A week ago, I was starting to come down with what I thought was a cold. James had been sick with the same "cold" for several days but was recovering. I went about my day as normal, but by the next morning, I was feeling worse.By the next morning, Saturday, I was miserable. My symptoms were sinus congestion, a sore throat, a general feeling of not being well, and some fatigue. I didn't have a fever and I wasn't coughing much at all. But my husband strongly encouraged me to go get a covid test and I agreed.
When the results came back, I was shocked that it was positive.
Back home, I started to process the news. As the day went on and I continued to feel pretty bad, I felt some worry. What if I got really sick and also what about my husband and son? I was most worried about Matt since he has bad asthma. I felt fairly sure that James was actually recovering from his own bout with covid.
Over the next day or two, my sore throat went away but I started to cough a bit. By the early part of the new week, I lost my sense of smell. It was such a strange experience. To not be able to smell my morning cup of coffee, or even a very strong bottle of spicy cinnamon scented essential oil..it was just odd. Thankfully I could still taste food.
For self care, I started taking vitamin C, vitamin A and D, and Zinc. I also took a suggestion to drink tonic water with quinine. I mixed it with juice and thought it was pretty good. I also sipped lots of hot tea with honey and drank many cups of water. For my cough and congestion, I took dayquil and some other cough syrup as needed occasionally. At night I took nyquil. By mid week that week, I was starting to feel much much better.
During this whole time, my husband did come down with something similar to my symptoms. He got tested-twice-for covid a few days' apart. Both times, it was negative. After two doctor's visits, including a chest xray, the doctor concluded it was not covid but probably another respiratory virus. He is still recovering from that with lots of rest and some medicine. I am relieved that he did not have covid at least.
It is now a week and one day since my first symptoms began. My sense of smell is coming back, my sinuses are mostly cleared up and my cough is almost gone. I'm still fatigued. This afternoon, I slept for several hours. I try to do housework but find I can't do much before I feel weak and tired. So I'm pacing myself.
As I think back over the last week, I do not take it for granted that my heath is being restored. I've known people who lost their lies to this awful virus and others who were very sick and are still suffering lingering issues. Some were relatively young. So I don't shrug my shoulders and pretend I wasn't worried because there were moments this week when sober thoughts would flood my mind.
As far as my opinions about the vaccine, I won't say much. Only that I believe it serves a purpose. I had been vaccinated with only the first dose. This was for many reasons that I won't delve into here. But I do believe that part of the reason my case may have been so mild was because of that decision to at least be partially vaccinated. I also believe possibly that's why my husband never got covid. He has been fully vaccinated.
During my quarantine, to keep busy, I read a long historical fiction novel, have watched too much TV, taken short walks on the trail that runs literally right beside our house along the woods, napped, sat in the sunshine when the weather permitted, and I've even done some writing for a free lance project I'm actively working on-and I even got paid for my work this week. It was a good feeling to know I could still contribute in a small way financially even while in quarantine!
As far as my family, it was very difficult to try to stay far away from them. Most of the time, we ended up in the living room together during the day. It was just too much to try to stay away from my young son, especially when my husband also was not feeling well and we both needed to rest. Some might criticize us for not isolating from our son but we felt it was possible he had already had covid. We don't have proof though. We couldn't send him away because of the chance he was contagious. He was considered in quarantine with me per the health department's instructions.
I have two full days left of my quarantine. I'm looking forward to going for longer walks, seeing friends, going into stores even, and just getting back to some type of normal. Most of all, I'm happy to be alive and thankful for each new day and praying for those who's lives have been forever changed by this virus.
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