Yes, the same nasty cold has been going around my part of central Ohio. I'm now coming down the home stretch of my own case, and I know what you mean about "enough congestion to truly make me wonder if snot is somehow outside rules about conservation of matter." But somehow my memory wasn't erased during the covidmania like so many other people's. I remember that I've had colds before. I've had flu before. I've had other illnesses before. I'm still here, at age 81, and I know how illnesses come and go. I also know we used to have a real medical system in the USA. That, I'm afraid, is almost defunct.