Third time testing positive for Covid... but this time I know I need time to recover
This was Julie Helen's third time testing positive for Covid.
Covid has struck me again. This is the third time, but is it third time lucky?
It was lucky because, once I tested positive, I had somewhere I could escape to without being a burden, a nuisance, or a risk to anybody I love.
As soon as I saw those dreaded two lines indicating a positive test, I packed up as many essential items as I could and high-tailed it to West Cork to our new home.
Dave was already at work so I called him and told him meet us at “the site”, as we’ve called it all along. I corrected myself to tell him to come to our house. It’s definitely a house now!
It wasn’t the ideal way to move in, there was no fanfare or fuss, and when I landed, the sickness of Covid took over. The pains the disease gives me in my muscles are like nothing else I have ever experienced.
Covid also messes with my nervous system, making me feel jittery and with a heightened sense of worry over everything under the sun. One of the nights I was utterly convinced David would leave me, even though of all the years we have been together, he has spent the last two years tirelessly building our home. I felt so panicked, there wasn’t much my poor husband could do but let me rant and rave and hope that my fears would pass.
Even a few weeks on, I still have no strength in my legs and the exhaustion slaps me hard most days. Both of those symptoms have lasted for months on both previous occasions.
Both those times, I was sick during the Christmas holidays and didn’t take any extra time off. It felt important to get back to work. In 2021, I had just become the communications officer for Inclusion Ireland, a job I had always wanted which had seemed elusive pre-pandemic because I didn’t live in Dublin, and the main office and the communications function were based there.
In 2021, it was obvious, with everyone working from home, that I could do the job well from Cork. I did and I was so proud of that. I didn’t want a bout of Covid to impact on my performance at work, and at that time, I didn’t understand how floored I was. I was focusing on keeping going and put a lot of my tiredness down to returning from maternity and having to navigate work while also being a mum.
In 2022, then, there was a change in leadership at work and I went for promotion as Communications and Information Ianager and was successful in November. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to explain the pride I felt when our CEO rang me after my interview to offer me the position.
I loved the work so when I got Covid again at the end of 2022. I didn’t think I needed more time to recover. I thought being so tired was just part of having an intense job I cared deeply about, and that I had to suck it up and keep going to operate at the level I was at.
This time, I see Covid played a part in my need to step back from full-time work and I’m giving myself the time to recover in the comfort of our new home.
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