It's now been nearly three weeks since my Covid-19 infection, and a few of you have asked for an update.
The day of my last update, Wednesday 2/10/21, was my first half day back at work. I'd been feeling really bored and mildly anxious over missing so much work given our tight deadlines. I started with 4 hours in the morning, and although the time went too quickly, I found myself watching the clock for the last few minutes because I was ready for a nap.
I was a little concerned that sitting at my desk for four hours could make me so tired, but I reminded myself that this was only day 7, and many Covid-19 patients miss two to three weeks of work. So I listened to my body and took a lovely nap with sweet Arwen.
The next day, the time went even more quickly because I had so much work to do. I could have worked longer, but I logged off after four hours. Again, I took a nap, but this time I slept alone. For some reason CiCi had come in at the start of my nap and shoved Arwen off onto the floor, but then she left too. "What? You just don't want Arwen to sleep with me?" I called after her. She didn't look back. When I woke up, however, both cats were curled up on either side of my legs.
On Friday 2/12, I started my morning with some belly laughter during our daily check-in via Zoom. I can't remember what we all laughed about, but I remember thinking about the healing power of laughter and feeling very thankful. The next thing I noticed during that meeting was that an annoying chemical smell was emanating from the bathroom, just to the left of my desk. It was a perfume-y odor, the kind that makes my nose itch and my eyes water.
When the meeting ended, I opened the door to investigate, and the smell assaulted my nostrils. It took a moment for the significance to register. I could smell! I surveyed the messy counter; Allyson had taken over the master bedroom and bathroom ever since I'd moved to the cats' room to sleep on the adjustable bed. Allyson had colored her hair a few days earlier, and I was smelling a concoction she'd made from baking soda and hair conditioner. I wondered how I could possibly have missed this overpowering aroma for the last two days when I'd been working at the same desk.
I coughed and carried the offending items to the kitchen. While I was there, I opened the refrigerator for a snack and immediately wrinkled my nose in disgust. Obviously, something was spoiled. How long had the refrigerator smelled like this? I resolved to clean the fridge over the weekend.
After peeling and eating a clementine, I returned to my desk and inhaled the orange scent that lingered on my fingers. It smelled so lovely that happy tears sprang to my eyes. I'd been fearing that my loss of smell would last weeks or months as it does for some Covid-19 patients.
How odd that my sense of smell had returned as abruptly as it had vanished, almost like flipping a switch. Again I wondered at the cause of this, the most common Covid-19 symptom. My understanding is that it is a neurologic issue. In any case, I figured the restoration of my olfactory function had to be a good sign.
Another good sign was that I accidently worked five hours instead of four, and I didn't feel the need for a nap afterward.
A Cleaning Frenzy
On Saturday 2/13, I woke up in the mood to clean. The house was even dirtier than usual because I'd been unable to clean for the duration of my sickness, and the clutter had really piled up. Between 10 and 5:30, I joyfully did laundry, straightened messes, swept my bedroom and bathroom, mopped the bathroom, cleaned the vanity, did the dishes, and cleaned the refrigerator. I remarked to my friend Laura in a text that I felt like that iconic muscle woman on the World War II poster (Rosie the Riveter).
Last week, during the arctic blast that nearly took down Texas's power grid, I continued to recover more of my strength each day. I had no trouble waking up each morning, nor putting in my full eight hours of work. (Thank the Lord, I did not lose electricity nor Internet service.) At some point, the mild nausea that had plagued me for two weeks faded away, and my digestion returned to normal.
The only symptom that remained was moderate nasal congestion and mild shortness of breath. Now I seemed to be suffering from a cold, and it followed the usual course, from very runny to very stuffy. At the worst, my nose was both running and completely stopped up, so that blowing brought me no relief whatsoever and my nose was raw. That evening, I tried irrigating my sinuses with saline, and that did seem to help a bit.
Meanwhile, I'd been working my way up to longer trampoline workouts each day. At first, one to two minutes left me breathless, but after a week, I can now handle 10-12 minutes of gentle bouncing. On Thursday and Friday, I did special workouts for lymphatic drainage, and my congestion improved dramatically.
Yesterday and today, my sinuses have been draining so much that I continually need to clear my throat. It's annoying, but much better than being stopped up. In a few more days, I hope that I will be breathing freely and will be able to exert myself without becoming short of breath.
Today I became winded while singing during church, but afterward I was able to walk and talk for a couple of miles with a friend without feeling tired. The weather was glorious today, up in the 60s! How odd to see people in shorts alongside snow drifts in the store parking lots, which were packed.
I could tell from all the smiles I observed that everyone else shared my joy in soaking up the sunshine. My own joy was compounded by feeling strong again after those five days in bed just a couple of weeks ago.
This will most likely be my last coronavirus update, but I will be sure to write again when I am able to report that my shortness of breath is gone. Please continue to pray for my full recovery.
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| Today |
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Vitals: 96/68, 78 beats per minute. (The lower heart rate most likely means that my body is no longer fighting germs. Having a resting heart rate in the 90s was a sign that my immune system was still at war even after most of my symptoms had subsided.)
Symptoms: mild nasal congestion, improving; mild shortness of breath with exertion.
I've had a break from my usual allergy symptoms ever since the Covid symptoms started. The allergies had been quite severe starting in January. I wonder if my immune system decided to attack the bigger enemy and stop worrying about the mountain cedar pollen for a while. I hope the allergies don't return because I'm really tired of being congested.
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