Not much to report from day 10. It was a lot like day 9. I’m still struggling a bit with the cough. It kept me awake for a few hours last night.

So far I’ve avoided trying any kind of exercise because I think at the moment my throat is too dry and breathing hard sets me off in a coughing fit. I feel like I’m up to it except for the cough. I’m getting frustrated and want to be out running again soon… Probably by the time I feel more recovered Boris will have barticaded us all in our houses.

I’m finding that paracetamol helps though.

Improving?

Apart from the cough I’m actually feeling pretty OK today. The cough is still driving me completely insane and making my throat hurt, but it does seem to be lessening now.

My heart rate is coming back down again, too.

I’ve noticed a few days this week that I smell. There’s no polite way to put it, my armpits are smelly when I wake up. This is odd because I’m still showering just as often, and I’m not doing any exercise.

I googled it and apparently you do smell more when you’re fighting an infection. It’s some kind of immune response. Maybe it’s an evolutionary thing – who wants to mate with someone who’s sick? That doesn’t make sense though. Natural selection should go the other way too and suppress the odour, shouldn’t it? Hmmm…

So again today it’s mixed signals. I feel like I’m doing a lot better, but apparently my immune system is still working hard.

I am officially allowed outside again tomorrow (the 7 day isolation period ends) and in theory can go back to work on Monday.

Whether I will make it to work is another matter, as the trains have drastically reduced their timetables, which was only announced on Friday. With not having been at work this week I don’t know if anything has been said about this. I’m really not impressed by the fact that my workplace hasn’t proactively switched to home working like many others have.

I also find it frustrating that the train services have been cut at all. There is the obvious point about overcrowding and infectious diseases, but also there’s the fact that it’s not the commuters who decide whether or not to come into work – it’s the employer. There’s a mismatch here. Don’t cut train services unless you’re also willing to enforce that workplaces close.

I took the day off sick today instead of trying to work from home, given how tired I was yesterday. I didn’t sleep very well last night – although the cough had improved during the day, it came back overnight and made sleeping difficult at times.

This morning I felt a lot better but I ended up sleeping for most of the afternoon. I got under the covers after lunch because I was cold, and the next thing I knew it was 4 o clock.

The cough is still pretty bad, but overall this evening I’m feeling a lot better and I’m intending to do a full day working from home tomorrow. My heart rate and stress levels are still high though so I don’t think I’ve got rid of it yet.

Day 4 has been a bit different.

The cough is improving rapidly (which is good because I think I’ve strained a muscle in my chest from coughing so much!).

Today the main problems are a headache and tiredness. I’ve spent all day in bed and had an unintentional nap after lunch, which I felt better for.

I think the tiredness actually has me feeling worse than I did yesterday. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to work from home tomorrow or not. But since the cough’s improving I hope that means I’m getting rid of the virus and things will start looking up?

My fever disappeared overnight and apart from the cough I feel OK, really. Maybe a little bit lethargic, but a lot better than yesterday. The cough, though…

When I get colds, usually they’re very, very nose focused. My nose will drip and/or I’ll sneeze continually for hours. My body can produce snot at a staggering rate. If I could sell it, I’d be rich (maybe there are websites for that…).

I know this isn’t a cold, because my nose is fine. The cough, though, has become very unpleasant and my throat is hurting because of it. So if this isn’t coronavirus, it’s a huge coincidence.

It’s 5 AM. My throat hurts. My resting heart rate is 70 (normally about 45). My watch is saying my stress levels have been through the roof even while I’ve been asleep. The last time I had a cold, my watch barely noticed.

This isn’t looking too promising…

Update 10:30… Ok, I’m not feeling too bad (I had worse flu last year) but I’m definitely not well. I’ve spent the morning lying in bed and this is my stress:

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Do I have the virus? I’ve no idea. They don’t seem to have enough of a grip on the symptoms or spread of ‘mild’ cases to say one way or the other.