Sick from the Swamp & Bad AC
May. 4th, 2023 08:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
canyonwalkerI picked up a cold, or something like it, in New Orleans.
I could tell at the time the air conditioner in our room was giving me trouble. Our Room of the Seven Gables was nice for having lots of windows, but none of the 6 windows opened, only the door. The AC provided relief from hot, humid weather— but it also circulated air that choked me as I breathed it. Thankfully in the evenings 10-12 days ago it was generally cool enough to open the door to get relief in the evenings. But propping the door open could only reasonably be done late in the evening while one of us was sitting up in the living room.
Well, it could be worse. As I could feel the liquid piling up at the bottom of my lungs I worried I might get a pneumonia. Legionnaires' Disease was specifically spread by a poorly drained AC system.
I hoped that once we left Nola I could dry out. Our room in Mississippi had a better maintained AC— and it vented straight to the outdoors, unlike the units in Nola— but still the windows didn't open. Phoenix, then, was my hope. We had a private balcony off the bedroom! And the desert's famously dry air would help, too.
Alas it wasn't enough. I came home with a bit of a chest cold. The past few days I've been hacking occasionally with a dry cough. This morning it took a worse turn as it became more of a head cold, with a headache and occasional sneezing fits. I also felt sick to my stomach.
I've taken an at-home test for Covid. Sadly part of The New Normal is to wonder, "CoULd tHiS bE CoViD?!" every time one has cold-like symptoms. Fortunately, in this case, it's not. My test was negative. I remain a Covid virgin, a Covid dodger, a Novid.
I could tell at the time the air conditioner in our room was giving me trouble. Our Room of the Seven Gables was nice for having lots of windows, but none of the 6 windows opened, only the door. The AC provided relief from hot, humid weather— but it also circulated air that choked me as I breathed it. Thankfully in the evenings 10-12 days ago it was generally cool enough to open the door to get relief in the evenings. But propping the door open could only reasonably be done late in the evening while one of us was sitting up in the living room.
Well, it could be worse. As I could feel the liquid piling up at the bottom of my lungs I worried I might get a pneumonia. Legionnaires' Disease was specifically spread by a poorly drained AC system.
I hoped that once we left Nola I could dry out. Our room in Mississippi had a better maintained AC— and it vented straight to the outdoors, unlike the units in Nola— but still the windows didn't open. Phoenix, then, was my hope. We had a private balcony off the bedroom! And the desert's famously dry air would help, too.
Alas it wasn't enough. I came home with a bit of a chest cold. The past few days I've been hacking occasionally with a dry cough. This morning it took a worse turn as it became more of a head cold, with a headache and occasional sneezing fits. I also felt sick to my stomach.
I've taken an at-home test for Covid. Sadly part of The New Normal is to wonder, "CoULd tHiS bE CoViD?!" every time one has cold-like symptoms. Fortunately, in this case, it's not. My test was negative. I remain a Covid virgin, a Covid dodger, a Novid.
