Surviving Covid

 So.......  I went and got Covid!  Not a vaccine - the real illness.  And it was NOT on purpose! I have heard about people trying to get it on purpose, but that is not me!  I have sat in the middle of a school for the past 9 months with in person learning, and figured if I was going to get it I would have by now!  It is a bummer but I have been really lucky in that I have not been seriously sick with it - just mild flu like stuff and a couple of weird things!  I was diagnosed April 23rd, and I am mostly recovered now, with just a few mild symptoms lingering.  A dry cough once in a while, and feeling like I am breathing dust even during a rainstorm, when the air is clear and crisp!  

I know this illness is not funny and please do not think I am taking it lightly at all, but some of this stuff has been funny just for how it goes in our house.  Bear with me and Ill give you some tips from an almost Pro at the Covid!  Really?  There is no such thing!  Covid answers are muddy at best.

I started out having my regular neck pain and the headache that goes with it..... yes - nothing unusual about it at all!  I have a torn ligament in my neck that pre-covid shut downs was getting better with physical therapy and chiropractor visits.  If I overdo it in the yard or at the school or all of the above plus some other events, the neck will flare up and hurt like the dickens and have a bad headache to go with it.  I have a headache every day regularly.  For Reals.  Which I know is not normal- but my "normal" has not been for the past 4.5 years. 

I did not have a fever or other aches or loss of smell or taste (yet - wait that comes later), so I went about my business as usual eating my kind of aspirin I can eat (Bayer back and body pain works great - has a little caffiene though so hard to take at night).  I have  a red food coloring allergy, and Im also allergic to Naproxin which is the base for Alleve, so my choices are limited, can't have Naprox and cant be red, purple, orange, etc.... you get the idea.  So, as I said, business as usual!

I had had the opportunity to have tea with an auntie who was working from home so we should have both been fairly clean - but as usual - it gets weird with us and we have matching cups right down to the teabags in them and we accidentally drank off of each others cups!  Only realising it when I could taste the sweet in her cup and she the bitter in mine!  I likes a strong cup of tea!

Not sure if I gave it to her or she gave it to me, but..... we both got it!

The morning after I started having the headache and neck pain (4 days after having tea), she texted me early and let me know that her results had come back positive for Covid.  She was supposed to take a quick trip to drop off a car somewhere and had to test before the travel.  So, as I work at a school, I immediately texted and called our nurse who said "You're OUT!" (meaning I don't go to the school under any circumstances), and then said I should go get tested because my symptoms might just be Covid symptoms and not business as usual symptoms.  I may have had a slight fever and other body aches by this time - the days have run together!

So off I went to the Covid testing drive through!  Yes - we have an awesome drive through for covid testing about 20 miles from my house - its the best.  Results take about 12 hours though, but still - its a drive through!  Then I waited, and waited until...... Negative!!!

So....Woot Woot! Back to business as usual right?  Not so fast!!!  Nurse lady at the school says:  "Oh, weird.....Negative huh?  Well you have to go get another test! I was so certain you would be positive that I didn't think it would matter so you tested a day early to be able to go back to work on Monday so....retest!"

So again, off I go to the drive through Covid test where they recognize me from the day before and they are like..... "Ummmmm????  Why you here again?"  So I said, "I work at a school and...." thats as far as I got and they knew.  Swab up the nose again and this time she got lots of goo on it - not that I had any more goo than the day before, it just didn't seem like she really got a big gob of it the day before.  I don't even know if that matters really!?  So again, I waited and waited, and this time - of course- Positive!  24 hours later!

So began the close enquarantine of the Covid kind - or really - quite the opposite!  How to avoid your husband for days at a time living in the same house with one fridge and one stove!  It could be a sad country song, if it weren't so funny!  Two people in love in a three story house..... 

Yes our house is three stories tall - garage underneath.  It is still hard to avoid each other, except that he is currently terrified that he will get the Covid and be sick,so he avoids me literally like the plague!

This was not during the Covid "vacation" but the face he is making is the same one he gets when I get anywhere near him!  This face - this time is actually because Reedo is taller than he is now!

