Covid Strikes Our Home

Just as things started moving in the kitchen, life stepped in and shut everything down. I have decided to share with you why you haven’t seen any progress on our Kitchen Mayhem lately. I had managed to avoid catching Covid for over a year while working in the healthcare system, but I knew it couldn’t last forever. Eventually the day came where it was our turn to say– Covid strikes our home.

My Experience

I can’t tell you exactly where or how I caught Covid, but what I can say is that when it hit me, it hit me fast. It was a Tuesday and after work we ran to the store to grab a few things. Before I made it out of the store I was starting to feel terrible. I was so thirsty I told my Hubby I would meet him at the car after we checked out, and as he headed out the door, I stopped in the fast food restaurant to grab a coke. The lady behind the counter caught me off guard as I grabbed my cup and headed to the drink machine. She said, “Boy you don’t look like you feel well.” Yeah, no I didn’t. I didn’t feel well at all. Later that evening the fever started.

The next morning I was Covid tested for work, and Thursday I received the call that I was positive. I called my primary care physician immediately to ask about the antibody treatment, and later was contacted with an appointment for the following day (Friday) for the infusion. During all of this I continued to run a pretty high fever, have fatigue, and exhibit flu-like symptoms.

The Weekend Prior

Looking back on the week before I became sick, I hadn’t really been working or even doing much at all. I happened to have that week off as a vacation week, but volunteered to go in and work on that Wednesday due to staffing shortages. On Friday morning though, I think I actually started to show some symptoms, but just didn’t realize it yet. We were taking a short weekend trip to the Columbus area for my Hubby’s Father’s Day present from me. They were filming an episode of a TV show that he liked at a drag strip there. His gift was VIP tickets to the 2 day outside event and 2 nights in a hotel at Easton Town Center.

That Friday morning we were supposed to get an early start on the 3 hour drive, but after I took a shower and started getting ready I became very nauseated, vomited, and had to lie down for a while because I felt very weak and shaky. Not really sure what was going on, I rested for about an hour, pulled myself together, packed, and we hit the road. I was feeling better, but we had a late start leaving.

Once we checked in to our hotel, we walked over to PF Chang’s for an early dinner. I should have known something was going on because my food wasn’t great and the drink I had was actually so terrible I couldn’t finish it. This has never happened to me before because I absolutely love PF Chang’s. I still was feeling okay in general though, because I ended up shopping for a few hours after we finished eating.

The next morning we were up early and headed to the track. We had such a great day. We met the racers and got autographs, we spent the day in the heat watching the races, we even stayed until late into the evening. The Cheesecake Factory and a good night’s sleep finished out our day. Sunday morning we stopped in our favorite local restaurant and hit up IKEA on the way home. We had no idea that 2 days later I would fall ill. My Hubby rode in that car with me 3 hours each way, breathing the same air as me, sharing food with me, and 2 days later my fever started. He never caught it. I can not explain it, but he didn’t catch Covid from me even when we were confined in that car together all the way to Columbus and back.

The Infusion

Three days after my fever started they scheduled me for the antibody infusion. This was a logistical nightmare honestly. I had to be at the facility at 1 PM, and at this point I was pretty sick. The fevers were relentless, I had terrible nausea, and it had started to feel like I couldn’t stay awake for long periods of time because of the fatigue. This was such a contagious virus I didn’t want to risk my family catching it from me by riding in a car to take me to the infusion. So, I drove myself. In hindsight that was pretty stupid but I didn’t know what else to do.

Once there, the nightmare began. I apparently was very dehydrated, and it took 4 different people and 14 sticks to get my IV. I was vomiting into their trash can, and my oxygen levels were running around 92%. Later I would find out that at that time the recommendation was to NOT give the treatment to someone whose oxygen was already that low. Of course, I didn’t know that when I was there. Once finished, I somehow made my way back home to collapse onto the loveseat for a several hour nap. When I woke, my fever had hit 104 and my oxygen levels were in the 80’s. My Hubby said, “Enough!” and carted me to the local Emergency Room.

Hospital Admission

Once I made it to a room, they did a portable chest xray on me. My oxygen levels were still staying in the high 80’s and low 90’s, and my xray showed Covid pneumonia. They decided that due to my autoimmune illnesses and my very bad lab work, I should stay. They also started me on a blood thinner that I would continue for over a month. Something that no one talked much about at that time was the fact that Covid can affect your liver. It had hit mine very hard.

