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| This is Jerry's wife. Fair warning, I am long winded.
One of our boys started coughing and had fevers somewhere between March 5-7th. As per our normal household rules, he stayed home starting then. We didn't really think about COVID. On the 10th, another of our children that had previously been entirely healthy spiked a fever and started coughing in the middle of one of his therapy sessions. On the 11th, we took the first child to get sick in to the doctor. I asked if maybe they could give his steroids and an inhaler for him without coming in as I was starting to wonder if it was at all possible that we had COVID. They said no, we had to come in for an appointment to get him the medication he needed. He was having struggles breathing, as he has asthma, so I took him in to get meds. They tested him for the Influenzas, but those tests were negative. On the 12th, I started coughing and having issues breathing. We locked down the house. Over the course of the next several weeks one person after the other got sick till everyone had it, or had had it. (Short note, 2 of the kids developed secondary infections, 2 of the kids went through it mostly with "minor" symptoms of a dry cough and fever..but no real issues. The kids as a whole really seemed to get over it pretty quickly, thankfully.)
My lungs rapidly declined on the 12th. I have *never* had that much of a problem with my lungs before. Yes, I had/have asthma-but it is exercise induced and rarely causes me issues. I was having fevers on and off too. I started calling my lung doctor-but it was taking 24 hours to get answers. I would call, tell the secretary what my lungs were doing and ask advice, the nurse would call me back as soon as she was available, then she would try to get ahold of my doctor. He was back and forth to the ICU, and hard to get ahold of. At the time, I had a niggling thought that this really might be COVID, but wasn't sure that I had had any exposures, so hadn't even mentioned that possibility to the doctor. They were assuming that I had Influenza.
My lungs were getting more and more rattly as the days went on. *I* heard a rattle, but when I was later seen by a doctor (ER-on the19th) they said that it was wheezing, and that all 5 lobes of my lungs were having problems. I was having problems pulling a full breath.
I called the doctor again on the 16th as I had followed their medication advice for 3 days and was due to give them a report. I had only declined. They got back to me on the 17th and started asking the COVID screening questions. My husband remembered a road trip we had taken-where we had been with people that had traveled from a COVID affected area for 2 days of sustained contact. That was the final piece of the puzzle needed to put me into the COVID-19 Suspect category. They ordered a test for me the same day.
On the 18th my lungs had worsened even more, so I called asking if there was ANYTHING else we could do. They said that at that point, I needed to go in to the ER. There was nothing else they could do over phone consult. They needed a doctor to listen to my lungs. I went in as Covid Suspect, as my test results had not yet come back. THAT was an experience. I can share more about that if anyone wants to hear. LOL
The doctor said that I was actually fairly stable sitting there. He noted that my lungs were wheezing in all 5 lobes, and that presuming COVID by symptoms alone, I was probably at moderate severity of the sickness, and likely to start improving any day now as I had already been sick for 8 days. He said that 10 days is "about normal" and that people with lung issues could go as far as 14 days with COVID. He reiterated that there was nothing they could do at that point since my test hadn't come back yet-that some of the treatments for asthma that he would like to have me do, could worsen COVID, or spread it faster to other members of the house. (Nebulizer treatments for one-big No, No with COVID as it can aerosolize the virus and spread it throughout the house to other family members faster) He told me to keep doing what I was doing, and sent me home with instructions to call back if things got worse. He let me know that the next step for me if it got even worse was likely to be a ventilator, and that he wanted to avoid that if at all possible.
On the 20th I asked my doctor for a z-pack. My symptoms were worsening, and I realized that I couldn't smell or taste anything except for a metalic foul taste in my sputum that was only occasionally coming out that made me think I had a secondary infection in my lungs.
On the 21st, I got my negative COVID-19 test result. The nurse that called to give me my results told me that if I had symptoms consistent with COVID, that I should continue to quarantine at home along with my family. I asked if that was because of a possibility for a false negative test, and she replied that, while they did not anticipate that, essentially yes.
I posted on facebook that I had gotten a negative result, but would continue quarantine as I had symptoms consistent with COVID, as did the rest of my family. A doctor friend's wife contacted me and told me that it was a good idea I was continuing quarantine, as the test had up to a 47% false negative rate. The very next week, one of 2 major hospital systems in my town was asked during a press conference about the false negative rate of the test, and they admitted publicly to a 30% false negative rate on the test.
My lungs started improving ever so slightly on the 25th, then improved dramatically over the next couple days. I think getting that lung infection cleared out really helped my lungs transfer oxygen more efficiently. I had been tracking my O2 with a pulse oximeter during all of this and had been down to 82. I found out later that my doctors would have wanted me to call if I was lower than 88....Oops. With my levels being down to 82 they would have admitted me.
My symptoms over that time period...a dry cough, fevers, breathing struggles, fatigue, loss of taste and smell (I didn't realize it till Jerry started commenting about a burnt smell in the house..I smelled nothing.) pain all over (presumably from all of the coughing that would. not. stop.) and towards the end after my daytime coughing had almost gone away I started having a weird scratchy feeling in my throat towards evening that would alert me that I was about to start having a coughing fit, which would go on for a couple hours.
As time goes on, and more info comes out about COVID, I am more and more convinced that we did indeed have COVID-19 go through our house. | |
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COVID herd immunity vs survival of the fittest- big difference
