Down the rabbit-hole

What is worse than being stuck in quarantine at home with a Covid-19 infection? Getting taken for a ride down the rabbit-hole..

While I (from time to time) might write this blog as a Hollywood script, this is in many ways purely a style I have adopted to make my dreary life at least a bit fun to read. Because, …seriously.., how often does something exciting happen in one’s life? It’s not every day that I need to setup a measurement station at the foot of the Mount-Everest, … Sometimes however, life cobbles up a distinct series of unfortunate events that are too ludicrous ..

Already on the last night of Daniel and I’s isolation on the penthouse floor of our little house, did we notice that even coddled below the blankets, did we feel colder. Naturally part of the cold originated from the window that we opened up to keep fresh air in. However, this could not be the only explanation, as in the previous nights, the temperature did not drop that low. When, Ingrid also started to complain about the tap-water not heating up, I put the puzzle-pieces together to reset the central heating. I could however not realize at that moment that this was the beginning of an end-less set of errors.. in the literary meaning of the word.

From that moment onward, our central heating system started behaving like it somehow had accumulated some new form of Artificial Intelligence. Specifically, the drunk kind that one would exhibit after a long-night-out-on-the-town. Sometimes the heating would work for several hours straight,.. while during other periods a hundred resets did not get the warm water back to work, without any indication on what was wrong or how I could fix it, as no instruction manual was to be located. I then proceeded to do what every person would do, and call in the experts (not knowing how I would be treated next).

Using the (in-case-of-emergency) telephone number on the heater itself I was connected with a truly very nice lady,… who stated that she could not provide me with help (as her reparation-company did not have a service contract with our rental company). After explaining however that we suffered Corona and I would solely would like to receive some walk-by-wire help, she stuck by me for 45 minutes before she gave up and referred me to take up contact with my landlord. However, the contrast between both calls could not have been more significant.

I can honestly say that the lady who received my call showed no ‘appreciation’ of the predicament at all, and from the moment that she picked up the phone had only 1 objective…. No(!) not to offer any help… Firstly she scalded me for not remembering if I had talked to a man or a women and tried to lecture me on calling the wrong telephone call (of the old service company) instead of the newer one (whose number neither logo was not listed on the Heater). Afterwards, she tried to emphasize that the kettle had been serviced just a month prior and that it should not be broken (thereby indicating that we ourselves most probably would have used it inappropriately). And finally, she tried emphasize that I should really have called earlier (ignoring that my whole family was suffering from Corona and placing her ‘importance’ over the well-care of my family). Her only meaningful response was to provide a telephone number for the actual service company, while ignoring my considerations.

Even after I highlighted to her the flaws in her ‘solution’ (that a repair-guy would only be able to come by a week later leaving us in the cold for that period) and even after providing a possible solution (that they would bring by some electoral heaters),did her attitude not improve. Only after I resorted to stronger language (that for our younger readers here, I will not repeat) that highlighted my desperation did she budge a bit that she would discuss this with a team. Alas, it was not to be. … “yes sir, we can provide you with heaters, however we can only provide these the next day and all expenses you need to pay for your selves”… It took all my constraint not to ‘throw the horn on the phone’, close the call in a gentleman fashion.

Afterwards in a house that was quickly begetting colder and colder, I contacted all of our friends and team-mates to see if they had something to spare for us. The immediate response of so many people offering their sympathies and more importantly their electrical heaters, warmed my hart to my core. Within an hour we received enough electrical stoves to set fire to the living room and broadcast enough heat for the entire neighborhood, and not a time too soon.

All Covid-19 infection cases documenting the worsening of the symptoms, have reported that such destabilization acts very quickly rather than slowly. While to this moment, I was only suffering from mild symptoms, it was my greatest fear that (due to my severe asthma), my lung function would rapidly decline and I would have to be hospitalized. Now fortunately, this did not happen, but I would not like to think how close I strayed past the edge here..

The very low temperatures in the house, getting soaked to the bone due to a broken fill-line (when I tried to top-up the water in the heater) and the Corona infection that was approaching it’s peak (combined with the previously unsettling phone call) caused my body temperature to act like it sitting in the front seat of a rollercoaster. First steeply dropping, than rapidly rising again, zigzagging from left to right and finally leaving myself completely breathless dripping in my own sweat. Of course this also directly impacted my oxygen saturation levels, varying from finger to finger and from moment to moment between ‘adequate’ to ‘barely sufficient’.

I am so glad that the doctor I called in the middle of the night was able to assess the situation properly, and through empathetic listening and solid-reasoning was able to calm me down. … Just prior to the call, I considered an immanent hospitalization approaching and visualized myself being strapped to a ventilator (much like Daniel once was), and feared what would happen to Daniel, Ruben and Ingrid if things got even worse than that.. Afterwards however, I was able to get a good night’s sleep, setting in motion my recovery. Dear Doctor, I thank you!

Already the next day, my saturation levels again were as healthy as a horse, while the day after that my fever finally broke and my energy levels started increasing again. I am now sitting here writing this story not from a hospital bed, but from my desk with the news that I have been discharged from quarantine. As illusive as the rain, all of my symptoms have disappear. Leaving me only with a vague glimpse of the irrational fear that resides behind the looking glass..