Resolutions and Reflecting: 2020 Was Quite a Year

31 Days of Resolutions Day 1

Reflecting on the year 2020 is impossible to avoid. Then come the resolutions for 2021.

Actually, there’s no reason to avoid reflecting or making resolutions.

For all of the suffering, heartache, and isolation, there are some silver linings. Some things we’ve learned to do. Some things we’ve learned not to do.

Hopefully, (and that’s a good resolution, right there) we have all become a bit more sensitive to the feelings of others and more discriminate in choosing how and with whom we spend our time.

And then there are books.

My mother-in-law, who lost her true love about a year and a half ago, says gratefully that she would be lost without her books.

After struggling with respiratory problems and fatigue for over nine months (possibly Covid-19) I know exactly what she means.

There were days when I didn’t feel that I would ever get better.

After some basic gardening chores in June, I felt sick again. I was tired of being tired. And I was having weird, intense stabbing pains randomly hitting my fingertips and toes. It felt like insect stings or needles.

Then I experienced itching on my calf and hives all over. I thought it was a spider bite, but it lasted for weeks. The dermatologist had no real answers.

In September, things were looking up. I started walking again, although the walks were now shorter and slower.

Another virus (or the same?) returned at the end of the month. Recovery was much quicker than before. But, then the hives returned at the end of October. I saw my neurologist, dermatologist, hematologist, and endocrinologist.

None of them could explain my symptoms.

I had never seen so many doctors in my life. My mother would have flipped, as she had been a nurse and regarded the practice of medicine as truly “practice” in the general sense.

The endocrinologist (my favorite MD, by the way!) came the closest in my estimation. He posited that my itchiness could be caused by nerve irritation.

I’ve read that Covid-19 attacks the nervous system and skin as well as the body’s other organs.

There’s also a hypothesis that immune responses gone awry cause a multitude of post-Covid symptoms.

Can a Long-hauler truly recover from the virus?

I’m going to say yes, at least as I look forward to 2021.

Quarantine has been difficult, but it has given me time to read and think. I’ve learned a few things and I bet you have, too.

So let’s share some resolutions for 2021 and look forward to a miraculous new year – hopefully!

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Author: A. JoAnn

Here is where I share the beauty I find in everyday life; and the humor, too!

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