Our Covid Story

Today I am sharing our Covid story. It is not something I thought about writing down, but a few of you have asked or encouraged, so I’m sharing this for a few reasons. First of all, it is a great way for me to be able to look back and remember our experience during this Pandemic. But I’m hoping it is also a resource (and assurance) to some of you who may not have experienced it first hand yet. I know everyone’s experience is different, but here is our story (click here to learn more about us).

Approximately two and a half weeks ago, my family got the Corona Virus. It wasn’t something that we were expecting.. at all! Let’s rewind back to March when everything that we knew as normal, suddenly stopped being normal. I was teaching, Brett was working at his office and our girls were going to school. Within two days, everything pretty much shut down. I consumed a lot of news for the first few weeks, and eventually decided that it caused me more stress than I needed, so I stopped.

Backstory

We quarantined ourselves (with limited grocery store trips) from March through early June. We wore masks if we went anywhere in public. I wiped down all of my groceries. Washed my hands. I followed all of the rules. Once June came, like most others, we slowly started allowing ourselves to see people. We started with family and started seeing my mom, who lives close on a regular basis. We went up north to visit Brett’s family and we saw my dad and his fiancé at our cabin up north.

Then we started to see a few friends (all outside). Everything was going well, we were being careful and we were starting to feel like we were having a more “normal” summer. My mother in law and niece came to visit us on Wednesday, July 8th. The past few summers, the girls spent a week at grandmas, but because of some anxiety, we decided it best for her to just come here and spend some time with them at our house.

So she came and brought my niece who is 11. We also got to hang out with one of her baby goats, Danny – who needed to be bottle fed. We had a great time and hung out here mostly. Brett worked, so the girls swam, played with the goat, tent camped outside and just hung around the house! They had a blast!

Our Covid Story

So, we now know that my mother-in-law and niece (one or both) brought it down with them. We know because we later found out that my brother-in-law (niece’s dad) got sick before all of us and tested positive and we had no contact with him. Long story, short.. he got it from his mom who works at a restaurant and we are thinking she may have had exposure there. They are all from a small town up north and have all been very careful about exposure. I guess what I’m trying to say is that anyone can get it! After being in a house with them and in close contact for three days, we all got it as well. So, I will walk you through each day and how we all felt.

Wednesday, July 8

This was our exposure date! They arrived to our house in the evening.

Friday, July 10

This was the first day, I felt any symptoms. (I was the first person to have any symptoms and started about 36 hours after exposure.) I woke up with a sore throat. Now, I typically have allergies and drainage and figured it was just that. I also started to have some digestive issues and had diarrhea (sorry if that’s TMI, but it’s a very real symptom of Covid and I had no idea!). Other than that, I felt fine and didn’t think anything of it.

Saturday, July 11

Friday night, the girls and my mother-in-law slept in a tent outside. They wanted to “camp”. Both my mother-in-law and niece woke up with bad headaches. Well, our little neighbor girl had been over the night before wearing bug spray and we figured that my mother-in-law’s headache was due to the smell. She gets migraines and feels nauseous when she is exposed to strong smells. We didn’t know why my niece had a headache, but we didn’t think anything of it really. They both rested until they felt well enough to make the trip back home!

I continued to have a sore throat and just started to feel kind of tired/exhausted. The diarrhea continued. We were supposed to have two families over (outside) for a pool party that evening. I texted them to let them know that I was mostly fine, but did have a sore throat. They decided to come and we had a great time!

Sunday, July 12

I woke up Sunday and knew I was sick. My entire body ached, I had a HORRIBLE headache, and my sore throat that wasn’t going away. I felt exhausted and knew I had something more than allergies and I knew I needed to get tested. We called my mother-in-law (who was feeling better, just still a headache) to let her know that I was sick and she may want to get tested as I may have exposed her to Covid. I spent most of the day in bed on Sunday, but the rest of my family felt fine! I also contacted the people we had spent Saturday evening with and let them know they may want to be tested for Covid, as I wasn’t feeling well.

Monday, July 13

Sunday night I had a hard time sleeping. My head hurt just laying on the pillow and my body aches woke me multiple times throughout the night. I also developed a fever and chills throughout the night. Brett woke up on Monday morning and didn’t feel quite right either. His large joints were very sore and had body aches. The girls also woke up with low grade fevers and were just kind of lethargic all day.

We knew we needed to get tested. So we took some Tylenol, gave it a little time to work, and piled in the car. We went to the Alliant Energy Center and got tested. After that, we went home and all spent the day in bed mostly.

Tuesday, July 14

Tuesday was another rough day. My headache had subsided, but the body aches, low grade fever, and chills weren’t great. Brett was in even rougher shape and also had a fever, body aches, nausea and a headache. The girls though, woke up feeling totally fine! Their fevers were gone and they seemed like themselves.