They briefly spoke to me and told me there was only one approved treatment that they could offer called Remdesivir. It is given over a 5 day period as a daily infusion. That was it. They didn’t tell me what it was, how it helped, nothing. Just that it was all they had to offer and asked if I wanted the treatment. I agreed and that was the beginning of a week long stay as an inpatient.

During that week my IV eventually gave out and they had to try to find a new one. Those blood thinners made it a nightmare to get a new one and after six more blown veins, I eventually had a midline placed in my upper arm. That midline was a Godsend and carried me through until my release. I am going to warn you that in the next section I am going to include some photos of what mixing blood thinners and IV’s can do to you. If you don’t want to see them please start scrolling now until you get to the next paragraph!

Isolation

As a healthcare worker I was aware of the new visitation policy guidelines for inpatients, but until you are stuck in a room isolated for 7 days you don’t REALLY get it. It is hard. You are alone with nothing but the clock on the wall and the trays of food they deliver to you. You start to look forward to the trays just to see what they cooked for you that day, counting down the hours until the next one arrives. Sure you have a phone and you can call or facetime your family but the isolation still gets to you. I made it to about day 5 before I lost it. You just get so lonely and you want to go home. You want to see your people. So so badly.

My Release

Finally after seven days, I was released. I was set up on oxygen at home– travel tanks and an oxygenator to use at night. My sats were still dropping into the 80’s when I moved around or tried to lie flat. I figured after a week or so everything would be back to normal, but boy was I wrong. That week turned into a month of needing those oxygen tanks. My quarantine turned into 21 days for myself and my Hubby. Apparently once hospitalized with Covid pneumonia, that quarantine goes from 14 to 21 days. At least at that time it did.

When I could finally see my primary care physician post quarantine they repeated my chest xray and found a small pleural effusion on one side and bilateral scarring at my lung bases. This led to a Pulmonary visit and an electrophysiology visit due to my resting heart rate sitting in the 130’s. It just seemed to keep going and going. Echo’s, wearing a heart monitor, a week of pulmonary rehab… Covid was the gift that just kept on giving.

Long Covid

All in all, I was off from work 10.5 weeks. Even then, going back was a challenge but I was about to run out of FMLA. At the end of my 12th week I would no longer have a job. So I did what I had to do. After just one week of Pulmonary Rehab I returned to work and have been fighting my way through ever since. It’s not over by any means. I still struggle.

At this point my CT Chest looks clear but I still get winded walking and talking to my patients. I’m now on medicine to lower my heart rate because the tachycardia never did get better either. My fatigue is still real. So is the hair loss. I had originally lost quite a bit when I got home from the hospital but it stopped. About 2 months later it came back with a vengeance. It continued for several months and I lost at least 50% of my hair. It is particularly bad in the temple area. Finally just as I reached a critical point where I thought I couldn’t spare one more strand, it stopped.

My hair is a train wreck now and that is particularly difficult for me. I have always had long thick locks. Now my hair is thin and patchy, but it is starting to grow back. You know it’s bad when your hair dresser takes the clip out of your hair and says, “Oh my God.” I know it is growing and it will be okay, but boy are the regrowth phases going to be ugly! It will take years to be back to what I used to have.

Kitchen Mayhem Progress

So now you know why there have not been very many updates on the Kitchen Mayhem lately. We lost several months to Covid and then just as I recovered, Hubby’s bestie came down with it. Before you know it months have gone by and nothing has been done. Nothing has changed. No progress. But that is life sometimes, especially when you are chronically ill already. As you have heard me say many times before, we move at a different pace around here sometimes. Baby steps. Little by little. You just have to accept that that is how it is, and let it go. We will get there eventually.

Also let me just remind you, during all of this NOT ONE person in our household caught Covid from me. How that happened, I will never know. I am super thankful, of course, but I just don’t understand how that is possible. Someone must have been looking out for all of us. I will take that blessing any day!

It has been a wild few months for sure. I’m sorry for the delay in updating you guys, but I honestly wasn’t sure if I was going to post about my Covid experience. In the end, I guess if it can help anyone with their battle or to just not feel alone in the post Covid long haul, it’s worth it. I hope you guys are all doing well and, as always, thanks for stopping by!

mrslittlebylittle