Is this the beginning?

[lauradi7dw]

I am feeling slightly feverish, but it can't be a high fever because I feel fine otherwise, not woozy or lightheaded. We have several thermometers, all from long ago. The battery one was trying, but it's more than 10 years old, and we don't trust it. It only got up to 97.7. The mercury one that only goes up to 100 got to 100 last night, then the other mercury one said 98 within a few minutes of the first check. This morning one of them read 99. We have called five drug stores and nobody has fever thermometers in stock, although two of the chains in Lexington (Walgreens and CVS) seem to pin their hopes on a truck that will arrive mid-week.
So we're starting the 14 day house-only count yesterday. I am wondering how I could have been infected. I have been out walking or jogging almost every day, trying my darnedest to maintain distance, but (before yesterday, when I shopped gloved and masked), the last time I was at a store was the 17th, and the last time I was in a house with a bunch of people, none of whom I touched, was the 14th.
Arthur believes he has it based on an intermittent sore throat and a feeling of foreboding, as far as I can tell. There isn't anything like universal testing, so we are just guessing. I worry that we are guessing wrong, and when we declare ourselves done in a couple of weeks, we might have had some other bug(s).
We have a screened-in porch. We have decided that being on the porch is not much more public than the Italian balcony musicians.

Edited to add:
Arthur: is there anyway you run with no people nearby?
Me: No. Maybe in the pouring rain.
Arthur: Then you would get a cold.
Me: Aren't you a believer in the germ theory of disease?
Arthur: [smile]

My sister did her own comparison. They have two mercury oral thermometers. One read 99, the other 97. They have a laser temperature meter for engine diagnostics. It was reading unreasonably low on a human instead of an engine - her temple showed 83 degrees.

Comments

[sorcyress]

*hugs, from a safe distance*

Given some of the lengths of time I've seen for suspected dormancy (up to 21 days is the longest I've seen mentioned, I haven't fact-checked any of them), it's plausible that (for instance) you got it the last time you went to bells.

My single thrometer is a crappy little cheap battery powered one. Pretty typically, it says I run 96.8, which is hopelessly confusing because it makes me forget what "normal" is. I've been taking my temp every few days and just sorta counting on the idea that if it says *more* then I suddenly have a problem, regardless of whether or not I'm "typical".

I hope you feel better soon, regardless. I hope that it passes you quickly and gently.

~Sor

[lauradi7dw]

Right now I feel fine. Actually, a little under-exercised, which might seem weird considering five miles jogged this morning, but that was 14 hours ago, and there was a LOT of sitting otherwise. I carved out a new area for Tai Chi, but them didn't do it. We've started the daily temperature check, and that's reassuring. I found nosrednayduj's comment interesting, and it has led me to ponder hypochondria. Might post about it tomorrow.

[nosrednayduj]

Re tai chi: I have been doing 20 minutes of yoga about every 3 days, to keep my posture in line. I used to go to a 1.25 hour session once a week, but obviously that's not happening. Somehow, I can't make myself do it alone for more than about 20 minutes, but I can hit the important things in that time. We'll see how out of shape I am when freedom comes along...

[lauradi7dw]

My tai chi instructor is excited at the thought of all of us getting strong in our houses, using the videos often, attending all the zoom classes. I pay for one class a week year-round, but he is opening up the Tuesday-Thursday-Saturday zoom classes to any Tai Chi student, whatever their usual payment plan. I attended Tuesday night, and thought of posting about how different it is - I am actually working harder, I think, and the concentration level is definitely different. I haven't been wearing a watch in the house. The guest room, where I set myself up for the Tai Chi class, has two clocks, neither with power right now. During a regular class in the studio, I can see two clocks. When we're outdoors, I have my watch, and can hear the quarter chimes from the bells at St John's on Mass Ave (our summer classes are at Seven Hills park in Davis Square). On Saturday mornings, by part of the way through the class, I am usually planning whether to get the bus or the Red Line downtown to go to ringing practice at Old North, and other distractions, but that's irrelevant now. Nothing to think about but Tai Chi. I find that hard. I'm sure it's good for me. I am finding the tap dance videos frustrating in a different way - alone in a room, I can hear how imprecise I am.

[sorcyress]

The clock thing is a really interesting point. I have mostly not been using alarms, but I'm still pretty insistent on having many clocks in my life that I can see at any given moment (most often my phone, but also watch, computerclock, and when I'm in my bedroom, alarm clock.)

I do know that part of how I could bear Highland when I was doing it regularly was the easy to see clock that I could check in on and say to myself "you only have to endure for 15/30/whatever more minutes". It was a physically thorough enough workout that I just couldn't cope without that happy reminder!

~Sor

[lauradi7dw]

Over time, the average body temperature has gotten a little lower than what used to be considered statutorily "normal." That doesn't mean that your thermometer is right, though.