This is a story about a friend of mine who signs himself as Chris in the comments on my blog, so I’ll call him that here too. Chris is a physicist, born in Paris, a Croat with roots from one of the Croatian islands. He is married to a gorgeous Polish woman who is also my friend, with whom he has two small children. The elder four-year-old son already speaks four languages fluently. At the time of my illness, which I recently wrote about on this blog, Chris was a great support and a sincere, loyal and dedicated friend who somehow always found the time and the right words when I needed him. We work in the same Department and I often drink coffee with him. We have two cafes in Cambridge where we like to spend our time, most often having a catch up over coffee before work or during lunch breaks. During the lockdown we would just take our coffees and drink them in the parking place in front of the Department. One morning Chris and I were walking towards one of those cafes when he told me quite confidently something that a few days later made me laugh:
"You know I got over Covid?" Chris said without any introduction.
"No, when?" I was very surprised because we keep in contact, so I thought I would know if he had covid.
"I think I have long covid."
"What are your symptoms?" I asked.
"I have some spots on my toes."
This confused me. "How did you connect that with Covid?"
"I found on the Internet that it sometimes occurs in long Covid." He immediately found me an article about it on his phone.
"So, do those dots hurt?"
"It’s itchy," Chris said seriously.
At that point I almost smiled, but I was still trying to understand and be compassionate even though I already strongly doubted that the dots on his toes had anything to do with Covid. I added:
"It's best to ask your doctor to do an antibody test so you'll be sure."
"I did an antibody test, and it was negative." He said and started to explain, but I immediately interrupted him and said:
"Then it's not Covid."
Well, my Chris had a completely scientific explanation that I couldn't follow at the time about how an antibody test could be negative, but that you still had Covid.
At that point I did not know what to say so I changed the subject. Maybe that was not fair as my friend was worried, but I was fairly sure he did not have long covid. A few days later we went for coffee again and walked the same path when Chris asked me once more:
"Do you know I got over Covid?"
"Yes, you told me about the dots on your toes." I wanted to show empathy, but it was hard to take him seriously.
Chris continued: “I called 111 (number to receive quick medical advice outside of working hours) and the doctor told me that he had never heard of that symptom and suggested I see my GP. Then I called my GP, but surgery wasn’t open. Then I gave up."
I again wanted to smile at his funny little story, but I composed myself in his presence. However, a few days later I relayed this conversation to my daughter and couldn’t help laughing at how odd it all sounded to me. I then wrote to Chris and asked if I could write about it in my blog. He explained to me that he was going to see his GP and that the dots on his toes really were not long Covid. Although the GP knew about this symptom of long Covid, those spots supposedly look a lot worse than these from Chris.
Fortunately, this is one of the harmless, little, funny stories that shows our obsession with the disease that is all around us and that we all fear for a reason. This is simply the kind of time we have to survive if anyhow possible with more smiles then tears.
Love
Kristina
P.S. The drawing is by my daughter Sara.
Monday, March 29th, 2021
Tockice na prstima I dugi Covid
Ovo je prica o mom prijatelju koji se u komentarima na mom blogu potpisuje kao Chris, pa cu ga I ja ovdje tako zvati. Chris je rodjeni Parizanin, porijeklom Hrvat sa jednog od hrvatskih otoka. Ozenjen je jednom prekrasnom Poljakinjom koja je isto moja prijateljica, sa kojom ima dvoje malene djece. Sin od cetiri godine je stariji I vec prica tecno cetiri jezika. U vrijeme moje bolesti o kojoj sam nedavno pisala tu na blogu, Chris mi je bio velika podrska I iskreni, odani I pozrtvovani prijatelj koji je nekako uvijek nasao I vrijeme I prave rijeci kad mi je trebalo. Radimo na istom Odsjeku I sa Chrisom cesto pijem kavu. Imamo dva kafica u Cambridgeu u kojima volimo provoditi vrijeme, najcesce na kavicama prije posla ili u pauzama za rucak. Nedavno smo Chris I ja hodali prema jednom od tih kafica kad mi je sasvim ozbiljno rekao:
“Znas da sam prebolio Covid?” Kaze Chris bez uvoda.
“Ne, kad?” Jako sam se iznenadila jer smo u kontaktu pa sam se zacudila da nisam znala.
“Mislim da imam dugi covid.”
“Kakovi su ti simptomi?” pitala sam.
“Imam tockice na noznim prstima.” Kad je to rekao tek sam tad bila zbunjena.
“Kako si to povezao sa Covidom?”
“Nasao sam na internetu da se to nekada javlja kod dugog Covida.” Odmah mi je nasao clanak o tome na svom telefonu.
“Pa jel te to boli?”
“Svrbi me” rekao je Chris ozbiljno.
U tom trenutku sam se prvi put gotovo nasmijala, ali jos sam pokusavala razumijeti I biti suosjecajna iako sam vec jako sumnjala da su tockice na nogama u ikakvoj vezi za Covidom. Jos sam dodala:
“Najbolje da pitas doktora da ti napravi test na antitijela pa ces biti siguran.”
“Ma napravio sam test na antitijela I negativan je.” Rekao je opet ozbiljno I krenuo objasnjavati, ali ja sam ga odmah prekinula I rekla:
“Onda nije Covid”.
E tu je moj Chris imao sasvim znanstveno objasnjenje koje nisam uspjela slijediti o tome kako test na antitijela moze biti negativan, a da si uistinu prebolio Covid.
Tu smo prekinuli tu diskusiju I poceli pricati o necemu drugom. Za par dana idemo opet na kavu I hodamo istim putem kad me Chris opet pita:
“Jel znas da sam prebolio Covid?”
“Da pricao si mi o tockicama na prstima.”
“Zvao sam 111 (doctor u neradno vrijeme) I doctor mi je rekao da nije nikad cuo za taj symptom. I nek se obratim svom doktoru opce prakse. Onda sam zvao doktora, ali nisu radili I da nek zovem 111. Onda sam odustao.”
Ponovno sam se poželjela nasmiješiti njegovoj smiješnoj priči, ali sabrala sam se u njegovom prisustvu. Međutim, nekoliko dana kasnije pricala sam svojoj kćeri I bilo mi je jako smijesno.
Tad sam pisala Chrisu I pitala smijem li o tome pisati na svom blogu. Objasnio mi je da je isao svom doktoru opce prakse I da tockice na nogama zaista nisu bile dugi Covid. Iako doktor je znao za taj simptom dugog Covida, ali te tockice navodno izgledaju puno gore od ovih Chrisovih.
Srecom ovo je jedna oz bezazlenih malih I smijesnih pricica koja pokazuje nasu opsjednutost bolesti koja je svugdje oko nas I koje se svi sa razlogom pribojavamo. Ovo je naprosto takovo vrijeme koje moramo prezivjeti, ako ikako mozemo birati onda sto vise uz osmijeh, a manje uz suze.
S ljubavlju,
Kristina
P.S. Crtez je napravila moja kcer Sara.
Ponedeljak, 29. Ozujka 2021.
Comments