22 March 2020
I showed the first symptoms of Covid-19, a headache, on Wednesday 11 March. Below is an overview. I hope this may help people understand beyond the news what this is like. Remember, it is a progression of symptoms in my experience. We tend to hear “the symptoms” on the news and think if we have only one, we are still safe. I suggest, if you have a headache stay home until you know it is just a headache.
The first question everyone asks: I do not know where I got this. No one I had personal contact with the week before I got sick is sick or got sick. This should scare people. We want to think all we have to avoid is the sick people but that is not how this is spread. All you have to do is touch something and then touch your mouth, eyes, nose or ears. If you really think about all the surfaces you touch it will astound you. After you wash your hands in the bathroom what do you touch: the garbage can lid, the light switch, the door handle, the door face, your office door handle. That does not consider the papers you pass around your workplace.
Wednesday 11 March
I got a headache just after breakfast. Wasn’t very hungry at breakfast. Worked until the afternoon. My meeting that night was canceled, I had told choir I had a meeting, so I decided to go home. Good thing too.
Thursday 12 March
I had a headache and temperature of a little over 103. I was shivering very violently, worse than I had ever shivered in my life. I had to lean against things to keep from falling. Took Tylenol to try to keep the temp down which also, eventually, stopped the shivering and the headache for a few hours.
Friday 13 March
Temp was around 102 for the rest of this virus. Low would be 101 with occasional dips. The strange breathing began on Friday. Like an asthmatic attach. I describe every breath as a muscle spasm beginning in my lower abdomen and rising with each pulse to my upper chest where I would cough. The shivering continued also. I was downing Tylenol at 20 tables of extra strength a day. Way over the recommended dosage. The spasmed breathing became the indicator that the drugs were wearing off. I could prevent the shivering by taking the drugs while I was doing the spasmed breathing and thus control my symptoms.
Saturday 14 March
We called our doctor and left a message. I wanted confirmation that I had Covid-19. If I was going to suffer this much it would be nice to know I had the virus de jure at least. I knew this was more than a cold and it was different than any flu I had ever experienced. My speech became disconnected by my throat constriction (like listening to really old people talk). I think this is part of the asthmatic-like breathing. The longer I talked the more broken and difficult it became.
Monday 16 March
Spoke with my Doctor on the phone where she confirmed I had Covid-19 based on the symptoms I described. She said they were only testing people who needed hospitalization, though I could insist if I wanted to. Since I do not believe in burdening the system unnecessarily anyway and now the system is dangerously burdened, I chose to take her word for it. Plus, how could I justify walking into a doctor’s office knowing I could dangerously infect all those people? I kept taking Tylenol and doing the best I could.
Wednesday 18 March
Began as a day of some hope. My mind was a little bit clear. My temp was 98.6. The spasmodic breathing was less regular though I still could not breath well. The night before my night-sweat phase had begun. In the night I would wake from sleep drenched in sweat, every couple of hours. I changed my PJ tops and bottoms four times. Changed my pillowcase twice and still crawled back into wet sheets. An interesting, seemingly trivial thing, for the first time since the 11th I had phlegm in my throat rather than a throat devoid of any moisture. I began eating a bit more, from practically nothing. Leah woke this day with a headache, and we were worried.
Thursday 19 March
The night sweat phase continued. Full loads of laundry every day so I would have clothes for the night. My daytime temp was normal. Thursday, I had a normal temp all day until I went to bed when it went to 102 again–next morning, normal temp. The dry cough started around this time. Not good for headaches and no satisfaction since nothing is being brought up to cough about. Thankfully Leah’s headache turned out to be nothing but a normal sinus thing for her.
Friday 20 March
All day normal temp. Still sweat at intervals in the night. A bad day generally, like a throw-back of sorts, as I could not get out of the fog I thought I had overcome. Coughing in earnest. Full laundry needed Saturday from sweating over the night.
Saturday 21 March
The first day I could use the word “normal” as to how I felt. No temp all day. Little headache. Breathing still shallow and if I moved or did anything, I would need time to stop and catch a breath. I dreaded going to bed that night as the disappointment of sweating and having to change my clothes would say this was far from over and wanted it to be, at least, on the obvious end game.
Sunday 22 March
I only had to change my shirt once in the night. I did wake with a headache but that went away on its own accord. I still have hard dry cough and trouble breathing which leads to trouble getting words out, but I think this is the end. Still must get through Wednesday the 25th to end my isolation period (though I just heard they may change this to end with the end of symptoms). Will call my Doctor Monday to see.
Some generalizations:
My temp range was a high of 103 plus, but this was only one day. Almost always it was 102 to 101.
Taking lots of Tylenol is of course contrary to the bottle instructions.
We have had help from others who have picked up supplies for us. This is a great thing and could be a long-term benefit to society from a bad situation.
The laundry issue for those living with this alone and no in suite laundry is potentially devastating and huge spread risk. Those in apartments with shared laundry are going to have infected people in their laundry areas out of sheer necessity. Wash your hands and do not touch your face.
The most important thing to note:
The blessing that is Leah, my Covivant. She has fed me, read my temperature, laughed with me and at me as needed. She has done all the cooking and cleaning, so I did not infect anything. She has gotten my water and coordinated our supplies. She also has not gotten infected—this is an amazement! She has communicated with my family. She is an infectious disease geek (back from the Ebola days), so she is actually up on, and follows, all the news on this. She is a little cabin fevered and I am sure would like me to make coffee except she would have to attack the coffee maker with her bleach spray after and that is more work. She has been a great blessing and a series of other great things; I cannot express my gratefulness in enough ways. I love you and thanks.
Hark 