In a day or two I’ll draft our Christmas letter. I plan on starting it, “What a year, what a year!”

Yes, it has been a doozy of a year. What with the corona virus pandemic hitting, then Lynda’s appendix bursting putting her into the hospital for 19 days with two major operations at the height of the spring restrictions, then her blacking out and falling in August and an ER visit followed by seeing cardiologists about whether her heart caused her to black out. Yes, what a year.

It is now worse, however. On Tuesday, Lynda and I both tested positive for covid-19. What a shock. We had both been a little under the weather with what seemed like common colds. Mine fairly mild, Lynda’s a little deeper. Her cold began Dec 1 (maybe the evening of Nov 30), mine Dec 3. Since our son is planning to visit us from the 12th to the 21st, and since any sickness in these times gets you nervous, we decided to get tested. Expecting this to be a simple, calming precaution, what a shock it was when the medical person said, just 10 minutes after the tests, “Well, you are both positive.”

Obviously we are now isolated until we are no longer contagious. I don’t know how long that will be. As to symptoms, mine are very, very mild. I have no fever, didn’t have a fever. I had sniffles and a slight sore throat resulting in a cough. I also had pressure behind my eyes causing them to be very tired and…weird. In other words, exactly like my many colds over the years. Lynda had the same, but also muscle aches and a severe headache. She ran a temperature of 100-101 for a couple of days.

We were barely home from the tests Tuesday afternoon when our doctor called. She had us each describe our symptoms and how they had changed from onset to present. She didn’t ask anything about where we might have got it. The people at the clinic didn’t ask us that either.

Already, my symptoms are mostly gone and Lynda’s are much reduced. I’m back to normal and Lynda is close to back to normal. Yesterday I walked to the PO (mailing stuff outside) and today almost as far. Together we walked a slow half-mile each of the last two days. Our son ordered a pulse-ox meter for us. It arrived today and we began taking our oxygen level at rest and after six minutes of light exercise, as the doctor asked us to do. So far, so good. We are both at 96% O2 both at rest and after exercise. We’ll watch this closely for a week or so, doing the double readings three times a day, then see where we are.

As I understand the disease, the fact that we are both feeling better doesn’t mean we are recovered. Symptoms can come and go. After being better for a while, giving you a false sense of return to health, it can get worse. The worst doesn’t necessarily come when expected.

We are scratching our heads trying to figure out how we got it. Lynda’s symptoms began on Nov 30/Dec 1 and mine not until Dec 3 suggests she got it before me. But I could have been asymptomatic and got it first. Looking 14 days before that, we had a couple of outings but in a safe manner. We were outside in downtown Bentonville on Nov 19, walking around. Lynda went in a restaurant to use the restroom, and into another store out of curiosity, both times wearing a mask. Most people we encountered were wearing masks, even out in the open. I went to church on Nov 22 and made a trip to Wal-Mart on Nov 25. At both places masks are the norm. No one at church was without one, and at WM maybe 5 percent of the customers didn’t wear masks. Contagion not impossible, but maybe improbable.

I’ll give an update once I know anything more. For now, we continue our isolated state, but totally now instead of mostly.