Death by a thousand sneezes
Covid recently swept my whole household. We are uncertain of the source as there were a lot of variables— return to school, traveling, attending a large indoor wedding. If anyone has gotten Covid since the rules have lifted, maybe you feel a bit of same confusion I do around testing, who to tell, and when are we free again. While we absolutely followed the CDC guideline, but there was no need to self report at school or work. Do we disclose so the members of the various communities are aware of their potential exposure? What is the school protocol? What is the work protocol? And where did we store the N95 masks?
In the end I wanted to tell the school for two reasons: exposure and because my kids would be missing quite a bit of school and without a doctor’s note. I did the same at work. Most all medical and health concerns are private, but COVID is not in that category.
We all had slightly different variations of similar set of symptoms. Here’s the timeline and the feels:
Cassia - very suddenly felt achey all on Wednesday evening at bedtime (day 0). She had a low grade fever on Thursday and Friday. She suffered some congestion and doubled up on pillows to elevate her head to sleep, but it wasn’t too bad. She alternated Tylenol and Motrin for the discomfort. By Saturday she was 95%. Cassia skipped school on Thursday, Friday, and Monday for safe measures. She returned to school on Monday (Day6).
Nico - symptoms started slowly on Friday (day 0). He was already at home because he refused to go to school a second day while his sister is at home — I know we need to work on this. Nico never really got much of a fever, he had a few coughs. We never tested Nico, but I’m 100% positive it would be Cov+. Nico gave me a half thumbs up through Tuesday, but I know it is because he didn’t want to go back to school. Nico had the easiest case. He returned to school on Wednesday (day 5).
To the bus stop!
Took a few days, but the kids finally got back on the bus.
Claire - I started feeling bad on Saturday (day 0), general malaise. I actually just stayed in bed most of the day. By the evening my throat started to hurt. On Sunday I got the works — congestion, itchy eyes, body aches, very low grade fever, and of course the sneezes that came in 4’s and 5’s. I hate sneezing for many reasons, but sneezing when sick is really just the worst. My Covid test lit up like a Christmas tree. I shared the news with my boss and I was banished to WFH for the week. I had two nights with hardly any sleep. I alternated Tylenol and Advil for the discomfort. I polished off a few boxes of Kleenex. On Tuesday I was feeling almost 100%. For breakfast, I put some bread in the toaster and returned to my desk. A few moments later Nico and Chris were running in thinking I was burning down the house. At the moment I realized I got that other weird symptom, loss of sense of smell. Like NOTHING. I can smell nothing. It’s a weird thing and I see how it could be quite dangerous. My sense of taste is probably 50% and as of Friday my sense of smell is probably still 85% impaired. My sneezes and congestion ended by early Wednesday (day 4). It was quite awful. I will return to work next Monday (day 9).
Chris - Oh did he think he was going to avoid this one! He was holding strong until Monday when he got he 2x4 to his immune system in the evening. (Notice a trend of evening onset of symptoms, hmm.) He was down and out for a solid two days with the same symptoms as me. After two sleepless nights, the recovery to feeling normal started.
Covid is part of our reality and the foreseeable future. There is has been a ton of misinformation and conspiracy theories, but in the end it’s a highly contagious virus. We can all do our best to keep ourselves and community safe. It caused a really slow start to my kids’ school year. Missing diagnostic tests and delaying forming relationships with their teachers and classmates. When we look back on this week, it will just be a blip in the radar.
What helped get us through?
popsicles, favorite drinks, plenty of water
vitamin C
Games Games Games (see that blog post)
Costumes are fun, see below….
screen time (Chris and I watched Suits and Marvelous Mrs. Maisal, the kids watched Good Luck Charlie)
three pillows stacked for elevation at bedtime
skipping caffeine - no need to further impair an already f’ed night of sleep, besides the headache is from the covid not the lack of caffeine.
patience and going outside for fresh air and sunlight (again protecting our circadian rhythm)
