Yes, It Can Happen To You

In case you’re doubting, this is what Covid feels like.

Photo by Ed Leszczynskl

I gardened that day. Pushed wheelbarrows full of rich loamy Oregon compost to the raised beds and worked the fertile goodness into last year’s soil with a digging fork.

It was sunny and warm. Small drips of sweat ran down my forehead. I opened up the irrigation from its winter’s sleep, then stuck my head beneath a gushing spigot and took a long, cold drink of water. It was Friday, March 20th.

I ate a good dinner, after a good day’s work. By 8 p.m. my stomach ached and there were deep rumbles in my belly. Not good rumbles, but the kind that make you think, “Oh no, I’m going to need a bathroom soon.”

I also noticed a strange burning sensation at the entrance of my nostrils, and I felt shaky. I chalked it up to not running the irrigation long enough to clean the crud out of the pipes from sitting all winter.

It must be that. It was bad water.

I went to bed at midnight not feeling too well.

At 2 a.m. I bolted up out of bed and stumbled to the bathroom, barely making it in time to contain the most violent letting go my body has ever endured.