The DU Lounge

I had 4 different manifestations (that I've identified).

Pancreatitis (the initial symptomatic presentation). Fortunately, it presented as a very mild version of pancreatitis. I was hospitalized a few days (complete GI rest + the watchful eye of hospital staff, since when the pancreas is mad it likes to make all your other organs mad, as well. Non-functioning organs is not fun). While hospitalized, I insisted on more testing than is normal for pancreatitis since there was no obvious cause - and even though the doctor was sure I was a lying alcoholic, he was wrong and I wanted more information so I could find a competent doctor to continue the exploration. By 2 weeks later, my pancreas was testing normal - but pancreatitis (whatever cause) requires complete abstinence from alcohol for 6 months (so even though the acute symptoms were gone, I guess 6 months is the end marker for when it was completely gone.

Chronic acalculous cholecystitis (at least that's what the test said - it can't be an accurate diagnosis because that shows up when you're on your death bed). Basically the test showed the gall bladder wasn't emptying at the normal rate. So for around 6 months I followed a diet of eating about 200 calories about every 2 hours to give the gall bladder little enough food so it could empty before the next batch of food. I haven't had a follow-up test - but I don't have any more symptoms.

Gut dysbiosis (frequent but intermittent cramps and diarrhea were the most prominent symptom). That was the longest lasting symptom - it took over a year to calm down. During that year I took up brewing kombucha because I learned that if I drank a 16 oz bottle of kombucha at least every 3 days the symptoms were minimal (and kombucha is way too expensive to keep buying at that rate when it costs pennies to brew).

Immune deficiencies. They ran a detailed set of IGG tests (normally they run one which produces an average - but they ran the individual tests and found I was deficient in 3 of the 4 categories, one of which corresponded to symptoms I had for around a year of getting frequent and severe respiratory infections (despite masking). Again - no follow-up test. It is an expensive test, and if there aren't symptoms it isn't worth exploring aside from scientific curiousity. The increased infections lasted around a year.

But - yeah. The performing arts are really bad about staying home when sick. In community theater (my niche), you work your tail off at the equivalent of a half-time job for 2 months to put on 2-9 performances. It's really hard to skip those few performances, even if you're sick. It's not like skipping a day of work (when there will still be the next day, and the next day, and the next day). The mindset is that you aren't a real performer if you don't just push through it. It was abated somewhat when everyone cared about COVID, but not any longer.

We had a bad spell for Christmas Carol this year. One of the main characters (who also had a bunch of secondary roles) got sick during tech week. He was responsible enough to mask for the first part of tech week - but I know he was still running a fever when he stopped masking. Another cast member had pneumonia. A third has an unspecified GI issue (and actually skipped one performance). A fourth caught something from the main character. None tested for COVID. Some were more cautious around me - since I wear a mask through tech week and they just assume I'm immune compromised. But real life isn't like Snoopy's Pig Pen (with the cloud that stays right next to him). I did get a mild non-COVID infection for about 3 days between weekends.

There is a bias against testing - since testing positive has to be reported, and we lose our union crew if people with COVID are permitted to perform. So even those inclined to test in other settings are less likely to test when the show is on the horizon.