What was that flu?

We have to say that the last day or so in Europe, Denisa continued to feel worse from the flu. It was hard to push through, and our travel days were shorter than usual. It was a very long flight back to the United States, and standing in the customs line at the Chicago airport for two hours seemed like an eternity. Then it was one more flight to get to Kansas City. Denisa couldn't wait to get home and recover. But what was she recovering from? What was that flu?

While Mark bounced back after four days, Denisa was still feeling sick after a week . . . and then two weeks . . . and then three weeks . . . She had a round of antibiotics, and a round of steroids, and two full rounds of prescription cough medicine. But she continued to cough and the symptoms continued. Almost every part of her was affected--she got pink eye, sores in her mouth, a terrible cough, burning sensation in her legs. What was that flu?

Denisa had four different blood tests, and a chest xray determined she also had pneumonia. The final diagnosis was "long Covid." It's the virus that just keeps giving with new symptoms and a cough that hacked day and night and lingered for a month. During this month Denisa spent a lot of time resting, and got pretty bored. But it was a good time to do some research. She researched home-made bread recipes. She researched RV trailers. She researched places to travel. This flu might keep her down for a little while, but she needs to be ready to travel as soon as she gets well!

So even though we got sick on our one-month trip through Europe, we would do it all over again. While our symptoms started while on the cruise, we feel we probably were exposed on the crowded trains in Germany before we got on the ship. Sometimes being in crowds will mean that you are also immersed in a petri dish of germs. That's one of the reasons that we loved our years of RV-traveling that insulated us from crowds during the Covid outbreak in the United States. So even after enduring a nasty case of long Covid that continued for more than a month, we will continue to travel!