I Finally Got COVID

I finally got COVID and it’s awful. It’s all so strange because I took the pandemic to heart and obeyed all of the rules and took all of the precautions. I hadn’t gone out into society in 3 years. I became a hermit and recluse out of fear and compliance. It was no secret that people were dying at alarming rates based on too many variables. I was not going to take any chances.

People tried to claim it was seniors and people with pre-existing conditions but doctors and nurses were also dying trying to treat patients. Rich people were dying. Poor people were dying. White people were dying. African-Americans eventually started dying. Kids finally started dying. There was no information on it and no way to stop it.

Prevention

The medical field finally figured out ways to slow it down. When they said it spread through body fluids, it was just a matter of wearing a mask in case you sneezed and saliva squirted from your mouth, saliva squirted when you talked or laughed, or your nose runs. If you had bloody gums it could protect anyone else from coming into direct contact with your mouth. I’m just covering all fluids that could come from your mouth and nose area here. They said wash your hands because people tend to put their hands on their mouths and noses and touch surfaces. That made sense to me.

Amazon Fresh

How did you get food people always ask. One of the best inventions during COVID was food delivery. Instacart was born in this time and most stores like grocery stores and Walmart started offering food delivery. I still use Amazon Fresh to this day and I wouldn’t give it up at any cost. I did not want to wait in line to go inside a store and then shop.

At first, there was only a mask mandate to get inside of the store. Then once you finished shopping, you’d have to wait in line 6 feet apart. I despised it greatly. I tried to go shopping late in the evening or on Sundays to avoid crowds, but it seems like everyone else was doing that because there were still long lines to get inside. Another bad side to that was the empty shelves awaiting you inside. It was a first come, first serve basis rule when it came to getting what you wanted.

COVID began officially on January 10, 2020. Today is May 14, 2023.

How I Got It

So I went out to a random bar in an area, on a Monday, I was unfamiliar with and around crowds I wouldn’t normally be around. I like hanging out with my community in my community primarily. Unfortunately, the venues that survived the pandemic in my community were not yet open on Monday. I was feeling adventurous and open that day.

So this bar was a mix of whites, asians, and Mexicans. There were gays, drag queens, lesbians, and whatever there. I mainly observed the entire night, trying to figure out if I could ever see myself going back. Well the music great, I sat under the air conditioner and went to the bathroom at least 3x to blow my nose.

I made sure to wash my hands each trip. I noticed they had the air dryer thing in there. I didn’t like it. I wanted to be able to wipe any leftover residue from my hands manually. I compromised by using some toilet paper and then used toilet paper to pull open the door handle. I don’t like touching bathroom doors on the way out. I also noticed not all of the women in used the restroom even washed their hands. People are still nasty and dirty in this day and age.

I had a couple of cocktails. I watched the bartender make the drinks because I didn’t want anybody slipping anything into my drinks. I made sure to use straws that I wiped down before putting them in my glass. Is there a point to all of this caution? Yes. Keep reading.

Afterwards, I went home and hopped in the bed. I hadn’t been up that late in awhile and the drive was kinda far. I went to sleep and was awakened in the middle of the night with my whole body aching something terrible and some flu-like symptoms. I didn’t know what to make of the body aches. I had a migraine on my entire face and inside my head. Never had that feeling before. I prayed and tried to turn over and sleep it off. Every time I turned I was laying on a sore part of my body. No position was comfortable

I finally got up in the middle of the night and took some Advil for the pains and migraine, some Echineacea for the cough, and Benadryl to help me fall back alseep and get rid of the symptoms if it was an allergy,

Alcohol Poisoning?

I thought it was my body having a shock to the alcohol since I hadn’t drank in years. It felt like a bad hangover. I looked up my symptoms as soon as I awoke and it couldn’t been alcolhol-related; dehydration, poisoning or something. So I needed electrolytes if it were alcohol-related. I looked up the best beverages with electrolytes. I had fruit juices galore. So I started drinking juices in addition to water.

I started throwing up the liquids. I didn’t have an appetite but I tried to start eating things on the 4th day. I threw the food up as well as the liquids. What is this awful thing I have? My thought was to ride it out and it would eventually go away. Didn’t happen. My symptoms didn’t get better or worse with time. That Saturday I woke up still suffering the same symptoms and decided to go to the emergency room. I was tired of nothing happening and dealing with the agony.

To the Emergency Room

I get myself together which was excruciating because showering and dressing was slow and painful. At this time, it hurt to walk because moving my legs and stepping on my feet hurt. I pushed through it. I chose to drive myself because I did;t want to use an uber. The hospital wasn’t far, but it wasn’t that close either.

My car was on empty because I had driven so far to the bar and used all of my gas. So I stop at the gas station and that was painful to open the gas tank and lift the nozzle. I only put in about $15 because I couldn’t stand there and wait to fill up the tank. Driving was not fun. I have a great car and the ride is smooth but operating everything was painful.

I get to the hospital and it was a few hours of waiting before I got to a room with 2 other patients. It was like a pre-room of sorts. We were separated by curtains only. They hooked me up an IV and monitored my vitals. I was so annoyed with the old woman next to me talking on the phone. She talked on speakerphone and she and the other person were loud. I already have a pet peeve with people creating noise pollution with their phones up way loud for everyone to hear. How rude! It didn’t help that I was in pain.

