Free AI web copilot to create summaries, insights and extended knowledge, download it at here

Abstract

out of 5 us tested positive. Before the PCR test results came in which took 48hours, I was still in denial, believing it was a common cold, although the Rapid test I took earlier same day was positive.My illness progressed to fever and chills each night. I had a fever, running a temperature of almost 39°C. Each night seemed like I visited hellfire, it was a miracle that I did not overdose on ibuprofen. My temperature remained high from 7pm till 3am, then I would drift into a sleep drenched in my sweat. However when I woke up, I was relatively functional, even working from home the first 3 days of the night fever. This continued for 5 nights straight.Then we went into isolation, quarantined in our home. When you test positive you will receive a very long letter of quarantine guidelines. In Germany, the penalty for leaving your place of isolation was to the tune of 25,000€. So we continued to mind our business within our four walls, relying on godly neighbors and friends to help with groceries and more paracetamol shopping.I broke the fever after the 5th night. The 6th day was a Sunday, and I woke up very late, believing that the end of the fever was the end of it. I was grateful and thought out loud.. “wow this took 5 only days” feeling hugely proud of my immune system.The thing with Covid-19 is that it plays games with you. That Sunday went well, I was fairly fit to carry out my mama duties, I was in bed early but could not fall asleep. Typically, dozing off is not a problem for me. I drift away immediately my head hits the pillow, but here was I, fever-free, unable to sleep rather my breaths began to shorten. It was almost 1 am and I was batting heart palpitations with a hastened breath.Things escalated pretty fast, each time my chest heaved the breaths were tougher to draw. I began to feel like I was going to die and I was so scared of shutting my eyes.Well, the next morning came, I realized that I did not die. I woke up with this tight feeling as if a “band” was around my chest. At this time, I was experiencing neither fever nor cough but I could not shake off the severe anxiety and the constant feeling of death. It was deep!There are good benefits of being an avid reader or being well informed. This time I was definitely not reaping the benefits because I had read much about how Covid-19 progresses from Dr. Google. To add to it, my sister who is a medical doctor couldn’t have made things worse when she innocently told me that things could take a pretty bad turn between days 5–10 of the illness. That stuck in my head and I began counting the days!.Day 7 continued with the anxiety, I imagined my pictures put on WhatsApp status and profile, folks sharing the news of my death. The thought of my motherless kids flashed through my m

Options

ind and this would immediately jolt me out of that darkness and back to reality, to my bed, to my family, to my sweet life. Each time it happened, I found myself chanting, my favorite prayer “Jesus I love you, all I have is yours…”I ordered an oximeter the next morning when the whole shortness of breath issue started, which arrived 2 days later (Day 8) to measure my oxygen in the blood. The readings were very okay 99, 98, 97percent and that calmed my nerves. It was very reassuring that, at least I was getting enough oxygen. I had some sort of validation, that I am not dying.I later requested for a visiting doctor, who came to check out my lungs and he also declared me safe. He reassured me that whatever I felt will clear out within 2–3 weeks. The Dr visited on Day 8 and shortly after he left, cough joined the host of other symptoms.So guys remember anything could happen between days 5 and 10. I made it to Day 9 but my head space still filled with anxiety and uncertainty. My symptoms progressed to total fatigue, complete loss of smell, and a horrific bitter sense of taste. I was spending the most time in bed still with flashes of my funeral, my kids, and plenty of stories on social media. I’m now smiling widely as I write this.While on my sickbed, texts and calls from my family and friends kept me hopeful. They asked for daily updates and me being a very vocal person, I shared every detail of what I was feeling.I felt wonderful when my daughter said “you are not going to die mum because you are very healthy” and then my sister reminded me that we hadn’t been on that birthday vacation, so I was not going anyway yet. (We share the same birthday ).Stella said “we are here to tell you that you are not dying yet.Astrid recommended deep breathing and meditation and sent me loads of zinc supplements that would last a year.In all of this my husband had a solid rock faith. The way he dealt with the situation and his illness kept me brutally honest and sometimes I wondered if I was may be overreacting. We all are different indeed!I finally made it to Day 10, I began to feel the virus weaning off my system but it left me the worst kind of fatigue for the next 4 days. With my survival certain, I continued to rest and filled with gratitude.It’s been 1 week since I tested negative but my sense of smell is yet to fully return. I am trying to get back to where I was physically by resuming my exercise routine but it will take some weeks to get back to where I was pre-COVID-19. This entire experience definitely challenged both my physical and mental state but it taught me one thing, the battle is with fear and not the actual illness.Written: 15.05.2021</article></body>

Diaries of a Covid-19 Patient

I had fun writing this, maybe because I am writing as a survivor. This is me being a latecomer in experiencing the coronavirus disease in Spring 2021 while majority are already vaccinated. Join me as I tell my story surviving COVID- 19.

For some reason, I thought the CoVID-19 illness was going to be a walk in the park. Short story, I underestimated the impact of this deadly virus to my body.

You don’t have to blame me, many people around were contracting and recovering but no one was exactly sharing what they had gone through. It seemed like people got sick, Oops…I got the virus, but here I am TADAaaada… I’m well again. Friends and relatives were snapping in and out of it as if it was a simple case of flu. I was always hopeful that the young generation will pull through the pandemic strong even though we had to live to count our losses especially the vulnerable elderly ones lost untimely.

