We have Covid

RN0441

100% better than I was but not at 100% yet
Husband and I came down with Covid a week ago. He is 60 and I am 59 and we are reasonably healthy. We had been pushing some limits in going to dinner etc. and some traveling but we spent a weekend in New Orleans which is where we believe we contracted the virus. My husband does not always wear his mask OVER his nose and I do think he is the one that got the virus as I was one day behind him with symptoms. I felt it was very safe there and the businesses are very strict by asking you to pull your mask up (if it slips) etc.

Thankfully our symptoms have been mild and we have one more day to quarantine before we can join the world again. We have taken walks in our neighborhood when we feel good and weather permits.

The main symptom we've both had is fatigue and we both had lower back pain. His went away after 2 days but mine did not so I went to urgent care yesterday to be sure it wasn't serious - it wasn't, urine was normal - so they gave me an anti inflammatory shot and it is almost completely gone now. They told me they had been seeing a lot of the lower back pain with the virus. Neither of us ever had a fever.

Our son is well and has no symptoms. He was not tested.

Stay safe and I do feel that masks work if worn properly.
 

Nomad

Well-Known Member
Staff member
Omg. How scary! I’m glad you are doing fairly well. Your son probably should be tested. Some folks are asymptomatic.He will need to quarantine if he tests positive.
Feel better soon!
 

RN0441

100% better than I was but not at 100% yet
Well he told his boss his dad had it and boss said that he should work unless he feels sick. I don't agree but not my boss/job so I'm letting him handle it.

He is wearing a mask and social distancing at work so all should be fine.
 

Nomad

Well-Known Member
Staff member
It’s such a quirky thing. My friend had it. Was moderately unwell. Her husband never got it. He even had himself tested two or three times.
 

Nandina

Member
RN, I’m so sorry you guys are having to deal with this! It sounds like you’re on the tail end of it and that’s good. I would suggest son get tested too because it’s just so contagious and with all living together it’s hard to avoid.

Be well and please keep us updated.
 

newstart

Well-Known Member
RN, So glad you both made it through and are doing better. Hope your son continues to do well and not get it. All kinds of weird things happen in New Orleans, but it is a fun city. I wear my mask always. My daughter is defiant about wearing one. I believe they are working. My daughter was with someone that was COVID positive and she had to get tested before returning to work, she was negative.
 

RN0441

100% better than I was but not at 100% yet
Thanks all.

I was really impressed by how strict they were in New Orleans. I think going to Bourbon St. at night - just to take a quick walk - don't care for the crazies much - was where we contracted it. We were outside but it was busy and husband had his nose sticking out of his mask. I kept yelling at him but obviously it did no good.

We walked over seven miles in one day and went to the aquarium. It was high 70's so fantastic weather. Saw an art show and did some shopping.

In a way by having it, it has kind of set us free too.

I am a firm believer that our demise is determined by God and there is nothing we can do to change the date and time - but I know some of our kids test(ed) that! I think that made me realize how little impact I had on things when my son was being so destructive by realizing it was out of MY hands!
 

Crayola13

Well-Known Member
Thankfully, It sounds like you all have a mild case. I can't believe your son's boss told him to come in. His boss should realize the whose house is contaminated. Hopefully, your son will continue to test negative.
 

lovemysons

Well-Known Member
Hi RN,
Glad you and dear husband are recovering. ❤️
I am pretty sure I had COVID back in February. I got tested for the Flu and it came back negative. I had a cold and major fatigue. I was given steroids and antibiotics. I even quit smoking for 6 weeks cause I just couldn’t breathe...especially in the mornings. It took about a month to get back to normal.

I love your philosophy about the end of this life. Helps me to see that my son truly is in Higher hands...I am not his “savior” nor does anything I do prevent or cause his success or demise.


Hoping your son remains well.
love,
lms
 

Copabanana

Well-Known Member
I am sorry you both got ill RN and glad you are on the mend. I was feeling a bit of security having read in various places that there was no risk until 15 minutes of close proximity but then I read yesterday of a recent study that said less than 5 minutes with less than 6 feet difference, is enough to be vulnerable. Here it's all a non-issue because everything is pretty much shut down again. I am glad you guys are doing well. Tishthedish just posted on her own thread. She and her husband got covid. She was hospitalized and is now at home on oxygen. Her husband is in the ICU.
 

RN0441

100% better than I was but not at 100% yet
Hi

OMG so sorry to hear about her. I will look for the post.

