
the fact that a newly mutated infection spurred a hasty vaccine....which in turn spurred such a broad social divide was simply astonishing to me. we too were in our 70's, and with the help of her daughter were able to access the first dose of moderna vaccine by the close of december 2019, and continued to get additional doses as they became available. also at her advice, i got flu vaccine for the first time in several years....her comment was that this was going to be a very good time to stay out of hospitals and doctor's offices if at all possible.
my wife had been monitored for a heart murmur for over ten years, and about coinciding with the spread of the pandemic, it worsened and required a valve replacement in april of 2020. i had ceased my part-time work promptly in late 2019, and we became virtual hermits because i knew she would likely not survive such an infection. she died 8 february, 2021 as the result of a massive stroke - but never contracted covid. i had a very mild case in february 2023; low fever, general fatigue, aches and pains, but nothing more....i remained isolated at home, went through a bit of nyquil, and cannot report any resulting damage - although at soon-to-be 75 - the ravages of covid and those of old age might be mistaken for one another...
as i say, the political/social maelstrom resulting from covid, astonished me - many of us old farts were bundled up and taken post haste to receive the salk vaccine in 1955, by parents who were overjoyed by that opportunity. in 1952 there were about 58,000 children infected, and about 3,000 deaths - contrast that with the covid death totals from 2020; america with 350,000+, worldwide estimated at 3 million. and it was, and evidently still is, a badge of courage and determination to many, to have refused the vaccine - blows me away. be reminded that trump was emergency lifted from the white house and taken to walter reed hospital - where he received every treatment known to medical science (including some that were not available to ordinary folks) - otherwise, he would likely have died.
but, as an example of the old adage, "it's an ill wind that blows no good"....i learned that the simple trigger finger gauge (that's now as much an entry point as a bp check, in any medical situation), is a useful thing for all of us to have on hand. step-daughter brought one to us in november 2019, and told us to use it....her advice was that anytime your oxygen saturation gets to 90% - you are in trouble - get yourself to the er. she said that they were getting folks in the er with sat readings in the mid-80's, and were automatically intubating everyone at 80% - and most of those were the people who lingered for days (or weeks) and ultimately dying.
it dawned on me, that pneumonia - or any other breathing problem - was going to manifest itself as a low oxygen saturation....a pretty useful thing to know. mine is in the desk drawer, with my home bp test set, i just slipped it on and registered 97% - and have been sitting here dormant for the last hour. walking pneumonia will quickly drop you into the lower 90's....and it's called "walking" because people think they just have a cold or flu - and just keep going....
good health, and best regards,
tom
