My Personal COVID-19 Experience
If you are a bit squeamish of bodily functions, I’d tread lightly as I’m going to share all the details in hopes that someone going through something similar can get help.
This is my personal experience with COVID-19. I know people who have gotten it worse than me and some, including my son who got it less severe than me. COVID is one of those things that you don’t know how it will affect people from person to person so that’s why it can be dangerous.
I am a 34-year-old fairly healthy person with seasonal allergies, acid reflux with a history of pregnancy-related congestive heart and lung failure, and hyperthyroidism post-pregnancy. Everything heart and lung related cleared up post-pregnancy and my thyroid was damaged but got better post-pregnancy. So, I literally just have allergies and acid reflux.
I wanted to set that stage of where I am physically so you can see that even someone with little to no health issues can get COVID pretty badly.
My 10-year-old son Trust got it first. The nurse called me from school saying he had a headache and that he felt sick to his stomach, but no fever. Trust wrestles with anxiety, and OFTEN calls home with these symptoms from being stressed, so I told the nurse to have him lay down and eat something to see if he feels better. I got a phone call a couple minutes later and he was still feeling bad, so I went and got him.
Shortly after coming home, he started feeling worse. SUPER nauseated, body aches, headache, and fever came on quick. I got him a puke bowl, some Tylenol and kept him in his room, cuz my mom gut was telling me to do that so no one else got what he had. The next day was very uncharacteristic for him. He didn’t eat much from nausea, was aching really bad, started getting a dry cough, and sounded a bit wheezy (he has allergy-induced asthma, so it felt concerning.), he slept on and off through the day (he NEVER naps) and was a miserable, cranky mess. When he got the cough and wheeziness, I thought “What if it’s COVID-19”, so the next day I took him to get a rapid test at CVS. This was on day 3. He was ultra-miserable at this point and to even drive there was a lot for him. The test was EASY. I did the swab for him and gave it to the people on the other side of the plexiglass and maybe 10 minutes later we got a phone call saying he tested positive for COVID-19. My gut was right. I hated that it was right, but I’m glad I didn’t brush it off.
We went home and I immediately ordered a Pulse Oximeter off of Amazon to keep tabs on his Oxygen Levels since he had asthma. It literally came the next day and I’m glad it did. We also got Gatorade, Tylenol, throat lozenges and cough meds to keep him comfortable. I also got elderberry, but someone warned me on social media NOT to take it with COVID because it can cause a Cytokine Storm where your Immune system goes into overdrive spiking your fever, causing inflammation and attacks itself…. Remember that for later in the story, because I pretty sure that’s what happened to me.
We scheduled a tele-appointment to let Trust’s doctor (who is also my doctor) know he had COVID. She prescribed some anti-nausea meds and told us to take Tylenol and wipe down all surfaces, wash hands etc. so no one else gets sick. Luckily, we were already doing that and used Lysol wipes every time we went into our only bathroom. I told her I’d been staying in the room with him. I could tell that she knew I’d be next to get it! Ha ha! But what do I do? I am DEFINITELY not leaving him alone at a time like this.
That night his wheezing was getting worse. His blood oxygen levels were 92, which is not a good thing. Any lower he’d need to go to the hospital. I called the doc and she called in a prescription for Prednisone and an Inhaler. My amazing, superhero husband Brett picked it up (again) and I gave the meds to Trust. The inhaler definitely helped and his levels stayed more around 93-95. The prednisone broke his fever and he started to improve after that point! He had to be quarantined in that room for 10 days no matter how he felt and by the last few days, he was READY to get out of that room! By the time he was done with the prednisone, he was pretty much back to himself other than feeling tired still.
Despite how sick he was, I tried to make it fun. We watched TONS of movies, binge-watched shows and he even taught me how to play Among Us, an online murder mystery game, once he was feeling better.
He started getting sick on Monday, and by Thursday I made my own appointment to get a rapid test because I was starting getting a sore throat, low fever and achy. The test came back negative, but I guess you need to wait 48 hours once you are getting the symptoms before you get tested. I definitely didn’t wait that long. The nurse brought me into the CVS clinic to tell me my results and said I was probably positive because of my symptoms and because my son had it and we were in close quarters. I put it to the back of my mind and I thought, if I have it, it’ll be fine because Trust got through it easily enough.
I knew I didn’t have much time before everything hit me like a ton of bricks, so I spent the day scheduling social media posts for my music stuff and I think I even edited a music video and scheduled it to post on YouTube. I also recorded some vocals that needed to be finished on a song I was working on.
The next day, I started to get a fever of 101. Everything becomes a blur from here and the timeline is not going to be accurate because I was just a mess. The whole thing was a mess honestly.