So they have a physician’s assistant talk to me and tell me all of my tests came back negative. They give me a COVID test. Everyone in that room got the same tests. I overheard that same old woman being offered morphine so I asked the nurse for some. She didn’t oblige. I hate when doctors won’t alleviate pain. This is a big issue for black patients. Doctors won’t believe your pain nor treat you for it. I hate it. It makes no sense and is just downright unjust and cruel.

The next step was to do a cat scan on my stomach and chest. When they return me to the room, I’m ushered into a private room. That’s where they tell me I came back positive for COVID. I was astounded, in disbelief, and highly afraid. I asked everyone who came in my room a ton of questions.

I did notice that no one was treating me like I was contagious or icky. The staff all stood near me and talked to me as if it were okay to do. They explained that because it’s been 3 years, they’re all too familiar with the virus. They were all very calm and relaxed.

I Prepared To Die

I texted 2 people that I had COVID. I told my mother in case she had to bury me and she called me immediately after. Her only concern was spreading it to other people. If you’ve heard me talk about my mother, you know this is right up her alley of things to do. She hung up and said call her later and went to sleep. I texted a male friend I’ve known for a long time because I had discussed my symptoms with him. I just wanted to inform him what the true diagnosis was.

My male friend had the virus in the worst way. I never knew that he was hospitalized and had symptoms for over a year and so forth. I use the term friend vaguely. I would actually call him an associate because friends have a better connection and bond than whatever we have. He just texted back and forth for awhile.

I desperately wanted to inform one other person. She’s elderly so she can’t text and her phone is almost always off or dead. She called like clockwork and I told her of the bad news. We met a few months prior but because we don’t live near each other, we haven’t connected in a long time. I call her a friend. She’s elderly, smart, and wonderful. We connected quickly and have a bond like no other. I wanted her to know what was happening to me in case I didn’t make it home.

She said she would pray for me. Those were her first words. She was frightened and concerned and it meant the world to me. She wanted me alive more than I wanted to live. I had already talked to the hospital staff and looked up the virus by the time she called so I could answer most of her questions and explain the condition to her.

I had pre-existing condition so I for sure thought I was a candidate for death and it was well-known that most people who went into the hospital for treatment of COVID never made it back home.

Was I Going To Die

I asked if I would die and was assured I wouldn’t. I ask what the determining factors were and was informed that most all of the people who died had breathing complications.

COVID has 11 symptoms according te The CDC. I had 7-8 of those symptoms. I didn’t have a fever, breathing issue, or loss of taste or smell. I DID have the chills, a cough, fatigue, body aches, headache, congestion, and vomiting. I probably would have had diarrhea if I didn’t vomit everything up. I asked for every medication I could get for treatment of every symptom. I would’ve asked for more medications if I could think of any other ailments I had outside of COVID. I generally felt well before COVID minus some nagging sinus symptoms. I was already going to get meds for that due to COVID.

5 Day Quarantine

The doctor assistant told me I would need to quarantine for 5 days. It’s much shorter than the 14 day initial quarantine and I was more than happy to get it over with. I asked more questions. They said the symptoms would start to wear off and that I would be back to health right after the quarantine. It’s been about 8 days and I still feel most of the symptoms.

I didn’t think it made sense to prescribe me medication based on the fact that I would have to appear at a pharmacy in public with a fresh very contagious bout of COVID. I didn’t pick up the medication for 2 days. I gave in and went because the symptoms were too brutal. My thinking is that the medications were designed to cure the symptoms so I needed them to fell better.

So I take the meds for 2 days and become iller. How could the medications not only not make me feel better, but make the symptoms worse? Didn’t add up. I texted my associate who had COVID about this matter and he couldn’t offer any assistance. He was useless and could only talk about his experience. I was annoyed more and still very much in pain.

There was less than a week’s worth of meds but I couldn’t continue on the 3rd day. What did I have to lose? I felt bad on meds and off them. I saved them just in case. I had two forms of pain medication yet I was in constant pain at all the time. I had anti vomit medication and kept throwing things up.

Post Quarantine

I’m not wearing my mask and I’m interacting with my puppy. I have an appetite and eat food here and there in small amounts and in between long intervals. I have to be very careful how I treat my body so I can figure out what’s working. The symptoms still exist. The chills are gone and the headache has diminished. I still have the cough, congestion, fatigue, aches, and sour stomach.

The funny thing about all of this is that I could still be able to get into most stores and venues because I never had a fever and they love to check your temperature. Imagine sneaking in someplace knowing I had it because it was undetectable and proceeding to infect people. I’d never do that but I’m just saying I could’ve.

I had no fresh food in my house because I ordered groceries the week I fell ill and they ended up going back while I was recuperating. Why not just order more groceries? Amazon has a minimum grocery amount in place now of $150 and I don’t have a grocery list of that amount yet. I only needed to replace the perishable items like bread and eggs. It made more sense just to find other things to eat than waste money on a few items.

It would’ve been great if I had someone who could run to the store and grab but I didn’t have that luxury. No one who could do anything for me actually did do anything for me. I was on my own. I couldn’t prepare food because I was contagious but my appetite was growing everyday.

I brushed it off as someone in the club probably coughed without covering their mouth.