Lately in the news there have been stories about COVID attacking toe joints with painful inflammation. It’s a rare side effect, but when my left big toe started hurting and swelling and changing color to a bright, angry red I got concerned enough to call Kaiser. It was a Saturday afternoon and I sent in a photo of my toe because we only go to the doctor now when there is no other option. They don’t want us coming in, and we don’t want to go.
I thought for sure my toe was infected. About six years ago on Maui I broke it bodysurfing and it got infected later in the vacation during an all day surf session in Lahaina with my family. I hobbled around for the last two days of the vacation as it worsened and when I got home my doctor prescribed antibiotics which cleared it up. That lasted for three weeks until the next time I got in the water in San Francisco during a red tide and it got infected again. Having these experiences I knew what infections in my big toe looked and felt like and in the immortal words of Yogi Berra it was déjà vu all over again.
Since it was a weekend I didn’t get to speak with my regular doctor. The doctor I spoke with was nice enough but she didn’t buy my prognosis. “It’s gout.’ She stated. “Gout often mimics infections, including being warm to the touch.” My angry toe was warm in addition to everything else. That’s why I was convinced it was an infection.
Earlier in the week I ran into someone I hadn’t seen in about 15 years. The first thing she said to me was, “You got old!” Even if I don’t want to believe it the gout proves her painful observation.
I took the medication the doctor prescribed as directed but got concerned when the pain didn’t dissipate as anticipated overnight. Sunday evening I was starting to freak out because my entire left big toe was glowing like Rudolph’s nose, and it looked like red streaking might have been developing. Or was that my imagination? I’ll be the first to admit I’m a bit of a hypochondriac. I called the advice nurse at 9pm and explained the situation. I’ve had streaking red lines in my arm and in my chest from infections, and I’ve been told those streaks are your blood being poisoned. If a streak reaches your heart, it will pump the poison throughout your body. That thought had my concern progress to consternation.
I sent a picture of foot and I could clearly see a red line going across the top, heading towards my ankle. Fortunately the nurse spoke to an emergency room doctor and they recommend not coming in. Prior to the call I had booked an appointment with my regular doctor for the first thing the next morning and they thought I’d be fine waiting (and worrying).
The next morning I spoke with the doctor and she too thought it was gout. “Do you have any symptoms of COVID: sore throat, cough or fever?” she asked.
“Not really. I mean, I cough a couple times a day but never I like a fit or anything. I’ve had that all year. I’m a Realtor and last weekend I did show a house where the occupants had previously had the virus and both had test negative twice in a row. I was told the house was clear.” Plus I continued to tell her about a Taiwanese exchange student we had at our house who was leaving to go back home the next night. If she was exposed to the virus through me and brought it onto the plane and then the passengers got infected on the 14 hour flight to Taiwan, I could potentially be a super spreader that would sow the evil seeds in a population that had previously tamed the COVID beast better than almost any country. I didn’t want to be that guy.
All that being said my doctor set me up with a test for COVID. She wanted to eliminate that as a possibility, however remote. I’ve been watching the numbers rise in Marin County for a while now, and with the reopening to Phase 2 of the California plan we have been seeing more confirmed infections. I read somewhere that there can be 10 times as many cases as we see in the charts. Because of all the people not getting tested we don’t know the true extent of the pandemic and never will.
Waiting over 24 hours for the test results I was really getting scared. The doctor had told me the results would be available in the morning, but she didn’t get them until the evening. I was thinking maybe it was taking longer because they got a positive test and were retesting the sample to make sure. I had already contacted a few friends, family and a client I had recently worked with to let them know about the test. The client and his girlfriend are both in their 70’s putting them are at a higher risk. The girlfriend’s daughter is pregnant, and newborn babies have no immune system to deal with a virus so they were anxious to find out the results as well.
Realtors are essential workers because we are a hub for all kinds of economic activity: painters, contractors, landscapers, flooring companies, stagers, inspectors, it goes on and on. As an active Realtor I come in contact with a lot of people, wearing a mask and keeping social distance, which also makes me and the homes I sell potential hubs. Over the weekend I had shown four houses, one of which my buyers made an accepted offer on. We followed the PPE protocol including gloves, wipes, masks and sanitizers. I spent very little time in each house, in part because my toe hurt and I was having difficulty walking.
Each house I showed had other showings that day. Two were occupied including one that had a small child. I had people who were scheduling showings at one of my listings and others that had been inside recently. Since Phase 2 of the reopening started and within the past two weeks I’d been in the houses of five different clients, several whom had waited specifically for the new reopening phase to meet me. If I had the virus, if any active Realtor gets it the contract tracers will be busy.
All day I nervously waited for the results. I watched every single email come into my inbox, hoping each one would be my doctor. As 5pm came and went I wondered if we would have the results before our student was scheduled to go to the airport. It was coming down to the wire.
Finally, at 5:30pm I got the email from my doctor saying I was negative. Most likely I had gout in my toe. There has never been a person happier to get the gout diagnosis! I didn’t have TOEVID.
If there is one thing I’m taking away from this experience it’s a heightened sense of awareness. What I’ve been doing has been working. I can’t let that backslide. There’s too many people counting on me, and all active Realtors.