Lynn and I donated blood yesterday (we're regular donors) and they said they'll be testing for COVID-19 antibodies. They have a website where you can check in and every time you donate, they post your medical info taken when you make the donation ... temp, b/p, cholesterol, iron level, etc. Now, when you check the website, they'll have the results of your COVID-19 antibodies test. There have been a few odd things we've experienced the past few months and since some people reportedly go through this Corona thing with no real symptoms, we're a little curious. Early this year (Jan? Feb?) I had an irritating cough that lasted FOREVER! It was basically a dry cough, so I thought it was allergy related as we had a high pollen count. The odd part is, it lasted like TWO FRIGGING MONTHS! Lynn started having the same problem maybe a week or two after mine started, but hers only lasted a couple of weeks.

Once I got over it, this COVID thing hit, but I never considered any sort of connection as I had no "flu like" symptoms.

A month or so ago, we both went through a few days feeling really run down ... not sick at all, not exhausted, just more of a "lazy" feeling and we simply didn't feel like doing much. We spent a few days just hanging out in bed watching movies and generally doing nothing productive. Heck, we were on self-quarantine anyway and were starting to get pretty bored, so again, thought nothing of it.

Ok, in the last week or so, we BOTH noticed something else that was kind of weird. She cooked one of my favorite meals, but when I ate it, I kept asking what she did differently. It just seemed to have ZERO flavor. She agreed and had no clue what the problem was. We kept adding salt .. way more than we should have, but it was just bland no matter what we did. The next day, we went to our favorite Vietnamese place for a bowl of Pho. They had just re-opened their dining room after doing nothing but take-out for a few months. They limited the people allowed to enter, but the whole time we were there, we were their ONLY customers! This place is usually packed with customers, but I don't know how they pay their light bill right now. The odd thing is, Lynn and I both complained about how bland the Pho was. I added enough chili and hot sauce to make a Mexican cry and finally got it to the point I could taste it. A few nights ago, we had a pizza delivered and ... same deal, I added elebenty little packets of crushed chili and Lynn said it was one of the worst pizzas she's ever had. Flavorless!

Now, yesterday, on the way to donate blood, we were listening to a talk-radio station in the car and they were talking about all the symptoms of COVID-19 that have been added as we find out more about it. Before, all they ever said was high temperatures, flu-like symptoms and/or terrible respiratory problems. They started going down the list of symptoms ...

Dry cough - check!
Tiredness - check!
And then they hit on an odd one we hadn't heard before ... they said many people have reported a loss of smell and/or taste!

Now, we haven't been sick and have had pretty much normal days, except for the few days of "laziness", but that just didn't seem to be a major issue and didn't concern us in the least. Although, we've never taken our temperatures, neither of us have ever felt there was a reason to.

Another odd thing is, in all the years we've been together, ANY "thing" going around never affects us the same. I usually don't get sick enough to put myself out of commission, but things usually hit Lynn like a ton of bricks and she's down for the count. All of the above seemed to affect us equally and I have no idea if those things are simply a coincidence, or if we've possibly had the virus and never knew it. Needless to say, we're very interested to see the results of the antibody test because these odd happenings really have our curiosity up. They told us the results should be on the website by Monday.