Experience with the ‘vid

 

I got the vid (what the family started calling COVID)! Last month completely went off the rails for me and my family. Vacation was ruined. Seeing my family was ruined. I infected my friends. I infected my husband. Once I started feeling pretty bad, homeschool didn’t happen… for like a month. The house didn’t get cleaned. It became Lord of the Flies around here! Living at my house was all about survival… A month later and we are still trying to regain control over here.

We had traveled to Florida early last month in order to visit friends and family, and for Mark to do this (50 mile!) Goruck event. We had planned to meet up with my dad, and to see my cousins and my aunt and uncle. We also planned to meet up with some of our best friends who had relocated to Florida.

What Happened First…

I never felt “sick,” or poorly, or anything before we left. I had no cause to be concerned about whether or not to travel. There were no known exposures for me to anyone with or suspected to have COVID. To be clear, I felt completely fine when we left Wednesday morning and started to head South.

As we were traveling (it is a twelve hour journey), I started to develop a dry cough. Being asthmatic, and having allergies, I truly believed I was experiencing allergies. It felt like an allergy cough. November is my hardest month of the year, allergy-wise. The mold count tends to be high, and everything is damp and decomposing. Every November I do, in fact, develop a dry cough. Again, I was so not worried.

When we arrived at our destination, Katie and I went to the grocery store to get food for the week. That evening, we had plans to have our close friends over to our little Airbnb for dinner. I felt absolutely fine. Friends came and we shared dinner and conversation for a few hours.

The next day, Mark and I took the kids to the mall, went out to eat, and just spent the day hanging out. Toward the end of the day, I started to feel a little more guncky. I had developed a post-nasal drip, and the cough started to sound a little wet. Still, I did not feel sick. I started to think, though, that I was fighting off a cold. Again, for November, for me, this was nothing out of the ordinary.

Covid was still not on my mind as even a possibility for what I was experiencing.

Uh-Oh

Then I woke up Friday morning.

So, Friday was the first day I felt under the weather. I felt tired, and like I was definitely getting a cold. Because that evening we were scheduled to get together with my family, I thought I should probably get a COVID test, just to put everyones’ minds at ease that it was just a cold. My dad and aunt and uncle or older, so on the off chance it was COVID, I would know to stay away. I was sure, though, I still had just a cold.

I went to a drive through testing site at a local pharmacy, then headed back home to wait for the results. Within an hour I got the phone call from the pharmacy that I was positive. 

Shock, disbelief, couldn’t quite wrap my head around it! I am a mask wearer and a hand sanitizer-er. I’m very careful. How could this happen to me?!

Next Steps

I had to call my friends that we had dinner with. You know the walk of shame? I had the talk of shame. Luckily for me they are very good friends and very forgiving. Next, I called my family and explained to them why I couldn’t and wouldn’t be seeing them, and that I was SO sad. Mark cancelled his event. We packed up and headed home. At the end of the day, I had infected my friends and my husband. 

The kids, miraculously, didn’t get it. I chalked that up to teens/twenty year olds just not being that interested in being around mom and dad all the time. They were sufficiently freaked out, though! I think Katie had a panic attack the whole way home. We wore some high-speed masks all the way home. I double masked. It was a long trip.

Quarantine Hell

Quarantining for 14 days was rough! Isolating for ten days in my bedroom with my husband was definitely rough. The thing is, though, that it’s doable, and not the end of the world. We made it work.

Like I said, the kids never did get it. We were careful about masking if we went to the kitchen for food. Everyone got a can of Lysol to use throughout the house. When I’d get breakfast, I would wipe down all the kitchen surfaces with cleaning wipes. Also, we literally stayed in our room for ten days. We only left it to get food, masked, gloved, and distanced. The kids stayed in their rooms for ten days. Katie walked around in a perpetual Lysol cloud for ten days. I hope she doesn’t get cancer, or something.

Not going to lie, a lot of things (read: EVERYTHING) fell through the cracks while were sick. Homeschool was completely not happening. It’s been hard to reign that back in this month! Katie thinks she’s done with school, I think! The house is finally clean again. It took a bit. The only person that was non-plussed, and life didn’t really change for was Tommy. He was vibin’

Signs and Symptoms

Symptom wise, for Mark, things were pretty much done by day three. He had one day of fever, had a slight cough, and a few days of body aches. He still gets tired, and his sense of taste and smell are slowly returning. My friends, luckily, had very similar experiences. They were just never really sick.

While I managed to stay out of the hospital, I did get pretty sick. I got the cough, the congestion, the body aches, the nausea, the GI issues, loss of taste and smell, and headaches. I have lung pain (still) and, weirdly, eyeball pain. The headaches and cough are lingering, and my sense of taste and smell are very slowly returning. I’m also still very fatigued.

So, the take away? Be careful! It’s not “just a flu.” 

Most people do just fine. Some people don’t. COVID hurts. 

Be Smart, Be Kind, Be Respectful

My theory is that hand washing and sanitizing are bigger issues than masking is, regarding transmission of the virus. Masks are still beneficial, though, in my opinion, especially for more vulnerable populations. Social distancing, though, is most important. Stay away from people when you are out and about! If you have friends over, don’t be in each other’s faces, and don’t share food. Don’t eat off of common plates, or grab chips out of a common bowl, or anything like that! Wash your hands. Often. Hand sanitize in between hand washes.

I still am at a loss for how I contracted the virus. Being a nurse, some people are thinking I had to have gotten it at work. It’s possible. I think, though, at work I’m at my safest. I wear ALL the protective equipment at work! I double mask, and wear goggles or a face shield. In high-risk rooms I wear a gown. I wear a scrub cap all the time. I wash my hands more at work, and I sanitize every time I think of it!

So… keep calm! For real, keep calm. This is a highly survivable illness for most of the population. That is not a political statement- it’s a true statement. Love one another, be kind to others who have different levels of anxiety about all this than you. We can all contribute to helping one another instead of tearing each other apart. Be careful out there, and be smart about holiday gatherings with your friends in family. I’m not against getting together, but take precautions and be safe:)