I felt sick to my stomach leading up to all of this just like how Trust did. I think it was a few days before I got the fever that happened. I was also getting this weird itchy, heaviness settling in my chest. On Monday, March 1st I posted on FB how Trust was feeling better but I was getting a fever, congestion and heaviness in my chest and it was probably a mild case. Boy, was I wrong. I don’t know why things turned so quickly for the worst, but they did and things got scary. It was like being hit by a semi-truck I didn’t see coming.
I was now feeling the full weight of the Symptoms so I got the more accurate COVID Test at the CVS Drive-Thru (again, SUPER EASY!) and went home. Trust got out of his Quarantine right when I started going downhill thankfully! I stayed in Trust’s room since it was already contaminated.
On Monday night came the HIGH FEVER 104+, congestion, headache, shivering, aches from head to toe and heaviness in my chest, and my blood oxygen levels were 92. The sound of the Oximeter beeping because the levels were too low scared me to death. I tried breathing deep, but it just made me cough and feel dizzy. Tylenol didn’t even touch my fever. I had heard you shouldn’t take ibuprofen, but I was so miserable and wanted relief, so I took it. My doctor later debunked that and said it was fine to take Ibuprofen. It helped a bit, but my fever only came down to 102 and I still felt miserable, unable to move.
I’m pretty sure because of that high fever it caused a Cytokine Storm where your immune system goes into overdrive spiking your fever, causing inflammation and attacks itself. In that state, it can attack your organs like your heart. I definitely think that’s what happened to me.
Tuesday was the same. Once my meds wore off, my fever would come back with a vengeance. I had a 105 fever that night when my meds would wear off and I woke up at 2 or 3 in misery. The next day my mouth was so dry, it felt like I was in the desert.
My heart rate at night when I was laying down was going under 60 bpm. My doctor said to go to the ER if it went below 50. My heart felt fluttery and weird, like an elephant sitting on my chest. I also didn’t know how much was heart or lung-related since I had some congestion in my lungs. My pulse Oximeter would beep every time it would go below 60 and it even went to 47 at one point. To even walk to the bathroom was a HUGE accomplishment. My heart felt like it was beating out of my chest, I was super dizzy, short of breath gasping for air. I felt like I was going to pass out. I’d take a nap just to try to recover from a walk to the bathroom.
I got Prednisone and an inhaler like Trust somewhere in all of this and after I got the prednisone my fevers broke to the point I was SOAKED in sweat. It was disgusting, but I knew it was helping! I can’t remember what day that was but it was a game-changer, though I think it masked a lot of my symptoms so it gave me a false sense of improving.
I felt shaky and wasn’t eating because of nausea and STABBING PAIN from diarrhea every time I would eat something. I had to take Anti-nausea meds before I ate, then I could take the ibuprofen (cuz you can’t take it on an empty stomach), then anti-diarrhea meds, and prednisone. I was drinking a lot, so at least I was hydrated. The hardest part of all of that medicine is taking it at the right time and I couldn’t always eat so my fever would run wild cuz I couldn't take the Ibuprofen. It was a terrible cycle.
I think it was Friday that my fevers were breaking from the prednisone (though still not gone) and I was getting excited. My blood oxygen levels were the best they had been at 95%-97% thanks to the inhaler! I think I even posted on social media how I was getting better! If only it were that simple.
That afternoon I started smelling a weird smell that wouldn’t go away that smelled like bleach or something chemically. I thought it was disinfectant or something but it was making me nauseated. LIKE SUPER NAUSEATED. Every smell was getting replaced with that chemical smell. Brett brought me French fries (one of the only things I could eat) with some ranch. I dipped my fries into the ranch and it TASTED like the chemically smell I’d been smelling. I thought there was something wrong with the ranch so I asked if Brett could get me some ketchup. SURE ENOUGH, it ALSO tasted like the chemical smell. It was almost as if every taste and smell was swapped out for ONLY that awful taste/smell. I cried. I broke down. Now I REALLY couldn’t eat. The Nausea was NEXT LEVEL from it. Brett made me mashed potatoes and that’s all I ate because they were bland enough that they didn’t have a flavor so it was ok. I couldn’t drink Gatorade at that point only water. Even when I would eat anything though 30-40 minutes later, I would get EXPLOSIVE, painful diarrhea to the point where I was nearly passing out on the toilet because of the pain.
My fever started going back up to 102+ somewhere in there despite the prednisone and I started feeling the junk settling in my chest and I had a feeling I was getting a Secondary infection or Pneumonia from the COVID. I called my doctor right away and told her about the fever and chest congestion and she called me in an Antibiotic. By day three the antibiotic was helping and my fever started going away and symptoms were getting better.
