Just before Christmas my wife and I caught the dreaded Covid 19 virus. I was rather shocked. The symptoms that we experienced were so mild that it was almost impossible to believe that we had a respiratory disease. I just had some nasal congestion and my wife had a bout of sneezing. Our symptoms lasted one day only. Because my wife was due to meet someone who was medically vulnerable she took an antigen lateral flow test, which was positive, so I took one and got the same result. We immediately informed all our personal contacts for the previous week, but none of them subsequently tested positive.
I believe that I caught the virus at the vaccination clinic for a "booster" injection which was overcrowded and there were plenty of people coughing. I then passed the infection on to my wife. Masks did not protect me and we probably caught the Delta variant rather than the more infectious Omicron one.
I believe that we had a re-infection because I fell ill to an infection in January 2020 which had all the symptoms of C19, but no-one was being tested at that time to prove it. My symptoms then were more severe including a loss of sense of smell and taste. I recovered quite quickly from a continuous dry cough which made it felt as if my lungs were on fire. I also had a fever which I recovered from overnight. My wife also caught symptoms from me which were less severe. During my sickness which lasted for about 7 or 8 days not a single drop of wine passed my lips. I have to be really ill to not drink at all.
I believe that our previous infection helped to reduce the severity of the subsequent one, but in co-operation with being vaccinated twice.
After the positive lateral flow test we confirmed the diagnosis with a PCR test and filled in all the forms listing our symptoms. After the PCR test we felt that we were in grand form. We could not confirm that we had any symptom related to Covid 19, so we would have been recorded as asymptomatic. Then all of a sudden I felt that I had lost my sense of taste but not completely. I could smell my wife's Eau de Cologne with my nose 1cm above the open bottle but no further. However, I could taste mouthwash an hour after spitting it out. I could taste all the components of my evening wine, but I could hardly smell the wine from the glass. The flavour of a wine is not just tasted; your taste buds can only detect, saltiness, sour, sweet and bitter, however, the full taste and flavour of a wine or food is detected by your sense of smell which complements the basic four tastes on your palate. I could still appreciate my Alain Mathias Epineuil but not to the full extent and so could my wife.
We also detected a change to our sense of taste. The taste of slightly burnt toast was acrid to me. The loss of a sense of smell worried us a little and we installed an extra smoke alarm as we could not smell our dinner cooking even if we could taste the food. I have a possible explanation as to why we could taste our food and wine but not smell it. It seemed to me that our noses could not detect odours being breathed in through the nose only, but that odours emanating from the mouth could be detected by smell receptors at the back of the nose. The loss of our sense of taste lasted all the way through our ten day quarantine, and this was disquieting until I remembered that my mother lost her sense of taste when she had a cold and she eventually insisted that we paid a visit to the seaside. The sea air helped her recover and she too was disturbed by her loss of this vital sense.
The day after our quarantine was over, we celebrated by going to Whitstable on the north Kent coast to breathe in some fresh sea air and to eat their famous oysters. Yippee, we were able to smell a glass of muscadet and savour it without washing it around our mouths. We could both smell and test our food and our coffee afterwards. Our trip to Whitstable had been worth it and our noses were cleared of congestion into the bargain.
The next day, on a walk ,we could smell a petrol engine and the school dinners being dished up in the cantine. However, my sense of smell had not completely recovered. It took almost three weeks to recover completely and I only noticed that it had returned completely when I could smell the chip shop from 300 metres away, albeit down wind. I can now smell my wife's Eau de Cologne from a considerable distance. I have read that some people take weeks to recover their sense of smell after a bout of Coved 19 infection and they too are very disturbed by it.
Apart from getting very ill, keeping your sense of smell is a very good reason to avoid getting a C19 infection but this is easier said than done without isolating yourself, and it is difficult to enjoy a good glass of wine without good company - especially if you can't smell it.
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