The Rundown Nite: My Battle With COVID-19

You guys are probably sick of hearing about my health issues, but much like with pitching coach Tommy Hottovy earlier this year, COVID-19 is crushing me right now. This is my sixth straight night with a fever that has eclipsed 100 degrees. Usually I range between 99.7 and 100.4 during the day, and though I actually dropped to 98.6 for a while today, I spike drastically each night. As I am writing this, I am sitting at 102.3 and rising. If I hit 103 or above, it means a trip to the ER.

Now I know some of you think I caught it working the election and that’s certainly possible. Though I wore my mask, it was a bad allergy day and I distinctly remember rubbing my eyes often. It’s a natural response and one that is often hard to check in the moment.

I also could have caught it picking up my parcel deliveries in the mailroom. Often I have gone down to the first floor sans mask. I just can’t remember any interaction with anybody else other than when I had a pizza delivery just over a week ago. I received it maskless and the delivery driver was also maskless. That was Halloween Night, a recipe for disaster.

Cheat day!! pic.twitter.com/ndtWPyYNhu

— Michael Canter of Cubs Insider ✨ (@MEdwardCanter) November 1, 2020

There are some scary side effects, too, the first of which is that I am losing weight rapidly. Because I am monitoring that for my liver issue, I am feeling somewhat alarmed.

• October 31 – 246 pounds
• November 4 – 242 pounds
• November 8 – 239 pounds
• Tonight – 232 pounds

Hey – I can see my feet again.

Speaking of feet, my lower extremities feel like they are on fire every night. It’s almost like somebody has put a torch to a doll in my likeness. I’m also constantly thirsty, have fever blisters on my upper lip, have completely lost my appetite, and, like most everybody else afflicted, I have chest and nose congestion. Luckily for me, my cough is not a dry one. That’s another sign my body is fighting this for now.

I know some people, our readers included, believe COVID-19 is just a bad strain of flu and that masks aren’t necessary. From my seat, I’m telling you that is absolutely incorrect. I haven’t felt this bad since I had rheumatic fever as a child.

When medical officials say that coronavirus is detrimental to our hearts, that is 100% accurate. Several days of consistent, elevated body temperatures will negatively affect all of our organs. You can’t run your car for seven days in an overheated state and our bodies work very similarly. Things start failing, and that’s when cars and people die.

Some people experience milder symptoms than I am having. Those are the lucky ones. Our bodies do have an innate ability to fight infection, that’s why fevers happen, but not when you have a compromised immune system as I do. I’m high risk for a reason and I certainly don’t want to die from this, so I am hoping and praying to keep my body temperature below 103 tonight. A trip to the ER would almost feel like a death sentence to me. I might be overanxious, but statistics bear out that ICU hospitalization is almost an endgame scenario.

So, until I am better, I will be taking a recess from Cubs Insider and Bears Insider. I don’t know how long I will be on the IL, but I wrote this small article for four reasons:

1. To thank everyone for the kind thoughts, prayers, and gifts;
2. To thank my bosses and co-staff here at the website and at my day job for checking in on me and making me feel appreciated;
3. To remind everybody to take this infection seriously;
4. To warn everybody that the virus will find you if you give it the slightest opening to do so.

I love you all. Please don’t ever forget that.