I was keeping track of my heart rate still and anytime I’d get up my heart would race and feel like it was beating out of my chest. My head would pound after getting up too. One night while I was laying down, it got down to 47 bpm. My Pulse Ox meter was beeping and I honestly felt scared to fall asleep. Laying down felt like there was something on my chest and my heart was doing these weird flip-flops. My doctor told me 3 different times to get it checked out at the ER, but I was too weak to even think about going. I was on my second week of COVID and was getting really weary. I had this sensation when I was nodding off to sleep one night of waking up suddenly gasping for air. I knew I needed to go to the hospital after that. I stayed up until 1:30 am because I felt too scared to go to sleep. I had congestive heart and lung failure post-delivery with my son Trust, and it felt a LOT like what I was experiencing and that scared me. I also felt like my legs felt restless. Almost crampy or numb. Laying down made it worse. I couldn’t get comfortable even though I felt sooooo tired. It felt maddening.
My mom drove up from Cincinnati to take me to the ER so that Brett could stay home with the kids. We masked up, I sat in the back and we cracked the windows. She dropped me off at the ER by myself and I was so shaky, weak, and gasping for air just to walk in. My mom felt super bad having to just drop me off, but I told her it’s ok! I’m super independent and I don’t want her to get it again! In the triage that was basically out in the lobby I tried to whisper that I had COVID and when I said it, he backed up a little. He took my blood pressure and it was through the roof. I have never had high blood pressure, if anything, my blood pressure is always oddly low.
They put me in the “COVID corner” of the waiting room and sitting there felt super uncomfortable because my legs were feeling weird still. It felt like people were staring at me and I felt really awkward.
When I finally got into my room, things moved pretty fast. I’m pretty sure they wanted to get anyone with COVID out ASAP if they weren’t in need of Oxygen or other help. They put a COVID Warning Sign up on my door and a super kind and friendly nurse chatted with me and asked why I was in and I told him about my heart issues. He took my blood and he was a pro. He explained they don’t want to overload me with fluids, so no IV. I think this is a good thing because they overloaded me with fluids before and I swelled up plus it thinned my blood. Then an XRAY tech came in with a portable X-ray machine! I was like “WOAH! That’s so cool! Technology these days!!” and she took a Chest X-ray and headed out. My nurse came back in and we chatted about life as he put on 12 or so of the leads/stickers on my chest for my EKG. He hooked up a bunch of wires to the leads and took my EKG. I sat there super uncomfortable waiting for the results because of my legs being all restless and weird.
The doctor came in a little later with my test results. Chest X-ray looked clear. My EKG looked ok at first glance but they sent it to a cardiologist to get a second look at it. My blood tests showed my Glucose was super high probably from not eating and from the stress of the virus on my body. They suggested drinking Boost Drinks and trying to eat more regularly. I of course told them that’s impossible because of diarrhea and nausea, but he urged me to try and follow up with my doc on that. He said to follow up with my doctor about my high blood pressure too and to monitor it at home if I could. Other than that, everything looked pretty good or manageable at home. I felt relieved and at peace to know there wasn’t anything super serious showing up.
My mom went out and got me a Blood Pressure cuff and Boost Drinks and some soups to try to get me to eat.
The next day my blood test and EKG tests were in. A cardiologist looked at my EKG and said that there is possible Enlargement in the Left Ventricle of my heart. I sent it to my doctor and she had me scheduled to come into the office once my quarantine was up.
My blood pressure continues to be high, then it will dip super low. I don’t even know what’s going on, I just know something isn’t right and I feel weird and I have heart palpitations and dizziness all the time now. It’s high right now and I have a headache. Like I said before, I’ve NEVER struggled with high blood pressure!! Even common, everyday tasks feel like I worked out. Even looking at the computer screen right now feels really hard, like I can’t quite focus. The brain fog is weird too. I feel numb and can’t quite remember things.
I’ve also been having the most VIVID dreams. Like so vivid I can’t tell the difference between the dream and real life. One of the first nights I was back in my bed next to Brett after my quarantine, dreamed Brett was trying to smother me where I was laying. It felt so real, I woke up and thought it actually happened and I felt super disoriented. Then another night, I was laying on my side of the bed and saw a Zombie from The Walking Dead next to Brett’s side of the bed and closed my eyes and opened them and it was gone. I SWORE I saw it and that honestly scared me more because that felt more like a hallucination.
I went in to see my doctor after my quarantine was up and she did a glucose test first thing, and everything looks good there thankfully! That was probably just because of not eating and stress from the virus. My blood pressure was high in the office and she suggested getting an Echocardiogram because some people have gotten swelling around their hearts or damage to their hearts from COVID. I’ve had an echocardiogram before, so I know the drill.