By about day 6 after the tea, I had definitely spiked a fever.  It was not high enough to be disconcerting, and it was one of those fevers where nothing but my lips and my eyeballs were hot!  Seriously!  Not kidding!  I was Hot Lips from Mash with sandpaper eyeballs for about 2 days!  Weird!  And only iced anything to drink - everything else felt too warm!

By this time the headache was gone, but I had also had joint and body aches and my skin hurt.  It was strange like a sunburn feels but no sun - just really sore.

Public Health has nurses that call me daily to see how I am doing.  It is very comforting to know that there will be someone who will be calling - just in case I'm too sick and hubby doesn't realize it.  They are from all over the state - I have talked to nurses from Dillingham, Anchorage and Kenai this week!  Its always a bit of an adventure with all their questions, and sometimes the answers sound so weird to me when I say it out loud (like the Hot Lips thing), but they have been very professional and not laughed too hard.

And then on day 8 I lost my sense of taste and smell!  It was not really gradual for me - like, cooking away in the kitchen and all of a sudden I can't smell the Pepperoni Stromboli!  Or taste the marinara sauce!  It was very garlicky so I know it should have tasted and there was absolutely nothing!  Also, because I couldn't smell anything I burned the Stromboli!  I never realized how much I use smell in my cooking - not just taste!  I have been making Stromboli for at least 25 years and have never burned a batch!

So I got one of the strongest cough drops that I could get - These bad boys are so strong that they will knock out any sinus crud and sore throat that comes along and you KNOW you had a cough drop!  I could taste and smell NOTHING!  NADA!  Zilch!

This is not like one of those "I burned my taste buds off with the pizza" either.  You still know if something is salty, or acid, and sometimes sweet but there is no flavor at all!  I'm not sure if it is like a "flavor memory", or if you aren't looking maybe you wouldn't know it at all.  I know that the cranberry juice is supposed to be tart and sweet, so ......maybe thats it?  

After about 10 days from the tea event, I started having strange muscle cramps - like spasms sort of but also charlie-horse-ish?!  I haven't felt anything like that before, and I certainly wasn't in charge of it!  I was able to stay very well hydrated so I knew it was not dehydration.  I was drinking about a gallon of water a day and very little caffiene - no coffee at all.  I was also having a little juice and some Gatorade, so should not have been having these symptoms for any of the "normal" reasons.  Weird!

This is the water I have always next to my sewing area!  I have at least this much next to the bed and the computer in the office.  I am drinking enough water!

I was also exhausted!  Mono type exhaustion - I could do about an hours worth of anything - cleaning, greenhouse, dishes, and I would have to go take a nap for about two hours!  Vacumming kicked my A*&!  Had to nap for three hours after doing about a 20x30' space!  I can usually do the whole house and then go do some other stuff before I need a nap!

So I rested.  Often and strangely well for me.  Usually I have to have a sleep catalyst, like melatonin or something to get me to the start line, but when your eyeballs are sandpaper, it is a little easier to not read all night or watch anything because they just want to be closed.  Luckily we have extra rooms so we could sleep separately and whenever I needed to!

On day 14 I finally felt mostly better, and was awake all day!  I got to go back to work on the Monday after day 14 and supposedly I will have at least 90 days of immunity and will not have to be excused from school or other activities for close contact!  This makes me happy.  It does not make me happy that I have been sick or that other people in my life have gotten sick with this darn stuff, but I am happy for the time that won't be taken up with quarantine.  I have quarantined 3 times before I got it!

A few pointers for you if you should come down with this crud:

1)  Rest as much as possible - not kidding - it is the only thing that helps so far.

2)  Do not eat anything questionable out of your fridge if you cannot taste or smell!  You will also not be able to tell if it is Covid symptoms or bad food!  Its a great time to clean out the fridge if you have the energy to do it!

This 10 days was the lowest steps I have had since wearing a fitbit for almost 3 years now!  I am just now finally up to my 10 to 12 thousand steps per day again!  

3)  Do not put your fit bit on - you will just be disappointed at the end of each day.  Keep your vibe up and keep the fit bit off!

May you all be well and be blessed!