3/21/2020
O2: 94%
Pulse: 108
BP: 138/97
Temp: 100.6
I am going to try to be as accurate as I can about what I am experiencing. It is hard to get it across in words. When I write down my symptoms they sound like any cold or flu but the experience is far different. My skin is sensitive and hurts to touch. My left lung has a mild burn when I breath in. My cough is dry and sounds like whooping cough. When I cough both lungs hurt from about 2/3 of the way down the lung up to the top. The pain When I cough is an 8/10 on the pain scale. My throat hurts but not like it usually does with other bugs. The pain is lower in my throat and more of a feeling of a swollen ache than a scratchy burn. My nose is only mildly stuffy and is indistinguishable from my typical allergies. I suffered from nausea and intestinal symptoms yesterday which have mostly subsided into occasional cramps and gas. My head hurts and it is hard for me to think straight or concentrate. I am struggling to spell or type correctly and it's hard to think of words, which is unusual for me. My vitals show that I my system is definitely stressed but at this time medical intervention is not needed. I am taking azithromycin aka "Zpac", prednisone, and guaiatussin with codine for cough. I regularly take Advair for asthma and albuterol has been increased to 2 puffs every 4 hours. I take metoprolol for my heart and am on my regular dose at this time. All my other medications and their dosages are the same as usual as well. I have had symptoms now for about 7 days with them getting just a little worse each day. When I first noticed I didn't feel well I thought it was a mild cold or maybe even severe allergies. It was 3 days ago when I realized it was something more serious as my lung symptoms became more noticable.
I can now see how this could sneak up on a person. It's hard to tell where symptoms actually begin with this. For all I know those first few days WHERE bad allergy days. it's hard to tell. What I do know is that what I have now is different than the flu. I have had a lot of viruses in my time and this one is odd. My symptoms seem to be textbook for covid-19 and both my doctor and the person who screened me are pretty sure I have the covid-19 virus. Just based on what I am experiencing I tend to agree. Most viruses come on faster and don't just get worse over this amount of time. But as I said, I can now see why anyone reading about these symptoms would automatically compare them to the flu. But it's not the flu. A person can have a more mild case than I have now, or they can continue to get worse from here leading to hospital treatment and even death. There is no way to gauge it from where I am at now. I could hold here, start improving, or continue to get worse. I am taking the best care of myself that I can.
My husband is showing only mild symptoms but they are definitely there. As I have been in lockdown for weeks, we know that he brought it in, likely from his work. He works in a state run mental health facility and just like everyone else, his coworkers were not taking proper precautions. Several of them continued to travel to infected areas like Boston and NJ as this situation has been going on. One worker won't use alcohol based sanitizer because she is convinced jojoba can kill the virus! No, I am NOT making that up! No one there wears a mask when sick and several employees have been coughing. When my husband brought it up he got excuses from a cold to allergies, you name it. It really worries me for the more vulnerable residents there.
The lack of testing in the US continues to be an issue. Many are sick and not getting tested. At this point I can almost understand why. Authorities know we are way past containment and we just don't have enough supplies to test everyone. Many hospitals are already reporting that they have more sick people than beds and I expect this to continue to explode from here.
We run about 3 weeks behind the virus, so the people sick today are a reflection of the actions we were taking 3 weeks ago. We have 18,000 or so confirmed cases and many more of us "presumed" or suspected positive. When I look back 3 weeks ago and see how few people took this threat seriously, I become very concerned for my country and it's people. This virus is going to tear through us and how that plays out may be a very bad situation.
I'm not getting into any speculation right now as I don't have the energy and I am determined to keep a positive mindset. I don't care what my pre-existing conditions are or what my expected chances are either. I am going to get better and beat this thing and that is the end of the discussion! If I can continue to help others while I do it, I will be a very happy camper.
I'm worn out so it's time for me to go back to resting. I just wanted to check the news and write this log. Stay safe and strong people. Be kind to each other and push for things like suspension of bills, money for people out of work or quarantined so they can survive and of course for getting more medical supplies for our healthcare workers. Stay home and use your infection prevention protocol. I'm sending all my love to everyone, especially the amazing friends I have made on this project. I will report again tomorrow if I can.
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