Photo by Isabella and Zsa Fischer on Unsplash

It was an ordinary Saturday my husband complained about feeling funny and he asked for the Rapid Antigen test kit that I bought a few weeks ago. This was the second time he had asked for this desperately wanting to make use of this kit. The first time, he wanted to just experience his first-ever COVID-19 test. None of us knew what a corona test was like. I pleaded him out of wasting the kit and to leave it for when truly needed.

When the request for the test kit came again this 2nd time, I was like “knock yourself out” I’d thought to myself. He mentioned he was feeling slightly sickly and same time casually added that he was in close contact with someone who was sneezing and coughing.

He curiously conducted the test with the help of our daughter and the test result turned out positive. As naive as we were, we doubted the result because the 2 red lines became visible within seconds. How can it be that fast? We thought the result should take longer. Also the news were saying the Rapid tests are not 100 percent accurate. Personally, I didn’t believe my husband’s result. I felt quite relaxed and went ahead with my day minding my business.

A few hours later after the positive Rapid test, my husband started complaining of feeling worse. The next day, my son started to have a fever and the day after it was my turn- I had body aches all over.

We got PCR tested the next day and 4 out of 5 us tested positive. Before the PCR test results came in which took 48hours, I was still in denial, believing it was a common cold, although the Rapid test I took earlier same day was positive.

My illness progressed to fever and chills each night. I had a fever, running a temperature of almost 39°C. Each night seemed like I visited hellfire, it was a miracle that I did not overdose on ibuprofen. My temperature remained high from 7pm till 3am, then I would drift into a sleep drenched in my sweat. However when I woke up, I was relatively functional, even working from home the first 3 days of the night fever. This continued for 5 nights straight.

Then we went into isolation, quarantined in our home. When you test positive you will receive a very long letter of quarantine guidelines. In Germany, the penalty for leaving your place of isolation was to the tune of 25,000€. So we continued to mind our business within our four walls, relying on godly neighbors and friends to help with groceries and more paracetamol shopping.

I broke the fever after the 5th night. The 6th day was a Sunday, and I woke up very late, believing that the end of the fever was the end of it. I was grateful and thought out loud.. “wow this took 5 only days” feeling hugely proud of my immune system.

The thing with Covid-19 is that it plays games with you. That Sunday went well, I was fairly fit to carry out my mama duties, I was in bed early but could not fall asleep. Typically, dozing off is not a problem for me. I drift away immediately my head hits the pillow, but here was I, fever-free, unable to sleep rather my breaths began to shorten. It was almost 1 am and I was batting heart palpitations with a hastened breath.

Things escalated pretty fast, each time my chest heaved the breaths were tougher to draw. I began to feel like I was going to die and I was so scared of shutting my eyes.

Well, the next morning came, I realized that I did not die. I woke up with this tight feeling as if a “band” was around my chest. At this time, I was experiencing neither fever nor cough but I could not shake off the severe anxiety and the constant feeling of death. It was deep!

There are good benefits of being an avid reader or being well informed. This time I was definitely not reaping the benefits because I had read much about how Covid-19 progresses from Dr. Google. To add to it, my sister who is a medical doctor couldn’t have made things worse when she innocently told me that things could take a pretty bad turn between days 5–10 of the illness. That stuck in my head and I began counting the days!.

Day 7 continued with the anxiety, I imagined my pictures put on WhatsApp status and profile, folks sharing the news of my death. The thought of my motherless kids flashed through my mind and this would immediately jolt me out of that darkness and back to reality, to my bed, to my family, to my sweet life. Each time it happened, I found myself chanting, my favorite prayer “Jesus I love you, all I have is yours…”

I ordered an oximeter the next morning when the whole shortness of breath issue started, which arrived 2 days later (Day 8) to measure my oxygen in the blood. The readings were very okay 99, 98, 97percent and that calmed my nerves. It was very reassuring that, at least I was getting enough oxygen. I had some sort of validation, that I am not dying.

I later requested for a visiting doctor, who came to check out my lungs and he also declared me safe. He reassured me that whatever I felt will clear out within 2–3 weeks. The Dr visited on Day 8 and shortly after he left, cough joined the host of other symptoms.

So guys remember anything could happen between days 5 and 10. I made it to Day 9 but my head space still filled with anxiety and uncertainty. My symptoms progressed to total fatigue, complete loss of smell, and a horrific bitter sense of taste. I was spending the most time in bed still with flashes of my funeral, my kids, and plenty of stories on social media. I’m now smiling widely as I write this.

While on my sickbed, texts and calls from my family and friends kept me hopeful. They asked for daily updates and me being a very vocal person, I shared every detail of what I was feeling.

I felt wonderful when my daughter said “you are not going to die mum because you are very healthy” and then my sister reminded me that we hadn’t been on that birthday vacation, so I was not going anyway yet. (We share the same birthday ).

Stella said “we are here to tell you that you are not dying yet.

Astrid recommended deep breathing and meditation and sent me loads of zinc supplements that would last a year.

In all of this my husband had a solid rock faith. The way he dealt with the situation and his illness kept me brutally honest and sometimes I wondered if I was may be overreacting. We all are different indeed!

I finally made it to Day 10, I began to feel the virus weaning off my system but it left me the worst kind of fatigue for the next 4 days. With my survival certain, I continued to rest and filled with gratitude.

It’s been 1 week since I tested negative but my sense of smell is yet to fully return. I am trying to get back to where I was physically by resuming my exercise routine but it will take some weeks to get back to where I was pre-COVID-19. This entire experience definitely challenged both my physical and mental state but it taught me one thing, the battle is with fear and not the actual illness.

Written: 15.05.2021