Day -1 (Mon 3 Oct) 

Kinda felt a flu coming after lunch, that kind of lump in the throat and forced a lot of water down in an attempt to squash it (which sometimes works), skipped a planned run and indulged a bit of dinner instead, but by the time I went to bed I kinda knew that there’s no stopping it already. At that time I was still thinking it could be a normal flu, the ones that I catch when I don’t get enough sleep combined with erratic weather (which was the case the week before). 

Day 0 (Tue 4 Oct) 

WFH day, so generally pace is slower and I woke up feeling feverish already. Tested first thing in the morning but it’s negative, so throughout the day I was wondering if it could be normal flu, stomach flu or whatever it is. But fever got progressively worse throughout the day (even though I didn’t measure temp), chills setting in too and I basically spent the entire day on my couch, napping and waking up at intervals to check if anybody IM-ed me, and responding to emails that come in - for some reason not many on that day, and I was responding to them in good time. Checked my stock of meds and unfortunately everything has expired (because I really don’t fall sick very often, like once every couple of years at most) but couldn’t drag myself out of house by now so resorted to Grab which charged me an astronomical $20 for a box of panadol urgh. 

Day 1 (Wed 5 Oct) 

Woke up early in case I have somehow recovered and still negative and need to report to office or sth (actually I don’t know what I was thinking, I ought to be taking MC anyway), and I was also running by scenarios where I don’t feel well but try to hide it from everybody so I can still make my Phuket trip tsk. But anyway I tested positive, the second line was loud and clear. So threw everything out of the window and reported to bosses to get my week off. 

And of course everything that I reported in the previous post about rescheduling trip. Testing positive only today meant that the earliest I could exit isolation was if I tested negative after 72 hours, which meant I would have missed my flight so rescheduling was the only option. Of course I could have escaped out coz technically I didn’t report to authorities and nobody was monitoring me, but it really didn’t sit right with me, plus I don’t think I’d be able to enjoy my trip anyway. Not to mention that I was feeling terrible enough to know that I probably won’t get better in time. 

So after the morning exertions I slept a while more, waking up only to eat lunch so that I can eat my meds coz I found the panadol to be somewhat effective in the fever department. Sense of taste is still intact, guess I’m not losing it. Went back to nap for a couple of hours after lunch, still getting disturbing fever dreams so it didn’t went well. Decided to switch on laptop and see what had happened while I was away (and also to set my out of office auto reply) and turns out there’s a bit of small drama but easily resolved. Ordered dinner coz appetite was there, managed to eat, showered and went back to bed. 

Day 2 (Thurs 6 Oct) 

I remember this as the worst day out of the entire week. Sleep quality the night before was terrible, kept lapsing into this F1 volunteer related fever dream and by the time I woke up, fever and chills in full force, cough arrived and so did sore throat urgh. Caved in and called telemedicine for reinforcements, meds supposed to arrive within 3 hours but they ran slightly late. In the meantime I tried to get some more sleep but couldn’t, woke up to order lunch and ate while waiting for meds, and when they finally came I gobbled some down and went back to bed. 

And basically slept through the whole afternoon though it was terrible quality sleep again. Almost slept through dinner too but forced myself awake to cook instant noodles for dinner (lol), again just so that I can take meds without an empty stomach and I managed to finish the whole packet woohoo. And back to sleep again after showering. 

Day 3 (Fri 7 Oct) 

Day I was supposed to fly, and no I was in no condition to do that even if I wanted to. But on the up side I finally managed to sleep through the night without weird dreams, so that helped with my mood. And I was also craving for random things like bubble tea even if everything I ate had a muted taste because nose is blocked too, and even had a bitter aftertaste to it probably because of COVID. So went ahead and ordered lunch that came with a free drink (but couldn’t taste much), rested a bit after and decided to work. 

And brain was actually functioning enough for me to reply a few emails and send out instructions even in response to news of TEL opening. Dinner was a full scale zi char dinner though half of it is to be saved for next day’s lunch, but I do feel like the worst is over - for one, fever went away, chills went away such that I was able to switch on my living room ceiling fan albeit at a lower speed, and sore throat went away which was a surprise. 

And master bedroom toilet down light gave out too. Of all times sigh. Was contemplating just using my other bathroom instead but feeling well enough to take up the challenge of changing the down light, so gave it a go, took a while but got it running. So overall, a positive day. 

Day 4 (Sat 8 Oct) 

End of 72 hours - test result is still two clear lines, so on we go. The good thing is by now I can comfortably sleep through the night so it can only be good news, and the fever etc haven’t made a return so that probably means body is done fighting the virus. But the cough is still there, lots of phlegm so I basically spent the whole day coughing it out. But otherwise it’s feeling like a normal weekend day, the kind which I spent the entire day at home. 

Day 5 (Sun 9 Oct) 

Waking up feeling hungry for the first time in a while, so ordered brunch. Test is still positive, so no escaping yet. Conditions similar to the previous day, feeling a bit listless alr. 

Day 6 (Mon 10 Oct) 

Still positive and no signs of fading. Thing is, the 5 days MC telemedicine doc gave me is somehow inclusive of weekend, so this was the last day of MC officially, but I wasn’t planning on submitting it coz technically you don’t have to - coz officially you are grounded for 7 days anyway unless you test negative before that. But I was feeling well enough to work (notwithstanding the irritating cough) so I did that, even though I took my own sweet time and did so at my own pace - and even had ppl calling me for discussions sigh these people have no chill. 

Day 7 (Tue 11 Oct) 

By hook or crook this would be my last day of isolation anyway. So prepared for it - cleaning house (though I didn’t disinfect), changing bedsheets, cleaning toilets, the whole experience lol. Cooking lunch - I had ordered groceries online the day before and nope, still prefer shopping in person. And working too. Ah I am gonna miss this pace of working. Oh and by the way it’s still two clear lines. Oh well. 

Day 8 (12 Oct) 

And back to work we go. This has actually been the longest time I had spent at home in one stretch - even during the strictest lockdown two years ago I was still going out for runs, groceries etc every other day. And I had no difficulties doing so! 宅男 indeed. Cough is still happening throughout the day but colleagues don’t seem too fearful of it, so that’s ok I guess. 

Subsequent days - cough took almost two weeks after Day 7 to fully go away. Usually they only act up randomly during day time, sometimes in the middle of a bus ride so I was quite conscious of the stares I was getting hahah. The usual problem is nighttime before sleeping, I’d cough so much that I had trouble falling asleep and sometimes I’d wake up in the middle of the night for an extended coughing session, other nights I’d cough myself awake but fall back asleep after that. But it eventually went away. 

So that’s all for the COVID diary, may we never do this again haha.