Our Family's Experience with COVID-19

I suppose most could care less about our experience with COVID, but I figure there are a few that would be interested.

I am not sure where we got it. My guess is that I got it off of a gas pump as we drove across the country from California, and I must have forgotten to wash my hands. I do remember thinking I wasn't not being vigilant enough in washing them.

It started with me with a cough. I didn't think much about it because I struggle with my throat all the time. Really, the day before my cough showed up, I was exceptionally tired. Then, a couple days after my cough showed up on Sunday afternoon, I got a fever. The next day, I went in and got a rapid COVID test which turned up positive.

It was ironic because I had planned on getting the vaccination on that Monday. We had an exceptionally busy spring and summer, and that Monday was really the first time that I could get the shot.

The first few days of COVID were not too bad. I was in bed with a fever, and I was weak. During this time my wife got a fever, and it spread to the rest of my children except one. Their symptoms were pretty mild the whole way through. During the first few days of my COVID the worst thing was that whatever discouragement or matter of depression in my life was magnified 300%.

There was a downturn for me on Thursday (6 days in from the official onset on the previous Friday). At this point everything got much worse. I started dry-heaving night and day (I ended up losing 20 pounds in about 10 days), and I started having quite a hard time sleeping. I also wasn't able to eat hardly at all. My sister had had me buy an Oximeter Oximetry Blood Oxygen Saturation Monitor a few days earlier. My oxygen count started going down, and by Sunday, I was getting miserable, desperate, and worried.

On Monday I called my doctor to see if there was anything he could help with. This had not occurred to me to do, and a friend had told me he knew of somebody like me who had called the doctor and got something to help. My doctor prescribed a 7-day steroid, and this was what I needed to start to feel better. Two days in I was experiencing significant improvement, and by the 7th and final day of the prescription, I would say that I was "post-COVID."

So, I would say my COVID experience was 14 days long. I didn't lose my taste until about 6 or 7 days in. I'm not actually sure when it happened. I have been post-COVID now for over a week, and I still am not able to taste or smell for the most part. During this last week of post-COVID, I have been pretty weak and lightheaded, but each day I have gotten better.

Many friends have checked in us during this time, and we have been well cared for. Our church also helped by dropping off some meals for us. For my wife and kids, COVID was not as big of a deal, but it was still somewhat concerning with the high fevers and my wife couldn't get out of bed for a few days. For me, COVID was a very big deal. It has made me appreciate the overall health that God has given me in my life. It has also slowed the pace of my life down.