Tag: covid 19

Sickly Week

It’s been a sickly couple weeks in our house. My husband came home sick from work last Thursday with what we thought was a normal stomach bug. However, when it lasted longer than 5 days, we started to think it wasn’t your average norovirus.

We even ended up taking him to the ER because the diarrhea and abdominal pain got so bad. That was quite an experience as I wasn’t allowed in the hospital as a guest due to covid restrictions, so I spent 3 hours in the car waiting for him to be treated. Luckily, the heater in our car works just fine, or I would have frozen.

Eventually, we started to wonder if he might have covid. There is a significant amount of covid patients who primarily or even only get gastrointestinal symptoms according to various studies, and Steve had all the symptoms of that. These covid gastrointestinal symptoms tend to last longer than the 1 to 3 day window of an average stomach virus. Also, just a couple weeks ago, one of the students in my husband’s class at school tested positive for covid (as did his entire family), so he had been exposed.

Yesterday we went to get the covid test done. Waiting to see what the results say. Unfortunately, the past 48 hours, I’ve started exhibiting the same symptoms he has had for over a week 😦 I’m not feeling good and it sucks.

My Husband Goes Back to School This Week

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My husband is a special education teacher and he starts back to work this week. Even though covid rates have been rising in the area and many schools near here who opened earlier have already had to close down due to spreading coronavirus cases, my husband’s school is still opening at full capacity, full-time. I’ll admit it worries me.

I don’t want my husband to get sick. I don’t want him to bring it home and get me sick. I don’t want the other teachers and employees to get sick. And I certainly don’t want the kids or their families to get sick.

To me, this all seems like it might be a really bad idea. I expect that they will only be open a short while before they have to close down again anyway. Especially with fall coming, when there is likely to be a true 2nd wave (not just the 2nd rise in cases we’ve already seen due to poor handling of the whole thing from the beginning).

I want to be positive, and part of me has felt this whole thing seems really off from the beginning, so maybe it isn’t as bad as they make it out to be, but I still worry.

Covid Results, Migraines, Friends

First off, I got my covid results back yesterday. No coronavirus detected! That was certainly a big relief! Now I don’t have to worry about staying quarantined for weeks!

On the sucky side of things, I did have a full-blown migraine last night. I’m not sure if it was caused by my anxiety about the test results the past few days, or something else, but it was miserable. When I get migraines like that my neck kills me too (you can actually feel the tension and swelling in the back of the neck). Like most migraine sufferers, I can’t stand sound or light, and I get nauseated and dizzy as well. I went to bed early and slept about 9-10 hours, but still feel the aftereffects of it today and fear it coming back in full force.

I’m also a little sad because while I was unsure of my covid status, some friends of mine got together for the first time in forever, and of course didn’t invite me (I don’t blame them, they knew about the covid possibility), but it still bummed me out that I missed the chance to see them.

Covid? Update

Well, I did get the test done yesterday at a drive-thru testing center. I was so glad it was drive-thru, because the last thing I wanted to do was be around a bunch of other potentially covid-infected people when I wasn’t sure if I have it yet or not. My doctor decided to go ahead and test my husband too. (By the way, the test wasn’t that bad, I’ve had MUCH worse medical tests!)

We won’t know the results for about a week probably. I’m not sure what to do in the meantime? Do we go ahead and quarantine ourselves in the house since we don’t know? If we do that and we are infected, we will end up being quarantined for about 3 weeks at least.

I don’t know how that will work when someone has to go get milk, prescriptions, and other essentials and it is just the two of us living here. I guess we just minimize going out as much as possible? We definitely won’t be visiting anyone, going out to eat, or shopping for unnecessary items.

Any of you had to self-quarantine at home? Any tips?

Covid?

Man, I feel bad. About 4-5 days ago at least, I started having issues with a sore throat and stuffy nose. I figured maybe it was a little cold, or even allergies. I started having worsening asthma symptoms and chest pain too, but figured that was the heat (it always triggers my asthma some).

Today, I woke up feeling like I couldn’t move or get out of bed. The body aches and fatigue are unreal. Worse even than some of my CFS flareups. Everything seems slowed down, and my brain is super foggy. I’ve also had headache, itching all over (and what looks like it might be hives), nausea, and a fever off and on.

