My answer to "where I stand on living with Covid" has shifted slightly, as it seems that I am probably on the list of those with Long Covid. (According to the doctor, there isn't really a formal definition of Long Covid, other than just basically "some lingering symptoms lasting weeks or longer after the illness has passed and the infection cleared.")
That sounds dramatic, but really it is more weird and irritating than anything. Now, I didn't actually get a Covid test when I was sick. They were starting to be hard to find and I didn't think knowing for sure was actionable, since I could easily stay home and isolate. So I won't be on any actual accounting, if there was such a thing. But I was pretty sure it was Covid, and my doctor thinks it was as well (after the fact) based on the timing, symptoms, and the Weird Thing, which is inflammation-related and Covid is known for being inflame-y.
It seems I have dermatographia, aka 'skin writing'. It's an inflammation reaction, most commonly caused as the result of an infection. Can last weeks or months. Basically, my skin gets really itchy (like the worst mosquito bites ever; it is sort of a hot itch, different than just a usually itch one experiences). If I scratch it--not hard, just like one would for a normal itch--or even just bump it, there is a shooting fire under my skin. Like someone has injected burning oil and it is spreading. But the really freaky part is that a few minutes later, angry, hot, red welts appear in the exact pattern of the contact. I can run a fingernail fairly gently over my arm in the shape of letters and 5 minutes later, I'll have an angry-looking red word appear on my arm in raised letters. It will also hurt.
I was sick for about a week, and this started at the end of that week.
Thankfully, it has been well-managed with Zyrtec, though my sense is that the Zyrtec is lasting less and less time, and where I used to be able to take every other day, now at the end of the day, just before the next dose, I'm feeling itchy again and occasionally get the welts (which Doc says are a form of hives). That's a bit concerning because without the Zyrtec, it is entirely miserable. Like, I don't quite know how I'd function. But we aren't to that point and I'm hoping we never get there, and that if we do, there is something else or a higher dose of Zyrtec's active ingredient, or something else. I'm also taking Quercetin, a supplement known to help with inflammation, suggested by my doc as a "can't hurt" thing.
Really, I'm fine. As long as the Zyrtec continues to work, it's just a minor annoyance, really. But maybe it is also a reminder that there are so many things with this disease that we just don't know or understand. And that "very few healthy people are dying" isn't the only factor we need to consider.
(FTR, I am fully vaxxed and boosted. I got sick before the booster's full efficacy was in effect, if that matters.)