My Experience with COVID-19
Wow! The past 3 weeks have been a whirlwind. Brent was
tested for COVID-19 on July 6th because he was showing some symptoms
that were consistent with the virus (sore throat, loss of taste and smell, and
fatigue). We quarantined until we got
his results back on the 8th…NEGATIVE. Whew, we dodged a bullet! We had a girls’ day
tubing trip to Helen scheduled for that Friday so since Brent was negative we
were excited to get to go. It was HOT,
but lots of fun memories were made with some of our best friends. I woke up Saturday morning feeling especially
tired, like couldn’t hold my eyes open (which is super weird because I’m an
early riser). My entire body just felt
heavy and I felt kind of foggy headed. I
didn’t feel sick, just weird. Throughout
the day my nose started to feel stuffy, but I thought it was maybe just
allergies. I already decided not to go to church on Sunday just to be extra
cautious, but Sunday just seemed to add more noticeable symptoms as the day
progressed. Sunday night brought a low grade fever, chills, body aches, sore
throat (more like esophagus area), coughing, and headache.
When I woke up Monday morning, I felt TERRRIBLE, kind of
like I had the flu. Brent went into work
because he had to be out the previous week per company policy. I didn’t feel
like moving, much less trying to figure out what to do, which turned out to be
like a dog chasing its tail. The medical office at his work said that they
weren’t testing spouses of employees so I called my doctor. My doctor said that I would have to go to
Spartanburg to get tested, and I didn’t think I could make that drive safely.
She recommended I use my Prisma mychart account to get an order for drive thru
testing. I had to set up an account to
do a virtual visit which took what seemed like hours to get a log in to even do
the visit. It finally came through and I
was able to complete the bazillion questions only to say that I would get an
email once a doctor reviewed my answers.
Right after I completed the visit the nurse from the medical facility at
Brent’s work called to let me know that they would in fact be able to
administer a test, but I had to get there ASAP.
Thank goodness I wouldn’t have to wait in a drive-thru line to get my
brain swabbed!
I rolled my 1,000 pound body out of the bed, brushed my
teeth and drove my weary self to Duncan. My brain was so foggy, I had to use
the GPS to figure out how to get on the interstate. My eyes were so heavy the
whole way. Dr. L called me as I was
getting off the exit to ask about my symptoms. Her first words were, “I don’t
like the way you sound.” She said that they were going to test me for
everything just to be sure (strep throat, Flu, and COVID-19). She also said that she was going to have to
send Brent home too until my test results came back. I was thankful for that
because I was pretty certain that I couldn’t make it home safely if I had to
drive at this point.
The nurse came out to my car with all tests in hand
apologizing for all the torture that I was about to endure. I thought the flu swab was uncomfortable, but
I was not prepared for the torture of the Corona swab. I think she touched the back of my skull with
that swab. I don’t ever want to endure
that ever again. I knew it didn’t feel like strep throat so when the flu came
back negative, I was pretty certain that I had the Corona Virus.
On the drive home I got an email with orders to get tested
from Prisma (didn’t need that now) and also a prescription for Benzonatate (for
cough-which has been my saving grace) that was being sent to the pharmacy. I
also got a call from Dr. L saying that my strep throat and flu tests were both
negative. I knew right then. Now our
family would have to quarantine again until my results came in. Good thing
Brent went to the grocery store Sunday!
I crawled into the bed as soon as we got home and slept. Little did I know that I wouldn’t leave my
room for eight days, and to put that in perspective, nor would I have a desire
to venture outside of these four walls.
Brent moved to the playroom Monday night so that I could
self-isolate and not spread my potential germs.
I enjoy being alone and need my alone time each day, EXCEPT when I’m
sick. Isolation when I am sick makes me needy and all kinds of a sappy mess.
Now pair that with me likely having a novel virus that can have so many
different outcomes with various ages left to my own pessimistic thoughts, and you
get a big ole pile of mush just needing a hug and company.
My sense of taste and smell began to diminish on Monday and
completely disappear by Tuesday. That is by far the most bizarre thing I’ve
ever experienced, to sniff something fragrant and smell absolutely NOTHING and
to eat something and only be able to taste whether it’s sweet or not. I will say that I kind of enjoy not being able
to smell things because I get grossed out a lot by smells. If you know me well,
you know that smells can instantly change my mood. Is there anyone else who
gets enraged by someone’s stinky gas? It would be perfectly fine if my sense of
smell doesn’t fully return. My taste
though, I don’t think I’m ready to part fully with it. Another thing that came with Tuesday was a
worse cough that only continued to get progressively worse each day. We got the
call Tuesday afternoon that I was indeed positive for COVID-19. Suspicion
confirmed. Ugh!