THIS IS TMI, but worth saying for anyone struggling: I am STILL dealing with Gastrointestinal issues. I have terrible PAIN in my stomach after eating. I get diarrhea 45min to an hour after eating and now because of the diarrhea meds, I’m getting constipated PLUS excruciating pain. I literally felt like I was giving birth the other day it was so bad. I went to the bathroom 5 times in a row and when the constipation let up, diarrhea hit me with a vengeance. I prayed and thanked God that was over! Hahahaha! I’m taking Probiotics, eating pickles (fermented foods are great for digestion), and drinking a lot of water. I quit the diarrhea meds for better or for worse after that constipation incident and now my system is so out of whack, I am terrified to go anywhere because I never know what’s going to happen or when it will.
My Taste and Smell is back, but it is definitely dulled or muted. It makes me sad in a way, cuz I love food. I know it will get better with time.
The fatigue post-COVID wasn’t something I expected either. I saw Trust bounce back pretty fast, though he was tired and going to bed super early and easily at night. After a kind of busy weekend, I literally CRASHED on Monday and yesterday. No matter how much I wanted to, I couldn’t get up off the couch. I woke up Monday morning feeling drugged. I got the kids ready for school and breakfast and laid on the couch until I had to take them to school then got back on the couch when I got back. I had all these plans of fun things I wanted to do with my music, but my body felt like 1000 lbs. I gave into the weight of it and stayed put hoping the next day would be better. The next day was worse. On top of that my heart stuff felt worse too. This blog post is the only thing I’m doing today, and I’m already worn OUT. Then back to resting.
As I was writing this blog, I got a phone call about scheduling my Echocardiogram on my heart. It’s happening next Tuesday and will rule out any swelling or enlargement of my left ventricle. Here’s to hoping it comes back clear!
One of the hardest things about getting COVID is the isolation, public shame, and political comments related to it. I promise you, I did NOT intend to get COVID but now that I’ve been through it, I’d rather share my experience with others in hopes that it helps them get through it too. Friends who I NEVER KNEW had COVID were private messaging me about their experience and it made me feel sad that so many people have had to suffer alone in silence because of the stigma related to it. It’s isolating and the public shame of it is so real. Then, Questions like “Where did you get it? Where did Trust get it?” are super unhelpful. How could we even know that?! Hahaha! Then we had to call people we were around and let them know. It was super embarrassing. Or the disbelief of it because of political reasons saying things like “Huh! So you are concluding that "your" experience is that of all? I've had friends post that it's just like the flu!” Then Saying my post about having COVID is no Joke was “gaslighting” – this was a public comment. I won’t call this person out, but it’s out there for everyone to see. Many people messaged me saying sorry and I appreciated it. I wanted to punch that person in the face for ignoring my personal experience. (J/K) Why would I make up this nightmare of an experience?! They later apologized, but the damage was done. I didn’t respond. I cried because that person was a good friend before. More than one person did that to me. On top of that was the many medical advice comments that were well-meaning, but I literally was already on so much medication + couldn’t eat and when I did had horrible diarrhea. They usually started like, “Well when I had COVID, I did XYZ..” I wish I could have tried some of those things but definitely wasn’t well enough to. Then, whenever I’d have a “good” day people would say “Wow! I’m so glad you’re better!” I am through the Virus, but I can assure you, I’m not better. I wish I was better. I wish I could be back to that driven, positive, high energy person I was before all of this, but I know it will take time.
The best thing you can do with someone with COVID is LISTEN and just say, I’m so sorry or I’m praying for you. That meant the world to me to see alllll the people praying for me and encouraged me so much! Another practical thing that was really helpful was friends and family brought us meals, groceries and gave us Grub Hub or Door Dash Gift Cards to order food. My poor husband was like a chicken with his head cut off running to get me Meds, working full time, taking care of both kids at home for 20+ days of not being able to go to school, helping them with make-up work and planning dinners. I didn’t eat any of the food brought cuz I couldn’t but they did and it made me happy to know that they were taken care of by our community at that time.
I’m in a Support Group on FB called Survivor Corp. It’s been realllllly good for me to hear stories from other COVID survivors who are literally wrestling through the same things as me to a T. Heart issues are a MAJOR long-term problem and several people in the group are dealing with the same symptoms post-COVID as me. No, there is no silver bullet, quick-fix solutions because doctors are even baffled and unsure of what to do with all of these Post-Covid symptoms, but there is understanding there and it’s refreshing.
This is just my personal story like I said, but it’s one of the Millions of people who have been through COVID-19. Many didn’t make it. For some, it is like having a bad cold or the Flu, for others it causes long-term debilitating symptoms. Remember, no matter your experience, have empathy for others who have had a different experience as well. I hope my story helps people feel less alone, less ashamed and gives people a little more empathy for people currently going through it.
I wrote this song Hold On Through the Night MONTHS before me and my son got COVID and it just happened to come out while we were going through it. The music video literally follows a man through quarantine and it’s perfect for all that we just went through. Check out the music video on my YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YbvRDwXUtM0
