Souvenirs from Croatia.

I came home from our Croatian vacation and immediately got sick with COVID.

Click here for my updates and other info about having COVID after being vaccinated.

I’ll start by saying that I am fully vaccinated…I got both doses of the Moderna vaccine in March of 2021. So when the opportunity presented itself to travel to Croatia with friends to go sailing, I decided it should be safe. After all, the CDC and FAA requires that all passengers on planes wear masks, right? We were also very careful, and wore masks when indoors, in the airports, and even on public transportation in Croatia.

Everyone on our chartered boat was vaccinated, except the captain, but she had a negative COVID test before entering Croatia from the Netherlands. We felt this was safe.

I’m still not sure where I got infected. But after a total of FIVE rapid tests over the course of a week—one BinaxNOW rapid self test from Abbott Laboratories before I took the official “travel” test, one test for travel from a hospital in Croatia, and THREE MORE BinaxNOW tests—I tested negative and felt pretty safe.

I did come home with what I thought was a sinus infection. It ends up that a LOT of people in Croatia smoke…at one restaurant there was a table of six guys smoking, but on the terrace below there would be guys smoking cigars and other tables with chain smokers. With Zyrtec and nasal wash, I can usually nip an infection in the bud, but this time it didn’t work. I started getting sick before we left.

Back in Austin, on the Fourth of July, I visited my father at the hospital. Since I’m horribly allergic to cigarette smoke, so I just assumed it was my usual reaction. Dad had been in the hospital for most of the trip after learning that a lead on his pacemaker broke. Upon my return, I used the BinaxNOW test to make sure that I was safe to visit him. I visited him maybe five times over three days.

On the 6th of July, I had a doctor’s appointment at an ENT, and was a little put off when I realized that one of the doctors and all patients were mask-free; when I left Austin most people were still wearing masks. I know they are not required in Austin now, but in a medical setting it seems prudent to still require them…the hospital and many doctors’ offices are still requiring them. I had the appointment with the ENT, then accompanied Bobby to his appointment with our GP that afternoon…her office is inside another doctor’s office…she was wearing a mask, but there were about a dozen people in the waiting room and three staff at the front desk of Hill Country Allergy and Asthma (Lakeway, TX) without masks. Bobby and I—thankfully—wore ours.

I was more concerned about getting COVID from one of the people in the waiting room. I had no idea that I was the one who was infected.

I felt a little under the weather, so I kept checking my temperature, but it was normal for me, at 97.7°F. My oxygen levels were good. When I started to feel feverish, I had Bobby go to the grocery store and purchase a new thermometer. It revealed the truth. My temperature was actually 101°F. I was really sick.

The next day I had my doctor perform a PCR test…that’s the one that can take 1-2 days to get results. The following day, she called with the results. I was COVID positive.

Anyway, it’s a shock. I’m feeling pretty crappy, but hopeful that my odds of surviving COVID are extremely good because I’m vaccinated. I have no idea where I picked it up, but I have so many questions. When did I get it? Can I only pass it to someone else when I have a fever? Will Bobby get this? Do I need to isolate from Bobby if we’ve been hanging out all week? Did I get it from this cute little octopus I met while snorkeling? Did I infect my dad or others at the hospital? Did I pick it up at the hospital, and not in Croatia or on the plane? One of the nurses at the hospital kept taking off his mask while he was at the desk, and there was a woman and her daughter running around maskless even though they are required. Did it come from one of the two “enhanced infection control” rooms on dad’s floor that I think are COVID cases? Do I have the Delta variant? Are the friends I traveled with sick? Thankfully all are vaccinated.

I tried to self-report to United Airlines, and after waiting on hold for over an hour, they completely blew me off. I asked if there was a way to notify other passengers around me, and the agent said ‘no.” She told me to call the CDC. As if they’re going to do anything…

I also told her that there were people on the plane throughout the flight coming to the bathrooms with no mask, and everybody took off their masks during meal service. I tried to slip food under my mask, then immediately put it back over my mouth. I tried to be responsible and safe.

My guess is that this is how I got infected. I mean, when you’ve got a plane full of unmasked people eating, what can you expect??

Now I’m just waiting it out. I’m taking Mucinex D, inhaled corticosteroids, albuteral, flonase, inhaled fluticasone/salmetrol, Bayer aspirin, nasal washes, and a Z-Pack antibiotic for my sinus infection. I’m a mess.

I’ll keep everyone posted, but here are my thoughts:

• Thank goodness that I’m vaccinated. If you’re not vaccinated, please consider getting vaccinated. 99.2% of recent COVID hospitalizations and deaths have been with unvaccinated Americans.

• I don’t think air travel is safe yet. If you MUST travel, consider declining the meal service and drinks. Just remember that every other person on the plane is unmasked when they are eating and drinking. Or maybe save your snack until others have finished eating. Would drinking through a straw be safer?

• Don’t—under any circumstances—trust the rapid tests, especially the home tests. When I called Abbott Laboratories, they freely admitted that it was just for “informational” purposes only and they can’t be trusted. If you get a negative result, but feel bad, assume you’re COVID positive. I’ve heard from a local hospital that the rapid tests are only accurate about 50% of the time. If I had put 100% of my trust in the rapid tests, I would have exposed maybe two dozen people to COVID, who could have exposed more.

• Continue wearing masks. I’m so sick and tired of masks, and I resent the fact that many Americans are still not taking this seriously. I don’t trust that “only the vaccinated” are not wearing masks. I’m still having a hard time when I walk into a business or restaurant and nobody’s wearing a mask…I feel weird or like an outcast if I’m wearing one and they’re not. After this, I am going to wear a mask and not give a shit what anybody else says. Excuse my Croatian.

• Maybe I’ll have super immunity when this is all done? Hopefully. But for now, I’m spending my birthday sick with COVID and it kinda sucks.

Be SAFE, and be SMART, my friends.