So, in the Coronavirus Concerns thread there is a lot of political talk about Covid but I really didn't see any posts about any CSers getting Covid and their experience with it, so I thought I would share mine.
I moved to Florida and caught it shortly after moving here, like within a few days. I don't have a clue where I caught it but think it was at a restaurant, sitting outside, where the next table was only about 4 feet away and the 4 people there were talking extremely loud. But that's just a guess.
It was a Saturday night when I woke up coughing and couldn't stop and had a fever of 100 that made me think I had the disease. By the time I woke up late the next morning I was sure. I had a bad headache, the fever went to 101, the coughing was nonstop, and the fatigue and lack of energy was off the charts. I suffered through until Monday treating myself with cough medicine and Tylenol and finally went to get tested at a CVS drive through. The test was easy, if a bit uncomfortable sticking that cotton swabs deep into my nasal cavity.
The test came back positive two days later and the Florida Department of Health contacted me to do a contact trace and advise me to quarantine and only go to the hospital if my breathing got difficult, I had severe chest pains, my fever spike to 103, I became disoriented or if my lips of other body parts turned blue.
Well, my condition worsened. Covid hunts at night. During the day with meds, I was able to keep my fever in the 100 area and was able to suppress my cough. But at night the fever spiked to over 102.5, the cough got unbearable and I had trouble catching my breath. I soaked the sheets with sweat and though I slept, it was fitful and unrest ful.
It was now Friday, almost a week from the first sign of symptoms, and I started going downhill fast. First off, I lost my sense of taste and my sense of smell was muted though didn't disappear like my sense of taste. This is a very weird sensation. I was eating a lot of soup but it was like eating/drinking cardboard in water. I caught the feint smells of chicken noodle or minestrone soup but not the taste. Orange juice tasted like thick water. Really strange
But I digress. My breathing became labored and I started having chest tightness and pain. The tightness felt like I had an elephant on my chest and the pain was sharp and over my heart area. I was, at this point, in bed 20 hours a day with little strength to get out of bed. So I finally decided to go to the hospital.
In the ER I was tested again for Covid but the nurse didn't put the swabs deep in my nose, which I thought strange. I receive a chest xray as well as a CAT scan and the results came back that I had pneumonia and would be admitted overnight. I later found out my test came back negative and I was only being treated for regular pneumonia.
The next morning the attending doctor came in to examine me, asked if I ever tested positive for Covid and I told him yes. He got very angry, stormed out of my room and I could clearly hear him telling the nurses to retest me and to change my medications and to start a 5 day dosing of remdesivir immediately. So I was put on vitamin B, vitamin C, zinc, dexamethasone(a steroid to open the breathing passages), symbicort(an inhaler), a medicine through a nebulizer(albuterol, I think), zithromicin and the remdesivir intravenously. Yes, the next test came back positive and was administered properly.
I still had massive issues with shortness of breath, coughing and chest pain and tightness and, of course, being in a hospital, I got zero sleep to help recuperate. Luckily, I couldn't taste the food. The nurses were awesome and that attending doctor may have saved my life from a poorly administered Covid test in the ER. I am usually 110/70 blood pressure with a heart rate around 70. In the hospital I was 160/110 with a heart rate of 95 and for half my time there with an oxygen level hovering around 90, which is not good at all.
But slowly things improved. About the 4th day there the fever broke and the coughing subsided. The chest pain and tightness went away about two days later. I had to receive another 3 days of remdesivir as the doctor felt it necessary as I had lingering Covid pneumonia in my left lung. Eventually that cleared up and after 10 days in the hospital, I was discharged.
I lost 23 pounds, was weak as a kitten, and could feel my lungs were still a wreck, even if the Covid had been cured. New CDC guidelines said to go home and quarantine for 2 weeks rather than testing me before discharged to see if I was negative for the disease. Being so sick, I wasn't following the news so didn't know that there had been some changes in CDC guidelines regarding testing. Thought it strange, but headed home with a host of medications to quarantine. One med was a blood thinner because an aftereffects of the disease is blood clotting in the lungs.
It's been a few weeks since discharge and am only now feeling close to my health from before the disease. I still have lingering lung issues. I can really feel it when exercising that they just aren't the same. I get tired much more easily but I can taste my food again. Strangely, some stuff doesn't taste quite the same and so have stopped drinking and eating a couple things that I used to love but just tastes bad now. I also have an eye appointment as it appears Covid made my vision worse which sucks because I had spent over $1000 on new glasses and contacts in May.
I feel very lucky. I had underlying lung issues to begin with but came out the other side of this alive without ever having to be intubated in the hospital. Honestly, those first few days in the hospital were very scary and it definitely drove my anxiety and depression through the roof.
This is a very real disease, not just some flu. It wreaks havoc on the body and will affect you even after it has left your body. I wouldn't wish what I went through upon anybody, even people I don't like(I am looking at you, Mr. President). So please, wear a mask. Socially distance. Stay away from large gatherings. Do what you need to to stay healthy and safe because, maybe, you won't be as lucky as I was to pull through it after a month of suffering with it.