I’m not sure if it is covid, but man I feel bad. I am in contact with my doctor about it and will probably end up getting tested. Our county is a hotspot here in Ohio, so it easily could be Covid.

Now, I’m going back to bed (even though I slept more than 12 hours). Goodnight.

Covid Masks – What’s Your Experience?

The whole covid mask thing has been a struggle for me. Probably for several reasons:

#1 – I have bad asthma, especially in hot weather and wearing a mask makes it much worse. Sometimes to the point that I have to escape a store or building immediately so I can breathe again before I have a full-out asthma attack (masks are required in buildings in our county).

#2 – I’m autistic. I have sensory issues galore and masks drive me crazy. I don’t like the feel of them and for me, I never really adjust. Of all the kinds of masks I’ve tried, the only ones I can even kind of stand are the surgeon ones, but even those bug me, and I can only bear them for a short time.

#3 – I have a little piggy nose, so I can’t keep a mask up, it is always slipping below my nose. It has gotten to the point that sometimes I quit pulling it up because it will just slip down again in 2 seconds, and it is easier to breathe with my nose uncovered anyway.

#4 – Anxiety. I think this plays into the asthma and the sensory issues thing. The more my asthma and sensory issues worsen, the more my anxiety kicks in, till the point where I’m not even sure if I’m having trouble breathing because of the mask and asthma, or because of the anxiety.

At this point, I pretty much just try to do outdoor activities or if I do have to go to a store or something, I get in and out as quickly as possible. Thank God I don’t have to work at a business. I don’t know how I would survive.

So what has your experience with masks been? Do they bother you? Did you adjust and get used to them? Are they required where you live? Do you have any of the same issues I have with them?

“Death By Air” Oil Pastel Painting Art

Originally, I made this oil pastel artwork “Death By Air” as a statement about pollution and climate change, but it kind of works for Covid 19 as well lol.

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Check out my art and other stuff for sale on Ebay!

I Need a Break

This is just a short note to let all my blog readers know that I need to take a break for a week or so. I’m feeling a bit burned out and things are stressful in my personal life right now (I had to take my husband to the ER yesterday because his back gave out entirely, it sucked to have to do so with the fear of the pandemic going on!)

So, if you notice I’m not posting, don’t worry, I’ll be back 🙂 If you believe in prayer or good vibes or anything like that, feel free to send them my way. I need all the help I can get right now lol.

Quarantine and Writer’s Block

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I’m having one of those days where I just don’t know what to write. Nothing good comes to mind. I don’t really want to share art or poetry today, but I don’t feel like I have much else to share lol. I guess I could write about a few mundane things going on in my quarantined life right now…

  • One of my poor kitties has a huge hematoma (blood-filled cyst) on his ear. We already took him to the vet and they gave him a shot and some medicine, hoping it would shrink, but so far, nothing has effected it. If it doesn’t change by next week, they will have to do surgery to remove it and his ear will always be disfigured. I feel bad for him. His poor ear is flopped over from the weight of the hematoma and he looks like he is in discomfort from it 😦
  • My husband is a teacher and he is trying to figure out how to do the whole homeschooling online with his students thing. You wouldn’t believe how many problems he and the school district have run into trying to get Google classrooms up and running! My poor husband has been frustrated, irritable, and sometimes almost enraged by the technical issues he keeps facing. I feel bad for him and wish I could help, but I can’t. It kind of makes home a less fun place to be sometimes!
  • I really miss being able to decompress by going out shopping. Even if I didn’t buy anything, it was fun and got me out of the house. I miss it. I guess I could still go to Walmart or Meijer or whatever, but I feel that would be unwise unless I really need to go there for groceries or other essentials. I don’t want to contribute to the overloading of our healthcare system if I can avoid it.
  • Watching the news is so depressing, I’ve kind of been avoiding it more lately. I’m usually one of those people who is up to speed on all things happening in the news, but right now it just makes me feel helpless and sad, especially for the poor doctors, nurses, and other emergency and healthcare employees on the front lines of Covid 19.

(Feeling anxious about being stuck inside during a pandemic? Consider reaching out to BetterHelp.com for help.)