My Covid-19 Experience

We have spent most of the last year and a half avoiding situations that could expose us to Covid. We wear gloves anytime we must touch frequently used surfaces like the gas pump. We wash our hands often and use sanitizer when washing is not possible. We faithfully wear our masks. We maintain social distancing. We hunkered down when the government requested it, and even when restaurants reopened, we stayed away until we felt safe eating out again.

We have done our best to avoid crowds. We have done a lot of traveling this year and have had a marvelous time exploring this great big country, missing some things we wanted to see because we deemed them too crowded for our comfort level. We have done a great job of avoiding Covid. That is, until now.

We both lost our jobs in the early days of the pandemic. We were willing to live on the significantly reduced income from unemployment, happy not to have the exposure brought by working in the restaurant industry.
It hasn’t been easy, but we’ve made it work.

In addition to the devastating loss of income we have experienced, we have also had to deal with an ugly side of society, dealing with an onslaught of judgment, ridicule, and outright hatred by people who know nothing about us.

Virginia waived the standard job search requirement during the pandemic, giving people who lost their jobs the opportunity to hunker down and stay safe. They reinstated the requirement in June. We have both found jobs, albeit for significantly less than what we were making pre-Covid. Unfortunately, one of the side effects of returning to work is I contracted the virus.

Day 1

After a busy weekend at work, Chris and I were watching a movie in the rec hall. It was late, and I was tired, so I stretched out on a row of chairs while he watched the rest of the movie. When he woke me to go back to the tent, I noticed my throat had that itchy feeling that you get right before you get sick. So before going to bed, I took some elderberry syrup, hoping I would feel better in the morning. I did not.

In the morning, a severe headache joined the itchy throat. I have had allergies this time of the year, so I took a Benadryl, hoping it would make me feel better. It did not.

I spent most of the day looking for a place to get a Covid test. Unfortunately, CVS had no appointments for the foreseeable future. Eventually, I found an urgent care that had the test, but after we arrived, they informed me that they did not take our insurance and we would have to pay for the test.

I called my doctor to learn that they would not have anyone to do a test for another three days. I found it interesting that they didn’t ask me anything about my condition or why I wanted a test. Next, I called my insurance company to find out where I should go, but they had no answers.

Later in the day, fatigue set in. I finally found an available appointment at Walgreen’s, some distance away. I called them, but again, they didn’t take my insurance. It would be $180 for the test. In desperation, I rechecked CVS. They magically had an appointment available that had not been there earlier, which I snagged immediately.

We checked in through the drive-thru window, where they told me to come inside. Amazingly, as I stood in line for the pharmacy window, people walked right into me.

The test was much easier than I thought it would be. First, the lab tech took my temperature and oxygen level, both of which were good, and then handed me a swab to collect the sample myself. We waited in the truck for the phone call with my results. I tested positive for Covid. The nurse gave me instructions for proceeding, informing me that most people recover fully at home. She told me what symptoms to watch for to indicate I needed to go to the hospital.

I asked about having Chris tested as well. She told me that they had no appointments available for the next week but had just received a shipment of at-home test kits. They hadn’t even put them on the shelves yet, but if he came in and asked for it, he could buy it for $25. Chris joined their club, which brought the price down to just $15 for two tests. We went home, and he took a test. It was negative.

Next was to figure out how to keep him healthy. Our camp setup is a two-room tent and a smaller tent where we sleep. One of the rooms has an inflatable sofa, so I holed up in that room while Chris slept in the smaller tent. I called my boss to let her know I was sick, and Chris called his boss as well to let them know he would need to quarantine.

Day 2

I woke with a severe headache again. My itchy throat had subsided, but I felt weak and exhausted. Chris put up our potty tent, so we would not have to use the public facilities and risk exposing anyone else.

They closed the restaurant and sent out a notice requesting all employees to get tested. Anyone who provided test results, whether positive or negative, would be paid for their scheduled hours until the restaurant reopened. Anyone who refused to get tested would be off for ten days without pay.

Chris and I contacted the few people we had been around over the weekend to let them know I was sick. The resort’s management stopped by, and I was sure they were going to kick us out. But, instead, they kindly offered us a hotel room to recover in. Since Chris wasn’t sick, we decided he would stay in the tent, and I would move to the room.

With some ibuprofen, the headache diminished, and I didn’t feel that bad the rest of the day. However, as evening approached, I started to feel worse. I could not sleep well but think that being away from Chris for the first time in forever may have been the culprit.

Day 3

The next day, I did not feel at all well. The headache was finally gone, but I felt drained and weak. I had no desire to eat. My body hurt.
Mental anguish set in when I read all the nasty things people on Facebook had to say about me, most of whom I have never even met. Their only concern was if I was vaccinated or not. No one asked about my condition or had anything to say about who may have given it to me.

Imagine Festival, which we were planning to attend in September, announced the requirement that attendees either be vaccinated or provide a negative test result for entry. I grew more depressed when I realized there was a chance the required PCR test may still show a positive result for 90 days after recovery.

The isolation started taking its toll. Chris called, and we talked about my anxiety. Talking things out helped my mental state. He brought me a steak, but I could only eat a bite of it. I developed a fever, which made me even more uncomfortable. I was happy when it broke in the middle of the night.

Day 4

I felt much better when I woke up in the morning. I was still fatigued, barely able to get through a shower without feeling faint, but was happy I could sit up.

Chris’s boss texted him, wanting to know when he would be coming back to work. She said the owners wanted him back to work right away since it had been more than ten days since my test. He was concerned that he might not still have a job. When we sent her a copy of the test result, she realized it had only been three days and said he would be on the schedule the following Saturday. I know it was a mistake, but the added stress did not help.

A few people from the community messaged me to see how I was doing. The messages relieved some of the anxiety I had been feeling. The fever returned in the afternoon but was back to normal a few hours later. I was finally hungry, which I took to be a sign that I was getting better.

Over the next week, I was fragile and slept a lot, but otherwise didn’t feel too bad. I experienced some dizziness one morning, which led me to think of the possibility that my oxygen level had dropped. My cousin was recovering well from Covid, only to suddenly have problems breathing, ending up on a ventilator for a week and a half, so the dizziness was frightening. I was relieved to find that I had an oxygen sensor on my phone. I checked my oxygen level to see it was at 94%, lower than my usual 99% but nothing to worry about. Within two days, it returned to normal.

The one persistent symptom I experienced was fever. My fever topped out at 102.1 degrees, so it wasn’t anything concerning, but as day ten of my isolation approached, it was still there. For the next five days, I woke in the morning with a normal temperature, only to have it go back up in the afternoon. Each day, the fever was lower, but as the protocol for release from isolation is fever-free for 24 hours, I had to stay in quarantine, causing my depression to grow.

Finally Free

After 15 days, I was finally able to rejoin the world. Chris and I went to pick up lunch, and simply walking into the restaurant and back to the truck wore me out. We returned home to eat, and I was suddenly dizzy and needed to lie down. The cough lingered for the next six weeks, and I found myself suddenly dizzy when I grew tired. I learned to listen to my body and slow down before I became too tired.

Contracting Covid was devastating, and the prolonged aftermath was daunting. With all the changes over the last two months, I have found myself off-kilter, but now things seem to be leveling out. I am starting to feel normal again, and I look forward to a bright, fantastic future.