Sharing our household’s experience with the Coronavirus. We were among the fortunate, mild cases.
It all started when hubby woke under the weather general malaise-wise, and called out to work. He did the acetaminophen and ibuprofen regimen I learned as an Army medic and after 2 days felt well enough to go back to work. When he called in, he learned that a coworker with a bad track record for wearing his mask tested positive for Covid. He was told not to come to work, get a Covid test, and follow quarantine directions. Hubby was assured he’d still get a normal paycheck as though he had paid sick leave. That’s taking care of your employees. Anyway, I started feeling icky immediately -likely psychosomatically- but fought hard to remain my normal self. It actually translated into crazy nervous energy and I got a lot of work done around the house.
Turned out hubby tested positive, he got his results 2 days after taking the test, but we assumed all along it would be positive anyway. For time-line’s sake, I’ll call test day (not results day) day 1 for the house even though technically it was day 3 for my husband.
Day 1, I felt feverish and our 11 week old PB and 3 year old DD felt hot, but our forehead scanning thermometer said low battery. I gave acetaminophen to the baby immediately anyway, but DD didn’t want it and fought us HARD. Striving for normalcy, I decided to let it go for now and monitor her fluid intake and rest. That, plus the fact that hubby is completely helpless around her (totally wrapped around her little finger), meant that he didn’t agree to tough love medicine until bed time.
Around lunch, we got a new 9 volt and got the thermometer working again. Since PB had been on an acetaminophen routine already, she never registered over 99 degrees. DD however, fluctuated between 100.4 and 101.8 degrees. Her worst was after hours of cuddling with her dad under a blanket in the recliner… so understandably warm. After insisting he let her up, her body did cool down and she seemed cheerful and perky. The cheerful went away at bedtime and she got droopy earlier than usual so I insisted she take the medicine and we held her still. It really was the last straw. Throughout the day I tried to be sneaky and ambush her – sticky syrup got everywhere. Tried reasoning with her while watching cartoon “Doc McStuffins,” didn’t work. Tried bribing her with a toy meant for potty training rewards – no luck. She has the toy now, btw. Well… holding her still and hoping she let enough medicine slide down her throat resulted in her managing to gag/vomit the medicine back up. Thank goodness no food came up with it, but in perfect honesty she wasn’t eating much.
Day 2, I’m not registering a fever, possibly because I keep taking acetaminophen, but I feel the hot/cold body fluctuations associated with a fever all day. It’s annoying. I’m cold so I layer up. I get sweaty, so I take it off… all day long. Fatigue hits me hard and I’m also really phlegmy. Gross. PB seemed clingier than usual but nothing super concerning and I stopped giving her acetaminophen. DD still worried me. She had almost no appetite and seemed to mirror what I was feeling. She went back and forth between appearing normal and then testy cuddly/sleepy with warm appendages and flushed, yet no fever. Every minor frustration or disappointment was met with tears and exaggerated, loud wails. This lasted a few days and I started giving myself headaches from gritting my teeth in response to the crying.
I called the pediatrician’s office and spoke to the girls’ nurse. It sounded like any “go-to-the-emergency-room” symptoms would be more than obvious, otherwise just ride the virus out. The fevers were considered low-grade and it was ok to not medicate, and the super flushed cheeks were normal. Big sigh of relief there. I had some Pediasure (protein shakes for kids) in the cupboard. She didn’t like it plain so I froze one, then blended it with vanilla ice cream to make myself feel better about DD getting nutrition and calories into her system. One strawberry Pediasure turned into 4 different ice-cream assisted last-resort “meals” over 2 days.
Days 3 – 5 were more of the same. I felt super-icky, DD was quick to cry, hubby claimed he was ok, but spent all his time in the recliner so I’m willing to believe he was fighting fatigue too. We drank a LOT of ginger ale, lemon-lime soda, and orange juice this week. It felt good against the phlegmy sensations I couldn’t shake. Hubby cooked a lot, but complained he couldn’t tell if the food was seasoned well enough. On taco night when I noticed they tasted mild, I added what should have been too much hot sauce, and still thought they were mild. Classic Covid symptoms. Sweetness didn’t suffer, thankfully, and I ate lots of ice cream with chocolate syrup, too.
My husband felt physically better after a week – only complained of being “off” and his sense of smell was going in-and-out. I could say I was nearly normal again at that week mark, but seriously always cold… not sure if it was from the virus or just being a wimp. We hadn’t changed the thermostat and the winter here has been really mild so far… The girls I’m confident were all better, and DD was back to eating her normal picky menu so I didn’t have to resort to calling ice cream meals just to watch her eat.
I have 2 Facebook acquaintances that fall in the Covid long-hauler category so I know what this could have been and know we are lucky. Doubly so since hubby’s job kept paying him – it’s not a job that normally comes with sick leave so that was purely at the owner’s initiative. So after 2 weeks off, hubby is back to work and glad to be there. Forced to stay inside and feeling icky half the time is no vacation.
Random SAHM Thoughts 