This is the day we found out that my brother-in-law had been sick since the weekend, and we found out that my mother-in-law tested positive for Covid. Once we knew that she had it, were we 99% certain that we would test positive too!

Wednesday, July 15

This was the day that I started to feel better. Don’t get me wrong, I was not better. This is also the day that my cough started. But I was able to get through the day without Tylenol and was able to make a meal and spend some time out of bed! This is also the day I realized that my smell and taste were gone.

Eva accidentally spilled a bottle of nail polish remover and when I was cleaning up, I realized I couldn’t smell it. Brett was still in rough shape and I am pretty sure this is the day my mother-in-law took a turn too. She started to feel extremely nauseous and just not well. Wednesday evening, it was confirmed that we had Covid.

Moving forward

After that, we both slowly started to feel less sick, but my cough, however, continued to get worse. Brett developed a cough too. I thought it was interesting that our coughs started almost as a secondary thing. You hear “fever and cough” as the things to watch out for, but I had already had it for 4-5 days before either of those things started! So I guess what I’m saying is.. know that pretty much anything can be a symptom of Covid.

Brett’s lungs have healed faster than mine. He has been biking a few times already. I, on the other hand, get winded walking to the mailbox. Last week, I started experiencing chest tightness, so I decided to call the clinic. After an hour on the phone with 2 different nurses (one who thought I may have pneumonia), and an online assessment, they told me to head to the clinic. So I did.

When I got there, I had to wait in my car. A nurse eventually came out to tell me that the Dr. wouldn’t see me and that I had to go to the ER. I sobbed in my car, feeling so frustrated and defeated. I was past my quarantine (no longer contagious) but they wouldn’t see me. And I think it was the fact that I had spent like an hour on the phone and 2 nurses had told me to come in. Ugh.

I didn’t feel like I was bad enough to go into the ER, so I went home, continued my breathing exercises, talked to my brother (who is a Dr.) and waited it out. The days have fluctuated. I’ve had some good days and some bad days. I find that some days, my anxiety and panic get the best of me, but for the most part, I am doing well.

In fact, as I write this (July 28), my cough seems to have finally gotten better! This is the first morning in over a week that I haven’t coughed for a few hours trying to clear my lungs. My energy, smell and taste are all slowly coming back and I’m feeling up for doing things I hadn’t in weeks! Brett is still working from home and we are mostly hanging at home still.

The newest studies show that people who have Covid only need to stay isolated for 10 days after symptoms start. I am over a week past that. We plan to continue to be careful and limit exposure for a while, but we are starting to chat with our neighbors again outside, pick up dinner and run some errands (with masks, of course). It feels good to be able to start to live our lives again!

One thing I want to add is if you asked me.. “If you could go back and not have your mother in law and niece come, would you?” I would say “nope – not a chance.” We made so many great memories. I will move forward with caution, knowing my risks. But I will not live in total isolation for the next year.

Our Covid Story – What’s next?

I don’t know really. It’s so hard because no one knows what life is going to look like. We all want this to go away, but honestly, I don’t know that it’s going to. I feel like we will be living this way for the unforeseeable future. So I have a few thoughts after going through this experience.

1. We cannot live our lives in fear. Yes, this can be a dangerous and scary virus for some. But for most, they will get through it. We need to respect it and be careful, but we cannot live in fear. The more I read and the more people told me, the more I had anxiety about my own health. I remember one night laying in bed, having a panic attack, worrying that I would wake up in the night not being able to breath because I had heard a story about that happening to a woman. Fear is crippling and does no one any good, in fact.. it has harmful effects on the immune system. I stay away from the news because that is what helps me keep my sanity. But you have to do what is right for you!
2. You can get Covid from anyone. We never expected we would get it the way we did, but it happened. Just be careful. Try to stay outside if you can. We are so fortunate that it stopped with us. Because our gathering Saturday evening was outdoors, we didn’t pass it to anyone that was here.
3. Don’t treat people who have had the Corona Virus like someone with a scarlet letter. Especially once they are past their quarantine. I know you are nervous about getting it, but honestly… you are probably more likely to get it from your friends who aren’t sick than your friend who is past quarantine. Be kind!
4. Be kind and stop judging others. Everyone is so divided these days. About everything. Everything seems to be political and we are forgetting that there are humans on the “other side”. Humans. People with feelings and beliefs. People who are just doing their best to get through this… like you. What would happen if we were just kind to one another? What if we assumed positive intentions and went back to loving people? How could that look in your life?

I cannot believe how long this post has gotten, but I wanted to share our story! When I shared it on our Instagram stories, I had the largest outpouring of love and support. There were so many people who thanked me for sharing my story. If you do end up getting it, my hope is that you can remain calm and at peace, recognize your symptoms, limit exposure, and try to stay positive!