My other coworker just came down with it. Her husband also but he is a nurse and works with COVID patients so not too surprising. They are young though so thought they'd be immune as my son never got it and lives with us and we did not quarantine him away from us. My coworker is 23 and her husband is 21. They got an IV right away so symptoms mild for them so far.

I do still have some lower right back pain on and off but it's dissipating.
 

susiestar

Roll With It
Hey, RN. So sorry to hear you got covid. I am glad it does not seem to be a severe case. A friend of mine had her entire family catch it. They are recovering well, but said the fatigue was the most awful part of it. They got it just before Thanksgiving. It was scary. We are mostly isolating, an of course wearing masks and distancing if we go out. I think I go somewhere maybe 1=2 times if it is a busy week.
 

RN0441

100% better than I was but not at 100% yet
Thank you!

We are leaving for Chicago suburbs on Thursday for 3 nights to see our boys for Christmas celebration.

I told two of my closest friends that we will be there and they normally come over but one will not because she is afraid she'll catch it and give it to her sick grandson. I tried to explain that we are not sick any longer and actually have antibodies but she doesn't seem to understand. My other friend is coming over.

I now wish I had not even said anything. We are not telling anyone else. People are so confused by the media and the mass hysteria it has created. We actually are carrying antibodies for the next 60-90 days or maybe longer. I work for a large steel company and they are very intent on protecting their employees so we follow CDC guidelines to the letter. I feel better being educated about all of this.

It is much more lax here on the Alabama Coast where we live because the weather has been warm and is still in the 50's. We do wear masks here in stores and social distance but it's just easier here I guess. I know this is a very controversial topic and certainly we all feel differently but facts are facts.

I honestly would never put anyone at risk and never think to lie about it. It really hurts my feelings that she won't trust me. We have been friends for 45 years. I am trying to not take it personally but it's very hard!
 

Crayola13

Well-Known Member
My dad had it. What the doctor and nurse both told us is that even if you still test positive, after fourteen days you're no longer contagious. I was afraid, too.
 

RN0441

100% better than I was but not at 100% yet
We don't even retest people at our company. Ten days after first symptom you are allowed to return to work.

If you take a test you will come out positive for some time so that is why CDC does not recommend retesting.
 

Copabanana

Well-Known Member
I don't know what to think.

My son is a covid-denier. He believes that there is no illness. He flaunts that he does not wear masks with friends. As he is now back living with M, this concerns me and it also hurts my feelings. I would want that my son loves me enough to not want to make me ill. I would hope that he cared about my feelings enough to not throw this in my face. On the phone today he said this: He spoke very slowly as if I was an ignorant child: Repeat after me . There is no Covid. Repeat after me. There is no illness.

I was enraged, but I contained myself. And then a few hours later I am questioning myself. I don't believe my son, but I wondering if I need to be more proactive in my choices. I am not talking about doing foolhardy things, without real meaning. I am thinking of biting the bullet and deciding to do my work in person.

I am sick of isolating. I go to medical appointments, out to walk most days and to shop for groceries, 1 or 2 times a week, and that is it. In my state I believe I will be in Tier 2 or Tier 3 to get the vaccine which means only a few more months of this. I hope. In my state, the virus is out of control and spreading like wildfire.

I would like to go back to work. I do meaningful and useful work. I feel that way about it. Work that is meaningful to me, and with the potential to help people. Many people in my profession are working in person while others are working on Zoom and the like. I have been planning on working remotely from home. I really don't want to. I want to be with people. The people I know that are isolating that are my age and older, have serious illnesses. As far as I know, I don't. For the first time I am seriously thinking of returning to work face to face, with precautions.

I don't know what to do. I know my son is wrong. But it could be that I have been wrong too.

All along I have been taking the stance of caution. I have been moved and I have been frightened by the stories of what people are going through. But there is a great need, too, in my area for people who do the work that I do. And this work is best done by human contact. And this kind of contact makes me happy and makes me feel strong and part of life and the world.

It's hard to know what to do. I don't want to get sick or worse. At the same time, I want to live with purpose and without fear.

__

Thank you everybody. Writing this to you helped me to arrive at a way to think and a course of action. I just read that even based on my age alone I should be getting this vaccine in the first quarter. That's not even taking into account my profession which is healthcare.

Since talking things out with you guys, I have decided that I don't want to work from home but rather want to gear up to work in my office, which is a converted house. I have never worked in. It will need to be cleaned and decorated. Most of the furniture I need is there, but we've used it for storage. No serious work has to be done besides window shades and curtain panels. Oh. New floors in the kitchen and porch and installing a water heater. I am getting excited.

