Coping with Covid – Day 1

On Tuesday July 5, 2022, I tested positive for COVID. Herein is my attempt at documenting the process for a 65 year old spoonie with multiple chronic autoimmune diseases.

Tuesday morning I woke up feeling excessively fatigued. Since Superhubs tested positive for COVID on Friday, on the advice of my Nurse, I tested myself with the quick at-home COVID test. WOW! The positive line popped up in like 10 seconds. I let the test sit as instructed for 15 minutes and, sure enough it’s positive. My symptoms include:

• Fever – only 98.5 on my at-home thermometer but since I normally run no more than 97, that’s a fever. Plus I DO NOT run fevers, like ever. The last time was, well when I had the stupid Delta Variant in 2021. OK so apparently I do run fevers, just not much and not often.
• Chills – wow, seriously, we have a heat advisory going on, my home thermostat reads 75 indoors and I’m shivering? Are you kidding me?
• Congestion – I can’t breath through my nose at all, I’m constantly blowing and sniffing and sneezing … oh my.
• Cough – Deep, racking, productive cough; painful but not busting capillaries
• Body aches – holy moly every single muscle and joint in my entire body hurts
• Headache – pounding, throbbing tight band around the skull, Aleve helps, acetaminophen is pretty much useless
• Fatigue/exhaustion – by afternoon, I can barely move

I decided that somebody on my medical team should know about this so I put in a call to my Pulmonologist. Got a prompt response from my Nurse, and was offered Paxlovid and steroids. I declined both for the time being. I am moving air fine, my peak-flows are over 300 (400 is “good” for me). I have reservations about drugs that are “investigational” and only authorized for the EUA (Emergency Use Authorization) from the FDA. Nobody really knows about the drug interactions and, folks, I take a LOT of routine medications. As for the steroids, I have to be a lot sicker than I am before I’m willing to put myself through Prednisone Purgatory. I was advised to stay in, don’t leave the house unless it’s to go to the emergency room and be mindful of my breathing. If it gets worse, get my hiney in to the ER.

Superhubs is on day 5 of COVID, improving slowly. Symptoms have begun to lessen, except for Blood Glucose readings which are annoyingly high, not panic time but put in a call to his diabetes specialist.

So that’s it for today, we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

Til next time ~Stay safe, Stay sanitized ~JP