A couple weeks ago I went home Tuesday afternoon feeling a little off. By the evening I had a low fever and was feeling shivery. Covid was the farthest thing from my mind the next morning when I went in to the doctor’s office to get tested for flu. The flu test came back negative, and the doctor concluded that I must just have a nasty cold.

Well, things didn’t improve.

Friday was the worst day of the whole bout. My body was sore and my skin was tender and cold. The congestion in my head kept a mild headache ever-present, and every time I tried to take a sip of water it felt like someone was driving a blade into my throat. We went back in to the doctor’s office to get tested for strep throat and Covid.

Lo and behold, it was Covid. Again.

Flashback to October 23, 2020. My mom’s cousin’s wedding. Despite better judgement, we went. We tried to stay vigilant about wearing our masks, but as the night wore on we got lax about it. Within only a few days of the wedding a majority of the people there had tested positive for Covid. So my family and I spent the first week of November stuck in our house, sick and relatively miserable.

We got the vaccine pretty much as soon as it was available, and then the boosters once they were approved. I never expected, even if I did come into contact with it, that I would get Covid a second time.

On April 9, 2022, I went to see The Greeting Committee’s show at the Uptown Theatre in KC. It was a great show and just like before, Covid was the furthest thing from my mind. I was so wrapped up in the show, I didn’t even consider the possibility of catching it again.

Then the symptoms hit. It was a miserable week. Three days of school and a night of youth group missed. All in all I was OK, though. My symptoms weren’t that bad, I didn’t miss that much school. But unlike the first time I had Covid, I never wanted to do it again.

I remember saying, after the first time, that I would be OK with having it a second time. My symptoms weren’t worse than a cold or a mild case of the flu.

But after this second round, I don’t want to have Covid ever again. 

At this later stage in the pandemic, a lot of people have had some strain of the coronavirus at least once, but very few have had it multiple times. I can honestly say to you that I will be doing anything I can to make sure I don’t have to experience it again.

To those of you that have yet to go through a week or so of this disease, I promise you, you don’t want it. Be careful when you’re in large crowds, and stay home when you don’t feel well. And to those of you that have had it, you know how un-fun it is.

I can guarantee you it isn’t any more fun the second time around.