Cough If I Want To

July 17, 2026

This year my birthday coincides with day two of being infected with COVID-- my first time wrestling with the illness after 6.3 years of dodging it. I'm presently napping in bed at an extended-stay hotel that I booked in an attempt to isolate from my husband when he tested positive earlier this week. I must have been incubating because just as I finished buying food, I started to feel extremely fatigued. I awoke the following morning with a scratchy throat, and even though I wasn't testing positive, I borrowed my husband's positive test to secure a Paxlovid prescription. 

I can't be too mad. I recognize I've the privilege (spare cash and the presence of mind) to minimize my symptoms and infectiousness. Paxlovid is AMAZING. Aside from fever dreams, joint aches, and alternating chills and hot flashes last night, I'm feeling pretty decent. Last night seemed to be the peak of my symptoms. Right now I feel like I've a slight cold and a mild, unproductive cough. 

I got a little chatty with the NP who prescribed my medication, and they implied that "many" people cease taking Paxlovid because of the obnoxious side effects: namely the persistent metallic taste it leaves in one's mouth. Perhaps this contributes to some of the rebound symptoms you hear about. Yeah, it sucks tasting hints of bile in my mouth 24/7, but at least I can taste? And at this rate, I'll probably be symptom-free (BUT STILL INFECTIOUS) by tomorrow. If I continue sleeping, push fluids, and finish my regimen of pills, I should dodge a rebound infection.

Not to mention the other nasty effects people like to ignore or pretend no longer exist simply because they fail to see them from their privileged seats (but that's a story for another time).