In Fall 2021, I came down with the dreaded Covid-19 that had swept over the globe for nearly two years at this point and seemed to have no end in sight. Among other symtoms, Covid-19 primarily affects the respiratory system by weakening the lung's ability to absorb oxygen normally. Covid-19 hit me pretty hard (although not as hard as it hit some, since I didn't ever reach needing a ventilator stage). I was hospitalized for 5 days, had pneumonia as a complication, and the recovery took several weeks to get back to normal.
And since it's bound to be a question on the mind of anyone reading this trip report, no, I was not vaccinated at the time I contracted Covid-19. I had (and have) my reasons for not getting the vaccine. I am by no means anti-vaccine (I believe that getting vaccinated against diseases including MMR, tetanus, diphtheria, etc. is a good thing) and there's no doubt that the Covid-19 vaccine is reducing the number of people in the hospitals, but I am concerned about the possibility for long-term effects of a vaccine (and continued booster dosing) that has not been time-tested. I am also wary about government mandates encroaching on personal choice, and I want to show resistance to the overall idea of governing by mandates. Plus, I figured that since I was young, fit, healthy, and rarely get respiratory illnesses, if I came down with it Covid-19, it would be just like a bad cold (as it had been for a few people I knew who had already gotten it).
But Covid-19 turned out to be quite a bit worse than a bad cold for me. One important factor is the fact that I have underlying autoimmune issues, and over the years despite being quite healthy otherwise I have proved to be pretty susceptible to infections [I've had five bladder infections between the ages of 6 and 37, bacterial pneumonia in 2007 (23 years old), a MRSA bone infection in 2010 (27 years old), a few bad tooth infections between 2006 and 2020 (23 to 37 years old), multiple bouts of small intestinal bacterial overgrowth from 2012 to 2021 (29 to 38 years old), H1N1 in 2018 (34 years old), and now Covid-19 (38 years old)]; so my immune system was just not up to fighting the Covid-19 away before it got serious. Another factor that could have further weakened my immune system in 2021 was the increasing workload of my PhD studies (Applied Math at CU Boulder), including my persistent preparation for an upcoming important preliminary exam, and the psychological struggle and stressful certainty that I would fail the exam (and I did fail, for the first time in my life hard work and brain power just not sufficient for the task). A sign my immune system was weakening was a cold I got in August that hung on for awhile. It also didn't help that mid-July to mid-August there had been a stretch of forest fires in the west that had brought smoke to Colorado, and excising in this is not great for the lungs. So looking back it was a perfect storm of events that led to my getting Covid-19. At times I have questioned and perhaps vaguely regretted my decision not to get the vaccine, but of course that is easy to say in retrospect. Life is a choose your own adventure where you cannot always know the outcomes (both short term and long term) of different life choices. I stand by my reasons and decisions.
My Covid-19 case occurred near the beginning of a spike in Covid-19 cases in Colorado that occurred in Fall 2021. I am not sure of how exactly I contracted the Covid-19. Perhaps on campus (I had just begun to attend classes in person for the first time in a year and a half), at the climbing gym, from a gas pump or grocery store, or from an asymptomatic friend. Viruses are just on a mission to spread so ultimately it's practically impossible to avoid exposure somewhere. No one I knew came down with Covid-19 when I did. In the couple of weeks leading up to my getting Covid-19, I didn't associate with too many people, with the main people I came into close contact with being Nate, a couple of other climbing friends, and my parents. Nate thinks he may have had Covid-19 during the time I did (he just managed to fight it off better), and none of my other friends or my parents caught Covid-19 from me.
The acute symptoms of the Covid-19 were a short part of the entire experience. The shortness of breath and accompanying fatigue, weakness, and brain fog that followed encompassed the bulk of my experience. A major fall-out was an utter lack of motivation for my academic studies and life in general. I couldn't seem to find my normal energetic adventure-loving self. I didn't care about climbing. I felt out of shape. Life lost its excitement. I ended up deciding to take a medical leave from CU Boulder for the rest of the semester to try to bounce back. After a few weeks of searching for a job that would help pay the bills and give a sense of productivity to my days, I found a 3-month contract job that would take me through the end of the year. This would be perfect timing to restart my studies at CU in the Spring semester.
This page keeps an account of my experiences with my fight against Covid-19. It wasn't much fun, but I survived it. Although the acute symtoms lasted only a couple of weeks, getting back to feeling 100% again took awhile, much longer than for the common cold or flu. I continued the report until I felt nearly back to normal.