Our Experience with the Coronavirus this Holiday Season
12/24/2020
I started this blog a few years ago, then sadly, life, work and other priorities took hold. Sadly, my poor blog has been neglected. I am reviving it now, after my husband and I have again started feeling better after a bout with the dreaded Covid-19.
We were careful, or so we thought. I had to remind my husband occasionally to pull his mask over his nose. He would remind me to use hand sanitizer. But about one week or so after Thanksgiving, he developed a cough. Nothing to worry about, he usually got a cough around this time of year. We moved forward with our lives, but kept limiting our time indoors with others. We went to the most remote grocery store we could find; Holiday Market, for our Christmas groceries. I was elated to be starting a new job with a hot, high growth technology company. Bert was happy to finally be finished with clearing our yard of fire hazards as pointed out by our local Fire Safety Council.
On December 13th, his cough worsened and he could no longer taste or smell. I got stomach flu symptoms, which was upsetting as my first day of my new job was the 14th. Bert went in for a Covid test at CVS, telling me he was just doing this as a precaution as he really didn't feel that bad. But with the loss of taste and smell, it was important to find out.
By Tuesday I had to put conference calls on hold as my stomach symptoms were terrible. Bert's results came in, I started to feel like I was breathing in broken glass. I went for a test, then went into the ER as I was very concerned. They did a rapid test and confirmed my worst fears; I was also positive. The pulse oximeter showed that my blood oxygen percentage was still good - at 98%. They released me and told me to take alternating Tylenol and Ibuprofen for the horrible body aches I was experiencing.
My neighbors had told me that they read about Budesonide (Symbicort) used with a nebulizer helping to prevent the cytokine storms that caused many to be put on ventilators; as an asthma patient, I was already on Symbicort 2x/day. I shared my inhaler with my husband Bert as a preventative, and we both noticed that our breathing got MUCH better after two puffs in the morning and the evening. Vitamin D deficiencies had also been noted as a factor with those who got severe Covid and those who didn't. I made sure we took between 5,000 and 10,000 IUs every day. I accidentally skipped a day, and my symptoms worsened. It could have just been in my head, but I doubt it. Another neighbor told me that Zinc had helped them with other viruses. Remembering that Zinc stops virus replication, i dug in my vitamin cabinet until I found my aging ZInc supplements and added them to our daily regimen.
The ER suggested that we disinfect the house every day. Didn't feel well enough to do this everyday, but did as much as we could when we could. Lysol spray, disinfectant wipes, and tea tree oil at least made me feel like I was gaining on the little buggers and they weren't going to reinfect us.
Now, on Christmas Eve, we are close to symptom free. We are thanking God every day that we are two of the lucky ones!! But we can attest to this NOT being just like the flu - I had chills that made me think my teeth were going to fall out. I was freezing with the temperature turned up to 73 F. The body aches were almost as bad as when I was unlucky enough to contract Dengue fever after a business trip to Brazil. I had no taste or smell for about a week.
Bottom line - take this virus seriously. It is NOT a Democratic hoax! Wearing a mask and washing your hands will help. If you can do touchless grocery shopping, do it. Stay in, and use Zoom to see your friends. Wipe down your phone, and remember to use a wipe to clean a gas pump before you start pumping gas. We think this may be where my husband got the virus.
Noone knows why some people recover and others don't. I really do think the Symbicort saved our lives. I have also read that blood type is a factor - my husband got a much milder case that I did and he has Type 0 blood. We think my 80+ year old Dad had it too - early on - and he has Type 0 blood.
We mostly kept our cats indoors, as we know the virus can travel in animal fur. Today, I just wiped down their fur with Lysol wipes (which they loved, let me tell you). I am disinfecting all our masks, the insides of our cars, the refrigerator - everything we have touched.
Praying for everyone whose lives have been adversely touched by Covid - may it be a distant memory by next holiday season!! I for one have already contacted those who collect recovered Covid patients blood so that I can contribute my antibodies. They tell me I have to wait 30 days after my symptoms are over. That should be January 24-25th.