Now we all have to quarantine for 14 days, and I know that I
have unknowingly exposed several people I love to the virus, unfortunately,
including my friend who is a diabetic and MY PARENTS who have many underlying health
conditions. I sent messages to all my close contacts and apologized for
possibly exposing them. I was unable to
report to work for my assigned summer work days, and I sure hate not fulfilling
commitments. Thankfully, Brent’s
employer gave him the go-ahead to work from home so that he didn’t have to take
leave.
The next few days consisted of lots of staring off into
space, sleeping, bad TV, and coughing.
All my meals were delivered in bed by either my masked husband or
children who looked like the cutest little bandits. Bathing was like running a marathon and left
me with labored breathing and dizziness. My biggest fear was that I would have
to go to the hospital and be separated from my family. I wanted to do
everything I could to not have that happen.
Friday night was especially scary for me. I had taken a bath and a coughing episode hit
me and my arms, legs, and face started feeling tingly and numb. That of course
got me all worked up and made breathing more difficult. I was able to get up
and call for Brent and lay down to try to calm my breathing, but I was SCARED!
Why was my body going tingly? I was so scared we were going to have to call an
ambulance so I focused on breathing in and out and fought back the tears. Finally my breathing was less labored so
Brent left out to get a pulse oximeter from CVS to make sure I was okay because
I made it very clear that I wasn’t going to the hospital unless it was
absolutely necessary. Thankfully, when
he got back my breathing had improved a lot and my oxygen levels were at a satisfactory
level. Thank you, Jesus!
Saturday through Monday would yield some improvement and
backsliding of symptoms. I still had absolutely no energy to even desire to get
up and go further than the bathroom. My blood pressure was staying low and
leaving me feeling dizzy. When I woke up Tuesday, I felt better in general, and
I wanted to get out of the room. I managed to sit downstairs with the family (everyone
masked up, of course) for about 30 minutes max.
On Wednesday I actually ate breakfast lunch and dinner downstairs and
did some online school supply shopping (because my girls are planners and that’s
what they wanted to do together). I was completely exhausted after lunch though
so I laid and stared into space for quite some time.
Now it’s Thursday, and I feel about the same as yesterday still
really tired, but I can slightly smell some things sometimes and have some
faint taste coming back. My headache comes and goes, I still have some
lingering congestion, and the coughing spells are quite intense. Regaining some strength and a desire to get
up is making me feel slightly human again. I can see the light. COVID-19 has not been kind to my body, but I’m
so thankful that my body has been able to fight it off because there are so
many around me who have suffered great loss due to this STUPID virus. This week
I had two of my precious former students (who are very special to our family), and
close high school friend, lose their father and brother to the virus. I was so sad that I couldn’t’ visit and serve
their family during this time. I didn’t have the energy to even type them a
message to express my sympathy until today. I also had a middle school friend lose her
father to COVID-19 this week as well. CORONA, you SUCK! No one likes you so I
think you should just leave!
The reason I tell you my story is because many of my friends
have simply been curious because they haven’t known anyone close to them or
their age who has experienced it. I also
want you to know that the virus is real, and you can be impacted by it too,
whether directly or indirectly. You will
likely be impacted whether you are infected yourself or you have to cover
someone’s shift at work because they’re out on quarantine. The symptoms vary from person to person, the
severity seems to differ among its hosts, and even more puzzling is that way it
picks and chooses who it will impact the greatest or not all.
I know that I have been so confused and have felt incapable
of making wise decisions for my family since mid-March. We stayed in and
limited our interactions with others. We wore masks in the stores, but we
failed to do so in church and during interactions with our close friends. Is
that where we picked it up? Who knows, but I do know that we will be more
cautious, not because I’m scared (well, if I’m honest I sort of am because I
don’t want to do this again), but we will take our mask-wearing more seriously
in the places we feel safest. Will it
prevent illness? I have no idea, but I don’t want to look at another loss of a
loved one and think that I could have done more on my part to decrease the
chance of someone else losing their life because I’m uncomfortable in a mask.
As a Christ-follower I have a deep conviction to care for those around me, this
will simply be just another way that I choose to “do unto others.” I don’t have the brains to come up with a
cure or vaccine, but I do have the ability to answer the call to be
uncomfortable to further His Kingdom by living like Jesus, loving people.
***I’m not a debater, nor am I judging anyone for his
choices. We all have our own convictions, I just wanted to share my heart &
experience. ***
