On St. Patrick’s Day, my wife went to the local pub and brought back a couple orders of to-go Corned Beef and Cabbage. A few days later she got a notification on her phone that she had recently been in a location with a known COVID case. A couple days after that she came down with what we would find out is the UK variant of COVID. The county health department called her a couple times and advised her to quarantine from the rest of the people in the house, as she was starting to have symptoms. We found out that the variant she was exposed to has a 92% chance of infecting everyone in the household and that is exactly what happened. 

Many have asked me why I didn’t blog the progression of the virus while I had it. The truth is that I could not even sit at my desk to turn on my computer. The brain fog that everyone who has had this virus talks about is a very real thing,. If I had been blogging, the entries would have been nothing more than “Today I feel like I want to to die.” over and over. In all, my symptoms lasted a little over three weeks and I did genuinely feel like I wanted to die. 

Symptoms

I’m almost completely blind, and I normally have heightened sensation to loud noises, and bright lights. The one thing that really stand out for me is that the normally loud noises were deafening. I haven’t heard about this form many who have had the virus, and my wife and son who also got the bug did not have this symptom.  The simple act of closing the microwave or closing a door was uncomfortably loud. The good news is that as I recovered and the symptoms started to fade, this was one of the first to go. 

Many who have had the bug talk about the fatigue that comes especially in the evenings. This was weird. About four every afternoon the “COVID Demons” arrived and they brought with them chills or sweats and fatigue so bad that walking up the stairs to our bedroom required a nap. Often walking up the stairs required a break or sit down halfway up. I usually walk 2 to 3 miles a day, so this level of fatigue was very unusual for me. 

I had zero appetite during the virus. I ended up eating almost nothing for seven days straight and lost a total of 21 pounds during the virus. My days were spent moving from one place to sit or lay to another. There was little time when I wasn’t overheated or freezing cold. I never got a fever over 100 the whole time. My oxygenation (a nurse friend got us a pule oxygen monitor thing you put on your finger.) and a few times my oxygen level dropped to 85. 

Overall this bug was the most miserable sickness I have ever had hands down. 

Guide Dog

My guide dog Fauna loves to hang out and sleep when we aren’t working. Because we were on county mandated quarantine at our home, she did get bored at times, but overall she weathered the virus well. 

Recovery

As soon as our quarantine was over and we were technically allowed to leave the house I took time to sit and lay and be miserable. It wasn’t until the following week that I started to feel well enough to go out and take a few short walks. We ventured to the grocery store and got a few things, but the trip took so mouch out of my wife and I that we nearly spent an hour sleeping in the car before heading back home. 

I was not able to walk my normal three miles distance for quite a while. It felt like I was not getting enough oxygen and I was extremely tired after even short walks. This was tough for my guide dog, because it was getting to be beautiful days outside and she was wanting to walk our route and see the sights. 

Vaccine

I have been told by my doctor that I must wait at least 8 weeks before getting the vaccine. UC Denver Health is suggesting 12 weeks after first symptoms. I will get the vaccine as soon as I am able to safely get it because I do not want to go through that virus again. 

Getting back to normal

I am now back to what I consider a normal schedule, and I am able to walk my normal distance without having to stop and rest. I had a few lingering symptoms, including hot and cold flashes in the evenings. Now that things are getting back to normal for me, I will be writing more blog entries here. I appreciate all of the readers who sent me messages while I was under the weather your postivie words mean a lot.