My Personal Covid Story

We all know how 2020 changed our lives. When reports out of China in late December 2019 confirmed there was a respiratory disease spreading in China, it wasn't on the common person's radar. When SARS-CoV-2 (Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2), better known as Covid-19 started to spread beyond China, here in the U.S. folks went about their normal lives as if Covid-19 wouldn't be an issue. We all know about the failure of our Government for its negligence in preparing for the greatest most destructive public health crisis in a century. But this story isn't about that particular catastrophe. This is how Covid became personal to me

I became aware of the Covid outbreak in early January. I had saw a report on CNN about the outbreak in China. I thought it was similar to other outbreaks you hear about all the time. I really didn't pay it no attention as it was a fleeting thought. But a couple of weeks later on January 21st when it was confirmed of the first US Covid-19 case, that news raised my antenna and concern. I knew when February rolled around and air travel was restricted, the US declared a public health emergency and the CDC says Covid-19 was headed towards pandemic status that we were in some serious trouble. I still didn't know how serious this would become.

At work I was known as the guy that would wipe down everything and spray Lysol on surfaces as well as on actual people. I was already paranoid catching the flu because of past experiences with that illness. Seeing what Covid was doing and how contagious it was/is, I went into overdrive in trying to protect myself. But in February I felt leery about the Covid situation. My daughter participated in the Cotillion. It was to be held on March 6th. But as parents we had to practice with other parents/students. I found myself constantly washing my hands and trying to avoid being around a lot of people at the practice. My father had double knee replacement surgery in late February. As I would visit him in the hospital I became increasingly paranoid about him being there. I was ecstatic when roughly a week later he was discharged and able to go home. I stop touching door handles, continuous wiping stuff down. My paranoia would be justified obviously in the coming weeks and months.

Saturday March 6th was Cotillion day and it was amazing. I got to do the dances with my daughter and it was great to see all the practice the students had done come together for a masterful performance. It was a lot of people in that venue but for some reason that day I wasn't paranoid. Then the rest of the week happened that will forever live in infamy. That week high school basketball games were cancelled because of Covid safety concerns. Then on March 11th and 12th two bombshell announcements. On March 11th the NBA suspended its season because a player tested positive. The next day Ohio's Governor suspended all K-12 schools in Ohio for three weeks. As an educator I was devastated because I knew that I would only see my students for one day and that would be it for the rest of the year. As it turns out so far the pandemic has destroyed education from the onset. But again that's another topic for another blogpost.

That first week staying at home was depressing. The Country was led by an idiot, everything was shut down including Sports and no one knew how this was going to end. I wrote a letter to the class of 2020 on Facebook describing my frustration, sadness for them that their high school careers had been upended by this pandemic and irresponsible adults. My daughter was due to graduate in 2020 and I personally was devastated for her. But she was resilient and handled everything well. We eventually adapted and practice the safety guidelines of hand washing, mask wearing and social distancing. We had an event outside for my daughter's graduation. We took some subtle chances in the Summertime but for the most part we were determine to stay safe and not catch Covid. As school was to come back in session I went to my paranoid self and continued my own personal protocols. Again I adapted to this new normal and was determined to ride this pandemic out safely. Then December 2nd happened.

That Friday after Thanksgiving I started coughing. I didn't pay it no mine as I thought it was a reaction to me walking/jogging outside the previous day. As the weekend approach I remember coughing but again I thought some cough medicine would be appropriate and I was good. On Monday I could barely get out the bed because I had a sinus headache along with body aches, coughing and congestion. On Tuesday the same symptoms. I still believed I was experiencing a cold or something else because I hadn't been anywhere I thought to get really sick. On Wednesday December 1st my body aches had dissipated but I experienced a fever of 101 degrees. That's the day I went to take a Covid test. I had started wearing a mask earlier in the week in the house as I was trying to be safe. But I still felt I was Covid free. On December 2nd that night I got an e-mail and it was my Covid results. I wasn't surprised the results came a day later as I had taken two Covid test previous and I received the results a day later on both of them. When I checked the results and it was positive, my heart dropped. For a couple of seconds I panicked and was scared. What if I gave this to my family? How in the world did I get this? Will it get worst? A lot went through my mind in a short amount of time. I shared the results to my wife and we immediately went into action. I isolated myself and my wife started to disinfect the house with my daughter immediately masking up. I called my father to let him know as he and my step mom was dealing with Covid themselves. I called my brother and a couple of close friends to tell them as well. That Thursday night in my guest room I just prayed that the mild symptoms I was experiencing would be the worst of it. But to be diagnosed with Covid without having a clue as to how it happen was perplexing to me. My father told me not to try to figure it out as you'll drive yourself crazy. That night was one of the scariest nights of my life. I went to sleep vowing to do everything I could to get better and fight Covid.

I continued to have mild symptoms. But Covid wears you down and makes you feel like you can't function. I took supplements, supertonic, drank tea and other remedies. I would sleep often and feel lethargic. I would also have chronic coughing fits although afterward I would feel a little better. I still would have sinus headaches also and congestion. About a week and a half my wife tested positive and she had to quarantine as well. My daughter continued to test negative. We spent the whole month of December dealing with Covid and that was tough. My birthday was spent on a lot of Zoom calls in my guest room. But through all the madness I always felt blessed because it could've been worse for not only myself but my family as well.

As of this writing I've pretty much recovered currently. But Covid makes you feel differently. I still deal with chronic fatigue a month after my original diagnosis. It has gotten better over the last couple of weeks but I'm still not near 100 percent. I still have some coughing but not like earlier in the disease. There have been many reports of what they call "Covid long haulers" that experience symptoms (I failed to mention I also lost my sense of smell. It took about three weeks for me to regain some sense of smell and now it's fully back) for weeks/months. But others are not as fortunate. The untold story of Covid is how it can ruin a person's mental health and cause damage to organs for years to come. There are multiple stories of folks that have been devastated by this pandemic. We're not even talking about the more than 350,000 citizens and counting that have perished. Think about their families the next time someone says there's a 99 percent survival rate. Me and my father on the phone one day talked about how Covid is a monster. We said we experienced the mild monster so just imagine how the monster treats folks with serious disease. Covid is not to be taken lightly.

It angers me when you have those folks playing down Covid and the pandemic. They seem to not understand what this pandemic has done to not only our economy and health but our children. I have no tolerance for these imbeciles that want individual liberties over collectivism. Those folks along with our mentally ill so called President are responsible for numerous deaths and destruction from this public health crisis. So much misinformation and lies that spew form these idiots on a daily basis. For me this has become personal. Me and my family have been affected in more ways than one. And I vow from this day forward to be the arbiter of truth and pertinent information to fight this monster we call Covid-19. Because this fight is personal. And I plan on winning. My question to you all is will you join me!?