COVID: Our Story
Okay, so this is a post that I have contemplated for awhile, but each time I consider typing it out, I take a nap instead. But, here it goes.
Before I give you our experience, I feel that I should disclose everything, or else it’s all just half truths. We have always socially distanced, so nothing much changed for us, except we no longer have family dinners as often as we used to. We cancelled our big wedding celebration which had 100 guests, and was going to be a 4-day event. We have had dinner with the family twice, our neighbors once, friends three times and even had our wedding, just a scaled down back yard gathering with 12 people total. I stand behind each one of those gatherings. To me it is important to stay connected to those closest to you, and it’s not healthy to completely cancel 2020, although, it is needed to an extent. We have not been behind the “you must wear a mask” and do it for everyone else, if not for yourself. Here is why: every day the experts have changed their opinions, and given half truths and whole lies. They have skewed the COVID numbers so much that it’s hard to really know what the virus is and what it’s doing. We have been controlled and businesses have been forced to close with very little support from our state. I realize each state is different, but here in Nevada the small businesses were left to fend for themselves and self employed people were denied the unemployment benefits promised to them in the beginning. So, when they decided we all had to wear a mask, we chose not to. We were not going to events, festivals or stores with large crowds and we did not stop to converse with anyone at grocery stores. Hell, the clerks wear them down at their chins or just below their noses. At any rate, with the exception of the masks, we were more careful than anyone in our circle. We took it serious to keep MtnMan healthy with his 1 lung. We will not leave the house without a mask from now on, and this is 100% right for us, but I am not of the opinion that if you choose not to, you are wrong. Our experience is the reason we will wear a mask. We know he came into contact while working, and that cannot be avoided, but one more defense might insure we will not catch it a second time, and if we do, it hopefully will not be as bad as what we went through. I hope none of you experience what we did. *hugs*
Now our experience:
Day 1: MtnMan felt his allergies were getting the best of him, so Doc gave him a shot and treated a sinus infection.
Day 2: I was so fatigued I signed off of cam in the middle of the day and took a 3 hour nap. I do not take naps.
Day 3: MtnMan felt like his allergies was more like a mild summer cold. I woke up with a mild sore throat and signed off cam to take a 30 minute nap in the middle of my afternoon. I had chills.
Day 4: MtnMan was about the same and I woke up feeling like I was getting a chest cold and I had a migraine. We drove to Twin Falls to pick up packages and did not do our normal shopping, we turned around and went home. As soon as we got home, I went to bed. I had chills.
Day 5: MtnMan had a terrible headache and my migraine was worse, and not responding to my migraine scripts. We stayed home and did not do anything but sleep.
Day 6: We both still had what appeared to be a summer cold and both of us had headaches that would not go away. We slept.
Day 7: MtnMan could hardly breath and his o2 levels were dropping anytime he walked from the couch to the kitchen/bathroom. He had a fever and was sweating profusely and was cold. We slept. He called the COVID hotline and the gentleman was very concerned about his breathing and thought he should be in the hospital, and although he had ALL of the COVID symptoms, the jackass did not think it was enough to be tested for the virus. Thankfully our doc was pro-active and gave us a script for hydroxychloroquine because MtnMan started taking it and in 4 hours his breathing was better. I had intense body aches to the bone. Pain I have never felt and I could not get comfortable. I was up most of the night coughing and in intense pain. I thought I was going to die.
Day 8: MtnMan called the COVID hotline again and told them he came into contact with someone that tested positive the day before. That was enough to get in for a test, but he had to wait for a phone call back, which did not come for another 24 hours. His breathing was still labored, but manageable. His fever was off and on, and his headache lingered. My body aches were still intense, my cough was getting worse and I was tired. I decided to take hydroxychloroquine and within hours my body aches went away. I do believe that drug saved our lives.
Day 9: MtnMan got a phone call to be tested. It was positive, which we knew it would be by then. The doctor that tested him told him that I would need to be tested, so I called and had to wait for a call back. We were still pretty rough. Our coughs were terrible, we were tired, we had zero appetite but ate just to take meds. I couldn’t keep most of the food down. By this time we were both down 10 lbs and still losing weight.
Day 10: We both still felt rough, with no energy or ability to do anything. We were still getting sick after we ate, which consisted of toast or yogurt. I got a call to schedule a test. I vomited right before I had to drive into town, which honestly, I should not have been behind the wheel, but we had no other options. We could not ask someone to drive us and MtnMan was just as bad as I was, if not worse. I do have a 2 lung advantage over him. I tested positive. I went home and slept.
Day 11: About the same as the last 2 days
Day 12: Same.
Day 13: We still had a terrible cough, no appetite and slept most of the day. I decided to do VNA because I was the only one on schedule and I really needed to connect with you all. It was good, but I was exhausted after 30 minutes.
Day 14 – 17th: slowly feeling better, but not enough to know we were over it, but we knew we were beating it.
Day 18th: We both felt as though we were over it, but had zero energy. We napped and zoned out on the couch, which is what we did since day 5..
Day 19th: MtnMan received a call from the COVID people and they asked if he still had symptoms, he said no, they released him and said he can leave the house. We both napped. Although, I had big plans to edit vids today, I got my desktop powered up and opened the software, then took a nap. The Roomba ran for the first time in 20 days. Abby was not happy.
Day 20: Tomorrow- Monday, August 31st. We both plan to work, but I am not sure how much either of us will get done and I might need breaks throughout the day. But, we are over it, just need to ease back into a full schedule and hopefully our energy will return soon.
Thank you for reading, even if you didn’t make it to this paragraph. I am not trying to turn my blog into a political discussion, or cause angst and anger between members. We all have a difference of opinions on how 2020 has been handled, and we all have our own convictions and reasons behind our beliefs. That does not make anyone wrong, but it is how you handle it all that makes you who you are.