Reca M.
My COVID experience: I was one of the more careful ones, happy to be in quarantine, loved the loss of FOMO, found it so interesting to see what my kids eat every day, had an easy-to-work-from-home job, a mini gym in the basement, liked my family—probably acted a little too smug about my quarantine enjoyment—hence the COVID payback.
Once my mom got vaccinated, I got a little looser with public attendance. We went to our first restaurant, I went to the container store, and lingered in a grocery store.
Luckily, I was the only one in my family to get COVID. My husband was on a ski trip at the time, so my 14 and 15-year-old sons were in parentless heaven. My mom brought them meals and they were pretty much on their own! (I loved their faces when I went into their room, double masked up, one 2AM because they were having screaming good fun playing video games).
My initial COVID experience was probably pretty typical. One morning I was fine, felt feverish by the evening, confirmed the test that night. The funniest part was telling my boss every 3 days that it would probably only be another few days—for 3 weeks. My company strongly encouraged rest until you feel better, one of our execs had just been through a rough experience trying to come back too soon.
I never felt like I was going to die, but the cough and fever lasted a solid week. The oxygen meter(s) could barely find my score, so I gave up on trying to use those. I chugged gatorade and craved Twizzlers —finally a friend dumped a mega-pack at my back door!
Ten days in, no more fever, but not getting better, I went to see my doctor. Turns out I had pneumonia, but they never told me or they did tell me and I never heard it. They gave me steroids, which I blamed for the 17 pounds I gained over the next two months.
Three weeks later, I was ready to start to work from home again, with the occasional nap, and mostly from bed. After six weeks, I still could not stay awake past 7 PM or walk more than 2 blocks. Or drink wine. That’s when I realized I might be a “long-hauler”.
Talking to friends who were also going through this (like Amy), was a huge help. Amy stressed the positive-thinking process, lots of turmeric and healthy eating. She made me feel like I had some control.
As the vaccine became readily available, I hesitated, hoping I was immune, but also couldn’t imagine ever going through this again. I took my first shot 10 weeks after COVID started. For 2 days I was just as sick as the worst of my COVID (probably took the vaccine too soon), but then, once the wave of vaccine sick went away, I immediately felt “normal” again.
I was able to watch more than one episode a night of a show! I could walk more than a few blocks. Now it’s all just a 2021 memory! Best of luck getting through this if it’s new to you and know it will not last forever!
