{"id":5495,"date":"2022-04-11T09:07:14","date_gmt":"2022-04-11T13:07:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/?p=5495"},"modified":"2022-04-11T09:48:56","modified_gmt":"2022-04-11T13:48:56","slug":"whats-missing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dahlman.online\/index.php\/2022\/04\/11\/whats-missing\/","title":{"rendered":"What\u2019s Missing"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

This probably should have been a \u201cSunday Story\u201d \u2013 but here we are on Monday, and I have a story to tell.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Testing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve never tested positive for Covid.  But, I\u2019m a sixty-five year old \u201cretired\u201d guy, so I don\u2019t necessarily take Covid tests often.  Jenn and I don\u2019t intentionally \u201cisolate\u201d ourselves, but we aren\u2019t out in the \u201cworkplace\u201d every day, and we can go days without direct contact with other people.  So if we don\u2019t feel good, we just hang out at home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But somewhere in the last few months, Covid must have come a-calling.  January neither one of us felt very good.  We both took several Covid tests, and were negative each time. But we both felt lousy.  I can tell you the two days I felt good from New Year’s to the end of the month. We thought it was just the typical winter cold or flu.  There was a lot of NCIS <\/em>and Law and Order SVU<\/em> on TV:  and we spent most of the month by the fire in our lounge chairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So why do I think we had Covid then?  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s Missing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

We have five dogs.  Five dogs means that there is a lot of \u201cpoop\u201d to pick up in the backyard, several days a week.  And that\u2019s my job, the \u201cpoopologist\u201d with the special tools and bucket, gathering up the poop.  The dogs think they\u2019re very important, as I gather all their poop, and they get all excited while I\u2019m out there.  But, since January, I do notice a big difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I can\u2019t smell poop.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In fact, I can\u2019t smell the coffee in the morning.  I don\u2019t smell the rain coming in, or the steaks on the grill, or the diesel fumes of the truck in front of my Jeep.  For a man who has prided himself on an acute sense of smell (the result, of course, of a \u201cprominent\u201d nose); it\u2019s gone.  The only thing I think I smell \u2013 dust.  You know that smell when you first turn the heater on in October, that smell of cooked dust coming out of the ducts?  I smell that, all the time.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was a track coach, and I got really used to the smell: old shoes, moldy sweats in the locker room, and sweat soaked athletes after a tough workout.  I\u2019m still track officiating, but there\u2019s no smells there \u2013 at least that I can smell.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smell, by the way, is closely associated with taste. Half of the \u201cgood part\u201d of eating, is smelling the food being prepared, and getting that anticipatory \u201csniff\u201d just before a bite hits your mouth. I can still taste, some, but without smell it just isn\u2019t the same. How bad is that? We had scrambled eggs and sausage yesterday for \u201cSunday\u201d breakfast. I had a bite, then went and got the \u201chot sauce\u201d out of the refrigerator. I never use hot sauce, at least, I never used to use hot sauce. But I did yesterday \u2013 maybe I lost some of my sense of taste as well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brain Fog<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Not being able to smell is actually annoying.  But last week I had a different symptom, which was a lot more concerning.  I woke up one morning, and my brain just wasn\u2019t working.  I struggled through the morning \u201critual\u201d:  feeding the dogs, cleaning up the kitchen, putting the dishes away.  Then  I sat down in front of the computer, and put the dreaded \u201cblank page\u201d up on the screen.  Nothing happened \u2013 I couldn\u2019t form a thought on paper.  It wasn\u2019t like being hung over \u2013 hangovers make you feel bad, but don\u2019t stop you from thinking how bad you feel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 I went to the hardware store \u2013 and couldn\u2019t remember what WD-40 was called (it\u2019s a penetrating oil).  Instead I asked for 10W-40; that\u2019s a motor oil for the car, and Steve at the store looked kind of incredulous as he pointed out the entire wall with the 24\u201d letters saying \u201cMOTOR OIL\u201d.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then I went to Kroger\u2019s \u2013 and I had \u201cone job\u201d:  get macaroni and cheese.  Jenn loves it, and we buy it all the time.  And the key is to buy one that doesn\u2019t need milk, because we generally don\u2019t have milk around.  I spent ten minutes examining boxes, discovering which of the several versions of Kraft Mac and Cheese didn\u2019t need milk.  Finally, I figured it out \u2013 then still ended up buying five boxes that needed milk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When I came home, I found myself missing words I needed, unable to find the right ones to explain what I wanted to say.  Again, I\u2019m sixty-five.  Did I have a stroke and not realize it?  But all of the \u201cphysical\u201d signs were fine so I did what any good \u201cDahlman\u201d does when something isn\u2019t working right.  I went to bed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Testing-Testing<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

A couple of hours later I woke up, and everything was normal.  Every word was there when I needed it, the blank page on the computer screen wasn\u2019t insurmountable, I knew the difference between penetrating oil and motor oil and Kraft Mac and Cheese with and without milk.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Another Covid symptom is called \u201cBrain Fog\u201d.  I get what that is now.  For one morning in April, my brain was definitely more than fogged.  It was what my mother would have called a \u201cpea-souper\u201d.  But a few hours later, I was functioning fine, at a track meet, every event and action in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So now I wake up in the morning and do a \u201cmental agility test*\u201d.  As I prep five dog bowls I think about my personal \u201cchallenge\u201d:  name the nine members of the Supreme Court, the original five Rolling Stones, the Christmas flowers I can never remember in December, and the name of the Republican Congressman who represents us in Washington. Oh, and the two vegetables I always struggle with \u2013 broccoli and brussels sprouts.   If I can do that, then there\u2019s no \u201cfog\u201d going on today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I took another Covid test this morning, while I was writing this essay.  It\u2019s negative, and it\u2019s out into the world for another track meet in the rain tonight.  But somewhere in the past few months, in spite of three Pfizer shots and months of mask wearing, I suspect Covid found its way in.  My symptoms aren\u2019t a huge deal \u2013 but I hope they sneak out soon, the same way they slipped in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(*Answer key for the “test”: 1 – Thomas, Alito, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, Barrett, Roberts, Breyer, Sotomayor, Kagan; 2-Jagger, Richards, Woods, Wyman, Watts; 3- Poinsettias; 4- Balderson; 5-broccoli is the “tree”, brussel’s sprouts the lettuce head.<\/em>)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sunday Story Series<\/h6>\n\n\n\n