On March 29 2022, my world changed. But before I get into that, it is important to know that I was busy, active, full time working mum of 4 teens, had recently cycled 158km Otago Rail Trail, had climbed and summited Mt Taranaki in very recent years, could dance all night…my friends and my dear family were everything to me. My trusty canon camera, my journal & pen and a coffee went everywhere with me.
This is CJ**, Mia** and I finishing the 158km Otago rail Trail.
But that was then. When I was well. I was loving life.
What follows are my diary exerts…starting here on Day 1.
How little I knew then…
PLEASE NOTE the following when reading my diary entries:
*NOTE: All body temperatures noted in this diary are all under arm (auxiliary) temperatures (which I believe can be up to a degree lower than oral temperature methods).
**Note: I have changed my youngest children’s names to C.J and Mia. These are not their real names.
*** To clarify also, before beginning…I have never tested positive for Covid-19. I am double vaccinated. My official diagnosis (for my Long Covid symptoms) is “Post-Viral Syndrome”.
The Diary begins….
Day 1, Tuesday, March 29 2022.
Covid has infiltrated our home. I am not even 100% it is here but I think so…what else can it be?
Day 1: It is Tuesday, 29 March 2022, 9am’ish….a glorious late autumn morning, with cloudless blue sky and almost smooth blue sea filling the view out our window.
I feel awful. I have not tested positive for Covid, but I know I have it. The ache deep in my chest, my back pain, (upper right), the congestion in my nose like a sinus infection and the mild headache just niggling at the edges of my brain. I feel tired too, not fatigued but the thought of going back to bed is a real option I will explore soon. I note also, that rather than my usual quite ravenous approach to breakfast, I have no appetite at all.
I have tested negative already, yesterday (Monday). I only did a test as CJ tested positive on Sunday and he had been here all of last week, (when he was likely infectious) before moving to his dad’s house on Friday after school. He had no symptoms while here, seemingly, although he had terrible pain in his wrists and shoulder which we had seen a doctor about as he has complained of this before and it seemed far worse. Was it, in hindsight, Covid manifesting itself at that stage only as one symptom – intense joint pain? Perhaps? Time will tell as he had a blood test on Friday, so we will know more soon. By Saturday, anyway he was starting to feel unwell and by Sunday as I understand it from him, he was very, very unwell with fever and chest pain and a cough and it was then he tested positive. His day Zero.
So, I will do another test today. Mia also is complaining of similar symptoms to me – back pain, a stuffy nose (like me) and a sore throat (something I do not have). I am more concerned for her than for me and can only hope that she will bounce back quickly. We kept her from school for the past 3 weeks, as cases have been growing exponentially at her school only to seemingly contract this virus from her brother who we had only just let return to school after his protests about missing his friends and important classes.
It is so surprising how quickly things change… yesterday I was completely well, although I did have a slightly stuffed up nose – like when the seasons change to spring and you get a bit stuffy in the nose. I worked a full day and I went for a one hour and 5 minute power walk in the evening (my fastest time ever to do this large lap around our neighbourhood, which usually takes 1 hour 15-20 mins). So clearly yesterday and the days before, I felt well, healthy, fit and normal, even last night.
I think I need to go and do the test. My back is very sore. Still upper right. Behind shoulder blade. My throat is feeling a little scratchy. My chest feels like someone is standing on it. My ears feel blocked too, now that I think of it, like they are full of water as they do when you have been swimming. My right arm feels heavy also, that is a strange symptom (?). As I type here, a sharp but tiny pain forms in my shoulder tip and shoots down my right arm all the way to my finger-tips like an electric current buzzing through my veins, making my fingers ache and my arm feel much heavier than my left one.
I’d better check in on CJ and see how is doing also…if Sunday was his test day – Day 0, then today (Tuesday) he is on Day 2 and hopefully starting to feel better. I will call him later this morning as I know it is very likely he will still be asleep right now.
12.45 pm ’ish.
Blue sky and 25 degrees outside, a glorious sunny day out there.
I have tested negative. Again.
I have no appetite. I have had 2 herbal teas and that is all I feel like. C.J is feeling better but has not elaborated on that beyond “just a snotty nose and a bit of a sore throat now” so I can only assume the best for now, that he is in the recovery stage already.
I am tired. I feel a bit hot. My back still hurts….But am I imagining this all in a hyper-vigilant state of body-awareness? My temp is reading 35.78 degrees Celsius, but I actually feel very hot now, a sweaty flush of heat filling my body and soaking my t shirt suddenly. Not unlike a “menopausal hot flush” to be honest – is this what this is? I redo my temperature and in less than three minutes, my temp is now 36.27….I guess that explains the flush of heat…
4pm, feeling better, had some food and some water. Still feel hot but not so stuffed up, not so achy, body tired and I could go for a wee nap, to be honest. But not that ache or pain like before. No sweats, throat ok, although my nose and ears still feel blocked. I do not have much energy still but did manage to work on a video with my daughter for an hour and to unpack a few groceries.
5pm. Yes, a nap is required….temp 36.3.
7.47pm. Didn’t really have a nap but lay on the sofa for a while, quite fatigued. Not achy just tired all over. Then I cooked dinner (and ate my first meal today) in a burst of “normal” energy amongst flashes of heat. I have showered also, but am now wondering why I bothered as I feel another wave of fast rising heat washing over me and puddles of cold sweat gathering in those intimate places, the small of your back, under your breasts and around your thighs…sigh! Temp 36.6c now. After my shower, my fresh clothes are now damp and peeled off and I am sitting here in a loose singlet and little else. My throat is ok, my ears and nose still feel blocked up completely, but my head is clear – no headache – and I feel that ache in my back, in the upper shoulder area returning. But my main symptom right now is this flush of heat that crashes over my body frequently. Is it Covid, or just peri-menopause? Ha, who knows….? Temp now 36.78c.
Lessons for Living 
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