Every day I study updates on the COVID 19 (Covid) pandemic, regarding such things as: numbers of infections/deaths; supply numbers/availability; economic influences including jobs; and more. I have been waiting to hear more from those who fell ill and have survived. With each story I realize I must share my story. Now I am waiting to be tested for Covid antibodies. I want to know if I had it. If I did, and since I have recovered, I want to give blood to help others recover.
My Story: On Sunday, January 26, 2020 I felt odd, like a part of me was missing. I had been looking forward to this particular Sunday as our church leadership would be sharing the vision for the year.
Weeks earlier I experienced odd sensations with my heart while working out in a community exercise class. My heart rate jumped to 192, I became breathless and sat down (I felt like I was going to collapse). It took 5 minutes before I could rejoin the workout. A week later I did a treadmill stress test, stopped when my heart rate went to about 172. I just didn't bounce back from that test and I began having difficulty getting my breath. Though I practiced the various deep breathing exercises I have learned (and teach others), I couldn't get a breath. My lungs felt like something was in the way. A week later, January 16th, I called our local nurse who told me to go to the ER. I called a couple friends and told them I was driving myself to the ER, though they protested, one said she would meet me there (my husband Noel, had other commitments and was not home at the time).
The ER was a good experience in that I felt genuinely cared for. However, there were clues, such as an X-Ray that showed a white cloud in my lungs. A doctor noted but said it was so opaque he wasn't sure he should even mention it. Because my blood oxygen level was at 95% my concern that I couldn't get a breath was not noted on my chart (I know because the notes were published online in my records where I was able to see them a week or so later).
On Monday, January 27th, I woke up feeling like I had been run over. Every breath was painful and difficult. My fever was only 100, Noel took me to Urgent Care. My exam included: stethoscope-breathing; a blood oxygen test; and anecdotal; where I again said I couldn't get enough air and I wanted to make sure I didn't have pneumonia. The Dr. said I didn't have pneumonia, probably had influenza, that treatment would only take 1 day off the two-week process of the illness to recovery. He said nothing about my report that I felt I couldn't breath.
That evening my temperature soared to 103 and hovered between 103 to 104+ for the next 5 days. The course of this illness was like a ravaging fire that quickly incapacitated me. I felt freezing cold with a temperature so high I was soaking wet. Delirium was my state for at least 4 days. I cried, shouted, felt terror, couldn't process reality, couldn't breath and felt like I was drowning, rolled around continuously, trying desperately to breath. Pain was in every part of my body, muscles, bones. My lungs and brain felt like they were on fire. Hunger disappeared, yet Noel fed me, made sure I was hydrated. I lost 5 lbs. in 5 days.
On the 4th day of my fever I thought I was lucid enough to take a shower so my husband could change our sheets. The warm water felt great, but when I tried to wash my hair I began to collapse. The next half hour is a confusing memory as I was mostly incoherent and incapacitated, while my husband struggled to physically handle my body, which I was unable to control. Specific moments stand out: realizing I am sitting up (on a shower chair), but I couldn't move; watching sweat run down my body as if it were the shower (the shower was off); realizing I might die and having a conversation with God where I accepted my death, then letting go. Noel got me into bed where I fitfully slept in delirium for a couple more days as my fever broke.
Flowers from my sweetheart.
Coughing began, wracking my body with new and painful symptoms: the cough that produced a thick, glue-like clear phlegm that felt like it cut off swallowing, causing a new interference in breathing; a severe stabbing headache; lungs that hurt and felt like they were filled with huge wet sponges so I wheezed when I tried to breath. Lying on my left side was the only way I could breathe when I started to go to sleep. While sleeping I had to roll constantly to catch a breath. If I stayed too long on my right side a spasmodic coughing episode would start that wracked me so hard I feared I might choke to death. I slept about 2 hours at a time sitting partially upright in an electric bed. I was grateful I slept.
By the 2nd week of February, Noel had started my regular recovery routine (from chronic bronchitis and pneumonia in my younger years), which included: a special concoction of herbals in a tea that eased breathing, coughing, infections; humidifier with distilled water running constantly; high intake of Vitamin C; Fresh vegetable juice (I have been juicing with my Champion juicer over 30 years)mid-February. And, though this second stage of infection was in full swing, I had slightly more energy and lucid moments.
1st meal I could taste, Penne pasta with garlic shrimp by chef Noel.
By the end of February, I had been getting up an hour or two a couple times a day. I had started walking, first a few blocks, beginning the goal of working my way up to 2 miles every other day that was my habit before I got sick.
As I recovered I realized what illness I had just lived through was different than anything I had ever experienced before. In thinking about returning to previous activities, and in hearing more information about this new Corona virus, COVID 19, I made the decision to stop all events where I came in close contact with people. I am a connective, social person with the passion of this stage of my life about people and connecting to one another in community. So, the decision to stop being in close contact was a painful choice. Listening to, reading the reports from, the scientists revealed how much we did not know about this C-19. I couldn't take the chance that I might carry a bug that could threaten the life of anyone who contracted it.
Summation: I believe I had contracted COVID 19. There were two people I came in contact with that could have been carriers at that time: one was traveling internationally; the other came in contact with people who travel internationally. As soon as an antibody test is available I will get it and post what the results are. Meantime, please stay home, do not make contact with anyone if you can help it. Wear a mask every time you go out and wear disposable rubber gloves every time you go out as well. Whatever it was that I had, you do not want it, it can kill you.