(NOTE: ZING = a quality that makes something exciting, interesting,: it is enthusiasm or energy).  

I am 84 years of age and in the fourth week of recovery from a severe Covid-19 illness. I am gradually getting over that zinged out feeling - that grey and shady feeling that life is too much of an effort.

 t wasn’t just the virus bit, but a host of co-morbidities that contributed to my urgent rush to the Emergency Ward. The precipitating evident was my losing my balance and falling backward and hitting the hallway wall with the back of my head — resulting in the punching of a hole in the wall and a stunned feeling of surprise. I was found to be Covid-19 positive, severely dehydrated, with pneumonia  and urinary incontinence. (An aside: I had never been hospitalised for an illness before and was surprised that at my age and stage, I was asked to sign a “do not resusitate” form.) I was put on a saline drip (6 litres later) and antibiotics intravenously. I was in the Covid-19 isolation ward for 3 days. 

I lost 7 kg (15 lbs) during this time and the long-lasting, chronic  lung infection is only now beginning to clear. My voice is returning to its usual self and  I may not need a second laryngoscopy of the vocal cords to remove some nodules. (An aside: I was developing a squeaky voice presumably due to modules on the voice chords and had an operation to remove some of them.) A feeling of zing is beginning to creep into my psyche or perhaps it is the Chi of Taoism. 

An aside: In Taoism Chi is a primal substance that animates the universe I— a mysterious force introduced to us by ancient Chinese myths.

Hospital food -- dinner!