It’s almost been two weeks since I tested positive for Covid-19. My health has significantly improved. I’m no longer having muscle weakness, pain, or extreme fatigue. I have lingering and persistent chest congestion, and a mild, dryish cough to match. I’ve got a sinus headache that will appear randomly around my right eye. I did lose my sense of smell and taste for a couple of days at the end of my worst symptoms, but it has mostly returned. I still have some sensitivity to light and screens—this initially appeared when I got a concussion a couple of years back and often flares up pretty badly when I’m having sinus issues, not getting enough sleep, or watching too much television. My vision is more blurred than in the past, but that can possibly be attributed to screen time, or not enough restful sleep. From Covid-19 though, the most notable remaining symptom is the breathlessness I experience “doing too much” or doing the normal amount of stuff around the house. I’m nervous to take a walk around my neighborhood. Can I carry the 25-pound stroller down the stairs? Back up again? What happens if I get too tired halfway around the block? A teledoctor prescribed an albuterol inhaler to manage the chest pressure and tightness I felt while I was sick. I haven’t used it. I’m nervous about taking steroids for my lungs. I still feel some of that pressure and tightness when I sit too long, or when I have my chest in a semi-compressed position.
I look at the calendar and note that we are a halfway through April. I feel as though I’ve lost two weeks of my life. The days I felt the worst are gone from my memory.
My daughter’s health has improved significantly as well. I suspect she may have some sinus pain at times. She complains of her “teeth hurting.” But then again, she is three years old and might be teething.
My husband’s breathlessness is markedly more significant than my own, and so is his coughing. He seems to have been hit harder by Covid-19 than me. He’s done more resting overall. I am happy to report I believe he is in the recovery phase of this illness.
My morale is generally favorable. The day our isolation and quarantine were officially over (only 10 days from the start of symptoms— too short in my opinion), I proclaimed I was going to become an anti-masker. What is the point of wearing a mask, staying at home, socially distancing from strangers (truly my absolute favorite-no sarcasm there), if I could still contract the coronavirus under my own roof? I hate the masks as much as the anti-maskers do—it’s always hard for me to breathe. What is the point of all the hard work we’ve put in if we were still exposed to this illness? Unfortunately, I can not discuss how we were exposed. I will say that I expected to feel immense anger about how we contracted the virus. But honestly, I’m grateful we are coming out on the other side of this okay. I know that we haven’t contracted the virus up to this point because of the care we have taken over the last year. I’ll still wear a mask because I want to protect others. But for myself, I’m not afraid of catching the coronavirus anymore.
I am not a doctor, thus I cannot say with certainty, but I suspect my “break” from eating dairy and sugar kept this virus from causing more than a “mild” case. I had just started myself on a “diet,” with the intent to eat more vegetables, fewer carbs, less dairy and sugar a week before I got infected with the coronavirus. I’d been attempting 18/6 intermittent fasting at the time. Furthermore, if I had been on a longer dairy fast, I don’t think I would have had this chest congestion.
My husband and I have often wondered if an illness we caught at the end of 2019 was due to the coronavirus. I had similar symptoms. The only difference was that I hadn’t felt quite so run over as I did this go-round. Charles had returned from a trip from Miami in 2019 and we were sick afterward. Furthermore, I had lingering chest congestion during most of 2020 I couldn’t shake from the “sinus infection” I had as 2019 crossed into 2020. The lingering chest congestion feels identical to what I experienced almost all of last year. Did we have Covid-19 back then?
The Future
Despite the vaccines and natural immunity, I cannot imagine that the coronavirus will be going away any time soon. The United States may have decided that it is going back to normal as soon as possible—that maintaining the status quo of the economy is more important than improving the health and wellbeing of its people.
Just imagine, we are at the start of the coronavirus pandemic, we’ve learned that people with pre-existing conditions, including obesity, have more severe disease and worse outcomes after contracting Covid-19—forty-two percent of American adults are obese, ya’ll—What would have happened if the government told people to eat better and exercise? Stop smoking, eat less meat, fewer refined carbs, and added sugars, etc? We might have a country of healthier people whose immune systems might have been better equipped to handle a coronavirus infection. Obviously, that is a 20/20 fantasy, one that could have never happened under any capitalist president, especially Donald Trump.
Although everyone is trying to get back to normal, I still intend to pursue an off-grid, more eco-friendly lifestyle—one that works with nature instead of fighting it. I’m always looking for ways to be self-sufficient, and prepare to weather the storms ahead. I don’t think we can ever go back to the way things were, and we are foolhardy to try. The world is in a grand upheaval. It’s changing, and if you try to go back, you are going to be left behind.
I feel that this is part of my purpose, to help bring a new world into existence: The reason I couldn’t fit in to the way things have always been done, the reason I’ve always felt different, like a black sheep. It’s the reason why I like to turn away from anything that is popular.
Anyway, I’m signing off. That was my two week update on my covid-19 experience, and I feel that I’ve strayed too far from the main topic at hand. I hope everyone stays safe and healthy through these trying times.
