My 'friends', the viruses

I know that it's not correct to anthropomorphise viruses, but sometimes I wonder. 

For several years after I emigrated to Israel, I was subject to nasty throat infections that led to microhematuria: I remember sitting in the office of a professor telling me that the doctors would be left no option but to remove my tonsils if I had one more infection (the tonsils provide a breeding ground for the staph bacteria that cause the problems that lead to blood in the urine; whilst this operation is considered 'regular' for children [although not anymore], it's quite a serious operation for an adult). Obviously the bacteria were listening for I've never had such an infection again. I related this incident here.

My friend the cold virus comes to visit once a year; I used to have some form of infection once a month, but after I started being vaccinated for the cold, the rate dropped impressively. Even if I had to pay for the vaccine, it would be worth it, as the cost of my lost productivity far exceeded the cost of the vaccine. I used to take comfort in the knowledge that at least someone (or something) would be happy to see me once a year.

I managed to avoid an infection from Sept 2019 - Feb 2020; after that, the viruses were as scared as I was from the new guy on the block and didn't come to visit. Obviously social distancing was very important in this; once things started coming back to normal, mask wearing also kept the viruses at bay.

But May 2021 has been one long infection; the first lasted nearly a fortnight but consisted only of a sore throat and some weakness. I had barely overcome that one when another virus attacked me; apart from the sore throat, this one caused pain in my back and also, unfortunately, caused my temperature to rise, making me weak and causing my mind frequently to lose focus. 

Yesterday I finally got the chance to see a doctor (the mild fever started only on Thursday); the physical examination didn't reveal much, but the doctor left nothing to chance and ordered a chest x-ray. This was clean* and I was given the medical ok last night. True, I did wake up in the middle of the night with a headache and bad feeling, but by morning I was feeling near enough normal.

To anthropomorphise again, the virus saw how serious I was about getting rid of it, so it decided to leave. A slight headache started about half an hour ago, but doesn't feel as if it's going to progress. My mind is sharp and my body shows no weakness.

Leaving levity for a moment and returning to a more scientific point of view, the fact that Israel is returning to pre-Covid behavioural practices aligned with the fact that I've been out of the house relatively frequently the past month (various medical tests connected with my high blood pressure, as well as dealing with several bureaucracies in order to open a bank account for my father) have increased my exposure to the world. I have heard that hospitals in Israel are reporting raised levels of incoming patients with non-Covid breathing problems; it seems that the viruses are making up for the fifteen months when they had no chance of infecting people.

I hope that June is going to be a more productive month than May (although it could hardly be less productive).

* the x-ray wasn't totally clean, and I wrote the above before I saw the results. The x-ray showed some pleural effusion.