Fever Yes 101.4
Fatigue Yes but mild
Cough Yes usually dry
Sneezing No
Aches and pains No
Runny or stuffy nose No
Diarrhea No
Headaches No
Shortness of Breath No but my lungs got very congested
Duration 12 days, the CDC says flu typically lasts 5 -7 days.
I do have a couple of underlying conditions: COPD and asthma, 66 years old.
Working in my favor I had gotten an pneumonia vaccination last March. I’m due for a second pneumonia vaccination later this month. I did get a flu vaccination in October.
I have strong suspicions it all began with a trip off of the island to Everett on January 25th to a crowded event in a large restaurant. The very kind of environment we now being told to avoid.. I regarded having the very first COVID-19 patient discovered in Everett five days earlier as a curiosity. I had spent a couple of nights in that same hospital. No one at the event was discussing it. The community spread around Seattle was traced back to that very first patient.
Genetic testing shows COVID-19 virus may have been spreading in the US for 6 Weeks Undetected
Then in early February I got sick. My lungs got very congested, and I remembered I had a nebulizer in the kitchen cupboard next to the refrigerators with some of the cartridges for it. So I blew the dust off of it since I hadn't used it in about five years. I was using that maybe 4 or 5 times a day and it helped me tremendously. Without the nebulizer I would have gone to my physician. Now I’m glad I didn’t put the staff at risk.
When I was sick for those 12 days I stayed home and didn’t have any visitors. I did make two quick trips to the store for groceries (I didn’t stock up until afterwards). What I was doing came pretty close to self quarantining. I’d heard of the self quarantine in China and it’’s good practice anytime you’re sick. I didn’t feel good enough to venture out as well. Of course I had the advantage of being retired, so my income wasn’t interrupted by staying at home.
When I was sick I just thought it was an odd kind of flu. I’d had worse. Five years ago I caught the cold from hell. It lasted 10 weeks and turned into pneumonia, That was the first and only other time I used the nebulizer. And that was when I was diagnosed with COPD.
While I was writing this there was a segment on the local news about a 37 year old woman who tested positive after thinking she only had the flu.
By: Deborah Horne
She thought she had a really bad case of the flu. So she sent her nose swab to this lab run by the University of Washington to participate in a Seattle Flu study.
Instead it came back positive for coronavirus.
She says she began to get sick two Tuesdays ago after a weekend party with friends. She had a fever that kept rising.
“It was 103 degrees," she said. "And by that point, I was completely shivering. And I was getting the chills. I was feeling numbness in my extremities."
Still, she didn't have any of the other symptoms of COVID-19.
"I did not have a cough," Schneider said. "I did not have any respiratory symptoms. I didn't have any shortness of breath or tightness in my chest."
She says she began feeling well again last weekend. She posted the news on Facebook.
"So that other people can understand what to potentially expect if they get infected with this," she said. "And I also wanted to post it because I did have it. And I have come out the other end. And I did recover. And I did survive."
She says she was told that she is no longer contagious. So she has begun to resume her life.
I didn’t realize what I had was almost certainly COVID-19 until eight days after recovering. I was a little freaked out. “OH that was it!...It!...It!”
After I realized what I had I did call my doctor, and was told since I was felling bettert there was no need to come in. I also called my county health department, and spoke to them about my case. They said they didn’t have any guidance for patients who had recovered, so I wouldn’t be tested for COVID-19. This points out the inadequacy of testing in this country, it’s a huge problem. No doubt there are other Americans in my same predicament. President Trump really screwed the pooch on testing.
Now I feel incredibly lucky.
Governor Inslee is expected to ban events with over 250 people later today.
But a lot of people will need some help getting through what’s is coming. Especially the most vulnerable people among us. We’re going to have to help each other get through this. Meals on Wheels
UPDATE:
I just now learned the news that an elderly family member who attended the same event in Everett that I attended in late January, and a family only after gathering, has died of pneumonia after testing positive for COVID-19.
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