I somehow lived to tell about it.

[woodeye]

After battling COVID for 2 weeks, I can now safely say that I lived to tell about it. It has put a major hurt on everything I had planned, but I can now attempt to catch up somehow, or at least make a gallant try at it. I'll be honest, I had pretty much given up on the idea that I would catch COVID, but it reared its ugly head and raised my awareness with lightning speed. It is some sneaky stuff and apparently will come right at you when you least expect it. At least that is what it did to me.

I tested NEGATIVE for 2 consecutive days as of 10:00 a.m. this morning. Yay!

[amyinowasso]

So sorry you've been sick!

[chrysanthemum]

Thanks be to God!

[hmoosek]

Man, I’m sorry you’ve been sick. I had no idea. I’m sure glad you’re on the mend! Praise the Lord!

[heavyhitterokra]

Woodeye,

You've had a rough time of it the last few weeks running. As if all of this pollen in the air were not enough already. You and Chester are both in our prayers. Thank goodness, it's Springtime. This weather makes it tough to keep a good man down.

I'm so glad to hear that you're feeling better now. It's really easy to over-do it, proceed with caution, my friend.

[macmex]

I've always tested negative but the worst was probably before they knew to test for it. Had just spent a week in Seattle, with my son and his family. During that week the first officially recorded cases were reported in the USA, in Seattle. Less than a week after I got home I was hit with a terrible "flu." Couldn't breath unless I was sitting up and lost my sense of smell and taste for two weeks. I went through an entire bottle of ghost pepper hot sauce, during that time, just trying to taste my food. It was notable, that when I was well enough to go back to work, I was still very weak for another two weeks. Kept thinking I was all better when I wasn't.

That was the only time in my life, until this last January, that I simply had to give up and not do chores. I realized that if I tried to push through, someone would probably find me laying out in the mud, some hours later.

[woodeye]

I bought one of the forehead temperature instruments the other day to simplify taking my temperature. It is shaped just like the IR temperature gauge I already had, but is just for body temperature. It was $15 and some change with tax on amazon and works great. In 2 seconds or less my temperature is checked and I'm done with it. 

Taste and smell functions are out of whack still, but slowly coming back. I am easing back into the swing of things more now, I hadn't done much during the past 2 weeks except help Chester with going to doctors and tests and so forth. He has Covid too and has been in the hospital for a week now. He is still on a ventilator, but they are giving him breathing tests each day to determine if he can be taken off the ventilator. I don't have Covid now, but still can't visit him until he is off the ventilator and cleared for visits. It has been a stressful week, but we'll get through it somehow.

When I got Covid it made me feel just like the regular flu, but it seemed like the lung congestion was worse and caused a very deep painful cough. It hurt! I had that symptom for about a week, and any activity whatsoever seemed to trigger it. 

It's great to be back among the living! I hope that this bump in the road will smooth out, it's gardening time, so it will soon be full steam ahead! (right now I'll remain at half steam until I regain strength)

[hmoosek]

I’m so sorry woodeye. The wife has been having health issues and needs surgery, so I haven’t been keeping up with the forum like I normally do. I sure hate to hear this about you and Chester. I’ll try to stay a bit more in the loop. God bless you both!

[woodeye]

Thank You all. I sure am sorry to hear about your wife having health problems and needing surgery, hmoosek. I hope the best for her, as well as yourself.

I am hanging in there, continuing to ride this out. 

I got word this afternoon that the nurses are trying to see if they can take Chester off the ventilator each day. They have some sort of breathing test to see if he will breathe on his own, they tried twice this morning but were unsuccessful, so they will try again each morning until it can be taken off. He is being sedated while he is on the ventilator so that he doesn't become agitated, luckily they have done a good job of dialing in the amount of sedation to help him through this without causing him too much stress. He is responding to commands with "thumbs up", so that was good news because I know that deep down he hates being on a ventilator. He was on one 2 years ago for a week or 10 days, it took several tries before they could take it off of him then, so by that I know that the current problems they are having with him are not new, they will get it done soon. Visitation has been suspended while he has COVID, I'm hoping that he is over it soon and I can visit him before long...

[chrysanthemum]

Woodeye, I’m glad that your infection is all gone so that obstacle is cleared. I’ll be praying that you can get in to see your brother sooner rather than later. I’m sure that hearing your voice or the voice of another loved one, even if he is sedated, would be a blessing to him during this time while he heals.

[rdback]

Oh woodeye, I had no idea! I couldn't "like" that first post because having Covid is not a likeable event. So glad you're feeling better. And Chester having it is definitely "no bueno" as well. I hope both of you continue to improve and Chester can get off that vent. I'm sure he'd like to see you. Take care of yourself Teddy, and don't push too hard. We're not as young as we use to be. Take time to recover.