And today's adventure

 Last night, I had some itchy spots on my back (typical of allergies). I had to try to reach to scratch them (Live-alones deal with this). I guess I pulled something, or else I pulled something MONDAY while mowing and it just now showed up.

Anyway, I woke up with some pretty serious muscle pain centered around my middle back. Can't tell if pulled muscle or muscle cramp....

Then my nose started running like a faucet, and I sneezed a lot. Atypically much for the level of allergies I have this time of year. So I thought "oh no, could it be the 'rona?" and wondered if I should get tested.

I do have the little free tests you could order (and I guess I could order more, and it might be a good idea to). But I also had never done it before (always in the past was able to rely on my campus' nurse for testing) and I really preferred someone who knew what they were doing to do it. So I ate and dressed slowly, and around 8 called campus health services.

Yes, the nurse would still do them, but she was busy until 10:30. I didn't want to wait around at the house until then, so I thanked the scheduler and said I'd try the home test, and if I couldn't get it to work I'd call back for a time.

So: time for a home chemistry experiment:

As I said the other day: I don't like this. I don't like that being extra careful means I weather more discomfort (and yes, it's a small discomfort, but a discomfort nevertheless). I worried about doing it "right." And I also thought, grimly: well, if this comes out positive, I'll have to call church and they'll either have to scramble to get someone else, or just cancel services Sunday. And I guess I will have to rely on what food I have until I test negative, though I will probably run out of milk"

I swabbed for longer than recommended, and used the fluid in the tube, and set the whole thing up. Set the timer on my phone and waited for a long fifteen minutes.

And at the end?

And anyway, the runny nose cleared up. So it was just stupid allergies again. And the muscle aches is probably "being old during a hot summer and maybe having bent in a bad way." It's a little better after being up and moving around and taking a dose of tylenol. I did buy another bottle of that sports-drink junk in case my potassium is low and that's why I hurt. (Anyway, I was *really* craving a roast beef sandwich for lunch so when I came home I ran to the Green Spray and bought a little package of it)

At least now I know how to do the testing, I guess. Still, that's something I would rather not have learned. One of my older female relatives used to regularly say "Never learn to do something you don't want to be forced to do" and while she was more referring to things like home-repair jobs or preparing certain complex foods, it also kind of applies here - though I guess this is something we'll all be doing, more or less forever now.