This is a false choice, to stay at home or to go back to work in the office, because the office isn't ready. And beginning to straighten out and decorate the office will not expose me to risk, as it will only be M and myself. I am getting excited now. As I have a couple of weeks to do here in my house, I won't get started in the office until after Christmas or even New Years. I will try to think positively that I will be able to get the vaccine in February and that timing will be perfect. It gives me something to shoot for.

Thank you so very much for "listening." I would not have come to this decision without you.

PS I just spoke with M and he told me that my son called him and said he decided to move in with a friend. Yay. We have been very hardline. M told J last night if he wanted to stay there we ask that he show us the inside of his bag (to see there is no marijuana. He refused and M told him, well, you've made a statement and a choice.
 
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Deni D

Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass.
Staff member
I hope everyone who has gotten COVID is totally free of it by now. It being an invisible enemy, I think, makes us have such a difficult time dealing with it. Things have changed since it first came about. The hospitals are much better at treating the worst cases so the death rate is down, a bit. We hear lots of antidotal stories from people who have worn a mask and not gone much of anywhere getting it so I can understand why some people think they don't work, we know they only work to a degree. We don't know how long it lasts on surfaces either, hear different views on that. I know a few people who think it's fake, deep state trying to control us stuff, doesn't answer the question of why there are so many people hospitalized with it now.

I'd feel more comfortable being around someone who's had it recently than someone who has not. But then I remember something on one of the news channels telling people who have had it to still mask up because science doesn't know if they can get it again and just be a carrier with no symptoms.

Strange thing is down the road, when we no longer need the knowledge, scientists will probably have all of the info around all of the myriad of questions we have currently, from studying all of the real life cases today.
 

DazedandConfused

Well-Known Member
I'm so glad you did not get severe COVID-19 illness and are recovering. Too many people are not so lucky. A former student of mine lost his mother to it a few months ago. She was a denier and now her five kids ranging from 18-5 years of age have no mother.

Husband interacted with someone at his work who was positive (This person did not know it at the time, but his girlfriend had tested positive and he didn't tell anyone at work until he came down with symptoms:mad:) earlier this week. This individual is sick right now, but not severe enough to warrant hospitalization. The hospitals here are overwhelmed. Luckily, Husband is not in the office very often, and when he is he follows his own strict protocol of masking, distancing, and hand-washing. So, we're hoping he won't test positive. He won't be home until Wednesday and it will have been over a week since he was in the same room (Doing the big three) with this person.

I have to make a comment about masks. They are a strategic tool to reduce risk and spread. I sometimes feel frustrated when people use the word, "work". Like seatbelts, they don't guarantee your safety in a car accident, but they greatly reduce the risk of severe injury and death. Masks, along with social distancing are similar strategies for COVID-19 to reduce the risk of contracting the virus and spreading it to others. When Daughter was in the hospital, fighting cancer, kids in the cancer ward wore masks to reduce the risk they might contract some pathogen brought in by staff or visitors. I feel appalled and saddened by the behavior of some of my fellow citizens during this time.
 

Nandina

Member
I agree with your stance on masks, DandC. Part of the problem of doubting whether they work is sometimes people wear them incorrectly, with the nose exposed; other times, like my son told us he does, they take them off to eat in a restaurant. But if you are talking and eating in a room full of people, unmasked, the potential of getting or spreading the virus is high. And then again, if you are in a room with a bunch of people in close proximity, all wearing masks, it still may not be enough, as some germ particles will be released into the air. That’s why the health experts recommend only gathering in small groups, even masked.

The health advisers telling us these things know what they’re talking about. They have dealt with virus outbreaks and pandemics before—this isn’t their first go-around. Many have spent their lives working for public health in the U.S and around the world.

One has only to look at the reduced number of cases and deaths per capita in countries where everyone wears a mask to know that they are effective in reducing the spread of the Covid-19 virus. (I’m not suggesting a mandate here, just more conscientiousness!)

Any surgeon wears a mask during surgery to protect the patient from germs.

And ditto on being appalled and saddened by some of our fellow citizens.
 

DazedandConfused

Well-Known Member
"The health advisers telling us these things know what they’re talking about. They have dealt with virus outbreaks and pandemics before—this isn’t their first go-around. Many have spent their lives working for public health in the U.S and around the world."

I'm currently a doctoral student working toward my degree in education. I just finished one of my general requirement classes where about 25% of the students are working toward their doctorates in public health. Many of them are focusing on the COVID-19 pandemic in one form or another. There will be a lot of knowledge that will come from this tragic course of event. Unfortunately, it will come at a staggering cost of human suffering.
 
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