Hi everybody, Editor Ed here. I’ve got a few things to share with you, and a favor to ask.
Late last Saturday night I started to feel a tickle in my throat. By the time we put the newspaper to bed on Tuesday I was VERY sick; quarantining myself in my office, staying masked up, keeping my distance from my coworkers. Working like a zombie, but working. And we managed to get it done.
By then, I was delirious. I have a memory of being confused about who someone was, my mind combining her with people who have certain similarities (workplaces in the same block, same gender, same first name, etc.). Sorry about that (you know who you are). I was rocking a pretty high fever at the moment, it turns out.
Then, I went to bed until I could get in to the doctor. About that… talk about a comedy of errors! I set an appointment on Wednesday. But when I got out to the car, I discovered that I’d locked my keys in my van. So, the Quintus brothers to the rescue! And I reset my appointment for Thursday morning.
When I did get in to see Doc, I was diagnosed with COVID, on top of Bronchitis, which was on the edge of turning to Pneumonia. And for the first time in my adult life, I got a high blood pressure reading. In fact, it was so bad that I was in Stage Two of hypertension in that moment, and at risk of a heart attack or stroke. In part, I think, because of how sick I was, in part because of the over the counter medicines I was taking to combat my symptoms, and in part because I’m overweight, and getting up there in years.
So now I’m on a low dose of blood pressure meds, probably for the rest of my life. I noticed Doc went ahead and prescribed nine refills — and each pill is tiny, so a bottle holds a lot. I get the impression I’m not getting off this medication for a long time, or ever.
I’m still home sick as I write this, and still coughing my head off. COVID and Bronchitis are still dancing a two-step on my chest, that’s for sure. But the blood pressure seems well controlled by this medicine.
I’m going to need to slow things down a little bit for a while, for myself. I won’t stop. But I’m going to do some more assigning of coverage to my coworkers for a while. Focus on what I can do from home, or the office, until I’m recovered enough to start covering things in the community again.
I know I’m not going to be able to attend some events I would otherwise attend personally. Not just professionally, but personally as well. I already missed a wedding that meant a lot to me. Now, I’m going to have to hand off some of the coverage I would usually cover myself to my coworkers. So expect to see Taylor covering more than Sports and Xavier, our Marketing Consultant, stepping up as a reporter, too. You might see some of Mandi from the Clarion paper covering some Eagle Grove things for a while, here and there, too.
I’m asking you, if you’re involved in something that we should cover, please send me emails to news@eaglegroveeagle.com. Keep us in the loop. And if you can, include photos and comments, along with all the details. As the old saying goes, there’s more than one way to get the job done.
Now, one last thing:
Folks, this is my third go-round with COVID during my time here so far. This virus is still with us, still being passed around locally, and I’m living proof of that. Yes, I’m pretty sure I caught this on the job, covering a story in our community. I urge you, if you’re feeling even a little bit sick, mask up, get tested. You can still get totally free COVID tests. This still needs to be taken seriously.
Much love to all!
-Ed