There are so many ironies and quirks to the story. Irony one: if my trip to visit family had been scheduled for just a week later, I wouldn\u2019t have gone. And I wouldn\u2019t have gotten the disease that has dominated my life for the past few weeks. Irony two: Until they develop a test for antibodies, I won\u2019t get a formal diagnosis. My one goal and hope throughout has been to stay out of the hospital. I succeeded, and because of that I haven\u2019t been tested, so it may never be official. But I know that I\u2019ve had Covid19.<\/p>\n
I don\u2019t know exactly where or how I got it. I flew to visit family on March 5, returning on March 13. Given the timing of symptoms, I likely picked up the germ on the trip out or shortly after I arrived. Did I get it from the very large man in the next seat on one flight who wheezed throughout? Or in the crowded, bustling Atlanta airport? Or maybe on the also crowded playground where we took the children a couple of days after my arrival? Someone else or somewhere else entirely? That\u2019s one answer I\u2019ll never have.<\/p>\n
Almost a week into the visit I started to have symptoms that I realize in retrospect pointed to what was about to happen. For a couple of days I had mild headaches I attributed to the change in routine which meant I didn\u2019t always have as much caffeine as I was used to.<\/p>\n
I thought I felt fine on the trip home. That night, though, the anvil dropped\u2014on my lungs. At least that\u2019s what it felt like. My chest got very constricted, feeling like someone had tied a band around it and was pulling it tighter and tighter. I couldn\u2019t draw in a deep breath. I started coughing a deep, dry cough that raked my throat raw.<\/p>\n
The three weeks since then have been an up and down time. Like most people with the disease, fatigue has been a huge issue.\u00a0 As far as I know, I haven\u2019t had a fever, but I don\u2019t generally run fevers no matter how sick I am. We don\u2019t even own a thermometer.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve had better and worse days and the contrast can be dramatic. Several times I actually thought I was getting better, and then the next day I\u2019d wake up the with anvil on my chest again and the fatigue pinning me down to the recliner. On bad days my chest hurt, I coughed so hard my throat was raw, and it was all I could do to walk from one end of the house to the other. I simply felt miserable.<\/p>\n
I\u2019m in the vulnerable age group and have a few continuing health issues. I couldn\u2019t help worrying that I might take a turn for the worse and end up in the hospital, possibly dying. I\u2019ve done quite a bit of meditating on that, but it\u2019s a different essay. I did consult with my doctor\u2019s office and also with a good friend who is a nurse. Both believed I had Covid19, but my symptoms weren\u2019t severe enough to require further medical intervention. At some of the worst times I teetered on the brink of calling for help. But then I\u2019d improve just enough.<\/p>\n
The good news is that finally, after three weeks, the tension in my chest has abated and the coughing is diminishing. I think I\u2019m on the way to recovery. But this virus is tricky. I\u2019ve thought that before. I hope it\u2019s true this time.<\/p>\n
More to come\u2026<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
There are so many ironies and quirks to the story. Irony one: if my trip to visit family had been scheduled for just a week later, I wouldn\u2019t have gone. And I wouldn\u2019t have gotten the disease that has dominated …<\/span> Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[150,151],"class_list":["post-1987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-musings","tag-covid19","tag-illness"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1987"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1990,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1987\/revisions\/1990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}