Old bones
A bunch of years ago, we hired a guy, Hector, to paint all the insides of the house we’d just bought. Hector has probably done this sort of manual labor for most of his life, but now he has a big strong son to help him, plus his son’s big strong friend.
Hector still does the work and, in fact, did the trickier parts (like a 20' ceiling), so when he would arrive each day, the first thing he would do is put a big bottle of ibuprofen on the mantle shelf — after swallowing a handful. I asked Hector about that, and he said it’s the only way to get through the work with his “old bones.”
It’s getting to be spring nowadays, so this weekend, I was working out in the yard — at a new house, a bunch of years later — and I finally know what Hector means about old bones. I got ‘em too.
Everyone knows what it’s like to be sore after moving around, but as we get older, that soreness gets more pronounced and lasts longer. The worsening happens gradually all life long, but there always comes a day when you notice it for real. Yesterday, for instance, I found myself getting down on my knees rather than bending over. The soreness had already set in, and it was just midday. Old bones.
There’s this thing about COVID where it tends to cause more trouble the older you get. This is one reason why some people think COVID is no big deal — a disease for the old and fat, who cares? Except we each get old some day. Just like yesterday, it happens before you know it.
I’ve been on a two-year medical mystery tour. It started with the worst sore throat you can imagine — razor blades — then the worst sinus infection you could imagine, then surgery, then kidney trouble, scopes, scans, a biopsy, labs, I’ve lost count. I’m on four meds now to control my blood pressure, and there’s still no answer why.
Every doctor I’ve seen lately has asked me if I’m a smoker. When I say no, they always ask again. At first, I thought it was weird, but now it’s a regular thing. Apparently, all my vitals and labs point to a lack of oxygen, but blood oxygen is good, and there’s no apnea, though there is shortness of breath, but not really, or, well, who knows?
My doctor prescribed a nebulizer because she suspects asthma, but then I asked if asthma is something old people get, and she said, “Yes, if COVID gave it to you.”
There’s no knowing if I had COVID two years back when all this started — it was early in the pandemic, I was too slow to get tested, and by then, it was too late. But the story goes that COVID knocks people off-kilter, and it’s the off-kilter that becomes the problem. Especially for a guy with old bones.
I have one more test — looking for a genetic mutation — but that’s a hail Mary. After that, the doctors will probably shrug and give up. There’s no test for Long COVID. It’s just what’s left after everything else proves negative. Or positive, but for no apparent reason.
Unlike COVID, Polio has been around forever. No one knows when it started, but in the grand scheme of things, it was fairly recent when it was associated with paralysis — poliomyelitis, also known as long Polio. Polio itself is almost always asymptomatic (70% of the time), and most of the rest who get it don’t get so much as a cold. 99.9% don’t die. Sound familiar? But then we learned that the bug jumps through membranes into the nervous system and strikes people lame. There was no test for that, then there was.
Old bones are the only clue we have so far for this new thing called COVID. Old bones and lots of mysteries.
