I went to Monday’s BYU football practice excited to see some more fall camp action in person. While the group of local media waited outside of the Indoor Practice Facility, I was one of two people wearing a face mask — but I wasn’t necessarily doing so for COVID reasons.
We were outside and because I’m vaccinated, I normally wouldn’t feel the need to wear my mask in those conditions, but I did so to protect myself from the smoke that had moved in from the California and Oregon wildfires the week before. As someone with asthma, the smoke had been causing problems for me all weekend.
Still, everything was just fine. We went in, I was taking notes on my observations and just as we were nearing the end of practice, I felt something wasn’t right.
See, I have long COVID. I first contracted the virus in November and then again in December — almost exactly a month apart and with a negative test result between the positive results. Since the start of 2021, I’ve been dealing with long COVID symptoms, most of which have lessened — some have gone away completely.
The most persistent symptoms? Tachycardia, fatigue and brain fog.
During Monday’s practice, I started feeling a tachycardia episode coming on; My heart rate was increasing getting faster, I felt light-headed and like I couldn’t breathe. I stepped outside to try to compose myself and removed my mask to take in some deep breaths, but instead triggered an asthma attack with all the smoke still around.
I wasn’t feeling better, but I needed to get back inside to get away from the smoke and that’s when my body decided to completely crash. Not only could I not breathe and had my heart racing, but my face went numb, I felt tingles (like when your arm falls asleep, but more intense) in my brain, my legs were heavy and I felt like I was about to pass out.
I ended up kneeling down because I just couldn’t stay standing anymore. That’s when the water girl took notice of me and offered me water. Shortly after that, a pair of athletic trainers came to check me out.
They got me a chair, water and helped me get control of my breathing and one of them stayed with me for more than 30 minutes until I was good enough to head out and even walked me to my car to make sure I was fine.
It was the first time I had one of these events in a public setting and although I was embarrassed it happened during work at a practice, I’m grateful it did because there were people there that could help.
For that, BYU has inched a little bit into my heart.
BYU musings
If you’ve stuck with me so far, thank you. So, let’s get you some BYU content.
Obviously, the summer is notoriously a slow time for BYU Sports news, but here’s some of the highlights you may have missed from the last month or so:
• The BYU-Utah rivalry basketball game date was announced this week and will be played Nov. 27. It is the earliest matchup for both schools since BYU moved to the West Coast Conference. It will also be on the same day as the BYU football game at USC, so fans will have to choose one over the other.
• Since the new NIL legislation has passed, dozens of BYU athletes have signed endorsement deals. The first to do so publicly were Tyler Batty and Austin Riggs, but since then a lot more have shared their respective deals on their social media accounts.
• Will BYU finally get that last Notre Dame game in? It seems like there’s a chance, but nothing’s been decided yet.
• Speaking of having a chance, will BYU finally get into a Power Five program? The defections by Texas and Oklahoma have certainly opened the door for the Cougars to get into the Big12, but there’s no telling if the league will bring in BYU. At least not yet.
• In case you missed it, BYU men’s basketball completed its roster with the addition of transfer Seneca Knight. As far as BYU’s other transfer, Te’Jon Lucas was recently cleared and will be eligible to play this upcoming season.
• For those who follow the Cougars in the NFL, Fred Warner became the highest-paid linebacker after signing a massive five-year deal with the San Francisco 49ers and Zach Wilson finally signed his rookie contract with the New York Jets.
Other voices
• Patrick Kinahan: Former BYU quarterback predicts stardom for Jets’ Wilson.
• The Daily Herald did a Countdown to Camp: Evaluating the 50 individuals who will most impact the 2021 BYU football season.
• Casey Lundquist of SI breaks the best and worst-case conference realignment scenarios for BYU.
Normita’s Spanish Lesson of the Week
avergonzada(o)
embarrassed
Estuve avergonzada de lo que pasó en práctica, pero no hubo nada que pude hacer.
I felt embarrassed for what happened at practice, but there was nothing I could do.
