On COVID and In Bed

Update: I thought I posted this blog a year ago, but today I found that it was in the draft pile. I still have problems with Long COVID. Widespread inflammation of connective tissue causes pain in my chest, hands, legs, back, and feet. I guess that’s pretty much all of me. I also have blurred vision and random bouts of fatigue that just sneak up and sucker-punch me out of the blue. Anyhoo (as Jeff would say), I am better.

Photo by Isaac Quesada on Unsplash

Dealing with the ripple effect from the COVID-19 pandemic has been hard on everyone. The effects since around March of 2020 in the U.S. range from illness and death to losing jobs or learning how to work from home. It is fair to say that everyone has a COVID story by now with varying levels of intensity. This is mine.

In 2020, I was teaching high school English. We went home for spring break in March, and didn’t come back to school for the rest of the year. In just that week, we tried to transition to online classes. The result was definitely hit or miss. I taught in a rural district. Some students didn’t have internet or computers at home, so they couldn’t log on to the Google Classroom to do their assignments. Others just didn’t. Some did great with the trasition and were better online than they had been in a face-to-face classroom. We ended the year with a lot of grace for the students, and a promise to figure it all out before school started in August.

Over the summer, we emptied our classrooms. anything that we could possibly remove went into storage or home. We were trying to get as close to the six feet apart social distancing recommendations from the CDC. Our school also managed to get every student a chromebook. We came up with a plan to do all classwork both online and in person so that if students or teachers became ill, they could just shift to the online version. And although much of the year was chaotic with people going in and out of quarantine, we somehow muddled through it all.

Despite masking and constant cleaning, I got COVID twice in 2020. Neither time was terrible. I just felt icky for a few days and coughed a lot. I have asthma, so anything that triggers coughing is not fun. My coughs tend to linger for a long, long time as well. At any rate, I got my vaccinations as soon as teachers were eligible. Two of my children are Type 1 Diabetics and therefore immune compromised, and my parents, especially my mother are susceptible to illness. So I wanted to keep them safe as well.

I also resigned my teaching post at the end of 2021. I had been thinking about a career shift, perhaps pursuing a PhD, and with the COVID situation and my underlying chronic migraines, it was time. I started freelance writing which has been fantastic really. I have the freedom to work when, where, and how much I want to. And since I am at home, I can rest when the migraines are bad and I’m not around germy kids all day.

Alas, COVID is not a cooperative entity. I had a year off from it. Then this year, in May of 2022, my dad got COVID. I took him to the clinic to confirm that was it, because the symptoms all lined up and his fever was 102. The next day, before the test result came back, he stood up to walk to another room, passed out, hit his head on a baseboard, cut it open, got a concussion, and was unconsious for more than 20 minutes. So, I went to stay with my parents and take care of them, cook meals, etc. Surely, since I’ve had Covid twice and I am vaccinated I’m all good right?

WRONG.

Meet Omicron. Probably Omicron 2. Poppa’s fall was on a Friday (May 20). By Sunday (May 22) I had all the symptoms: full body pain and muscle spasm, dizziness, sore throat, nausea, the works. I tried to push through and keep caring for mom and dad, but I couldn’t. In fact, my brother flew in from California to take care of all of us. (He also just got over COVID. Dad got it from him, so we figured he was a safe bet.)

By Tuesday I couldn’t get up out of bed to do more than go to the bathroom or get a drink of water. On Thursday (May 26), my doctor started me on a course of Paxlovid, the 5 day antiviral treatment. It did help for the first 2-3 days. I felt a bit better and could sit up and walk around a bit. But then I was back to awful after that. After I finished the Paxlovid treatment, I thought I should be seeing an improvement, but I was not. I still could barely move or even sit up. I was coughing non-stop.

I started a 5 day steroid treatment to help get a boost on June 2. It did help. I was able to sit up in bed for a couple of hours at a time instead of minutes. I could walk to the kitchen and get a drink. At that point, I decided it was ok for me to go home. I’d been recovering in my parent’s guest room for 15 days.

I believed I was done with COVID, but it was not done with me. At home, I still could only function for 2-3 hours in a day in very short spurts of 10-15 minutes at a time. This could be starting a load of laundry or working on writing something. Rememeber — freelance writer over here. I hadn’t done any work for two weeks and I really did need a paycheck.

Unfortunately, I was having lingering COVID symptoms.

Blurred vision, extreme fatigue, dizziness, non-stop coughing, nausea, inability to handle any kind of heat (Its summer in Texas y’all), inability to concentrate (bad for trying to work - especially when you are reading and writing), aphasia, trouble swallowing, and tremors in my hands and feet.

I tried to deal, be patient, rest. On July 21, my doctor started me on a 14 day course of steroids, and asked me to make an appointment with my neurologist to see what COVID has done to my brain, specifically the nerves that control sensory organs.

I made some small improvements on the steroids. But as the dose tapered off, the symptoms came back.

We decided to have a little low impact getaway for the July 4 weekend. My husband and oldest child (21) went to the mountains where we have a little cabin to sit in the cool air and avoid people for a few days. It was lovely.

But on the day we packed up to come home (July 4), my husband and I were both so fatigued that we could barely move. Weird. We just took it slow and made it home. Tuesday, he had a runny nose and a sore throat. I couldn’t get out of bed and all my symptoms were dialed up. My daughter called me from her job where she had been for 10 minutes. She was in tears because she felt so bad. She though she was going to collapse. I told her to go to a clinic and get tested for everything, flu, strep, and COVID. Well, folks. COVID it was.

But I had just had it so surely I was just tired from the trip right? NOPE.

MEET OMICRON 4 or 5.

This little bugger can sneak in and sucker punch you even if you are vaccinated or have natural immunity from a previous infection. OMG guys. I tested positive for COVID on July 7 and started ANOTHER round of Paxlovid. This time in addition to all the other symptoms that I’d been having for 7 weeks I also had chest pain and high blood pressure. So much fun.

Again, I barely got out of bed or sat up for 8 days.

However, on July 13th I felt better. I was able to sit up in bed for several hours. I worked for more than 15 minutes at a time. I started thinking about things I both wanted and needed to do. I even folded and put away laundry. (Jeff had already washed it for us.)

The next day, I felt better again. I decided to do one small thing to improve my situation. I cleaned off my nightstand and swept up the dog hair from around the bed. Then I laid down for three hours. But I was also able to sit up in bed later and work for several hours. On Friday, I left the bedroom. I sat in a recliner most of the day. I worked about 5 hours. Jeff and I went out to dinner at a restaurant. It was amazing.

I am not 100%. I still get dizzy quickly, I feel fatigue after standing or walking for even a short time. I have some trouble concentrating, the aphasia is still significant, and my vision is blurry.

The coughing is better, only a few coughting fits a day, the tremors are almost completely gone, nausea is mostly gone, and I just feel generally better. I am bored with sitting or laying down and I want to do things. I think that is a good sign. I just need to be patient with myself, take things slowly, and heal.

I still have to get an MRI and some additional lab work, but now I am hopeful that the results will be ok and managable.

So, what’s the point of my COVID story? So many people have similar or worse stories to tell.

1, It’s not a contest. Everyone is impacted by COVID. It is ok to feel the impact.

2. Do what you can, when you can. The dishes will still be dirty tomorrow. You can wear a wrinkly shirt. It’s ok to ask for help.

3. Take COVID seriously. Even if you think you can handle it… Other people may not be as blessed with a robust immune system as you are. Be considerate of those around you as you go through your day.