🦠 The Cannabis Covid Chronicles

My wife, our three kids, and I have all avoided Covid since the beginning of the pandemic. Early on, we disinfected groceries and stayed inside. Later, we masked up everywhere we went. We got vaccinated, and boosted, and we seemed to be pitching a perfect game.

But then KABLAMO! Covid smacked us upside the collective head. Here’s our story.

*Note: I apologize in advance, but I do not care about your politics or your opinions as they relate to Covid. I’m so tired of the discussion and the ignorance and self-righteousness. FWIW and for context, I think it’s a very real illness with very real consequences, masks work, vaccines are great, we should protect high-risk folks, and overall we should all stop making it about ourselves and start being kind.

*Note II: I am not suggesting cannabis cures Covid. I am not suggesting Western medicines don’t work. I will only comment on symptom relief in the context of my own personal experience. Listen to your doctors!

Now that I’m all covered - a story in three parts:

Part 1: Uh Oh

We went on a trip to San Francisco over the weekend last week - just the parents, no kids. A wonderful time was had by all. We tested the night before we left, and the night we got back, and were all negative and ready to rock.

On Tuesday morning, we were scheduled to leave for Mammoth to visit some family and enjoy some time off. The Toyota Sienna (you know we’re watching DVDs up in there) was packed, it was 6am, and Helen and I were just about to wake the boys up to hop in the car and leave. She took one last rapid test as she got ready for the day, just to be safe. An afterthought, really. I grabbed the keys, my shoes were on, when, all of a sudden - I heard a soft sound from the bathroom. It was Helen, and she was whispering a word.

But what word? I couldn’t quite make it out. I crept closer.

“Fuck.”

She pointed at the positive test, then stared back at me.

“Fuck!”

Indeed. We made our phone calls and let everyone know that our vacation would not revolve around fly fishing or mountain biking, but rather quarantine and risk mitigation. We were, once again, inside.

Part 2: Invincibility and Intention

Helen was positive, and she started getting sick. But I was negative (because I am invincible, as I told her), as were all three boys. We locked her in our room so fast her head spun. I delivered food in a mask, and the boys and I hunkered down for a weird few days.

My boys are 6, 4, and nearly 2 - Mammoth was a big deal for them last year, and they were excited (to say the least) to go again. So they were bummed. Pile on the fact that their mom just got the illness we’ve been trying to avoid for a couple years, and she would be staying sealed in another room for a few days; they were rattled.

It was chaos for a couple days. I was tired, they were tired, we were all pretty mean to each other, we had no routine, and we couldn’t go to Target to blow off steam. I tried to stay patient, and failed, over and over. It was a tough go.

While pouring milk in the wee hours of the morning one day, I vowed to be more patient. Not to raise my voice at all. Not to take away privileges and send anybody to their room. Not today.

I had a Chalice Farms chew leftover from Hall of Flowers - a ginger one with high CBD and ~5mg THC - so I had it with breakfast. We had a glorious day that day. An epic scooter adventure, exploring some tunnels, finding a “secret” park. Epic. They were happy, I was happy.

And no yelling.

Cannabis allows me to acknowledge and release my stressors, so I can engage with my daily life more intentionally.

My wife was sick, my kids were turned upside-down - but the only thing that really mattered was that we were scootering around enjoying the sunshine. Magic.

Part 3: I am not invincible, and I whine about body aches

Wouldn’t ya know it, we all ended up getting the dang thing. Almost like it’s extremely contagious 🤷🏻‍♂️

I tested positive on Monday, and started feeling miserable. Helen had broken her fever, but was also still recovering. The Geddes family was a mess.

My most severe symptoms were fever and body aches. Oh, lord, the body aches. Everything hurt. Moving hurt. Getting up to go to the bathroom hurt. Leaning over to drink water. You get the point.

I was taking traditional meds, which helped. But you know the only thing that settled the body aches and let me nap?

Cann. If I was getting too achy, I’d ask that a 2mg Lemon Lavender be delivered to my quarters. And I’d quickly feel better.

(btw, 2mg is a tiny, tiny dose. I barely feel the THC at all from the dosage - but the combo of THC with 4mg of CBD alleviated my aches like I couldn’t believe).

My most severe night was Wednesday night. I wrote about it on LI:

My point is: the applications of cannabis (as medicine, anxiety-reducer, whatever) are endless, and still very much untapped. Keep exploring.

(By the way - we are all feeling much, much better. One of the boys is still recovering, but he’s very much on the mend 👍)

📚 tl;dr

• Covid got us, but we’re feeling better already

• Cannabis allows me to address my superficial stress in a healthy, deliberate way

• For me, THC + CBD was the best pain relief solution for body aches

• Care by Design saved me from a pretty terrible night - I was able to rest and break my fever

• It is Friday