We Have Coronavirus

Go figure ... the kids went back to school 4 days a week and we contracted coronavirus. Layla and I both tested positive, Mitch and Marcus are negative. I want to write down what happened so we have a record.

On October 7 and 8, 2020 the air quality in our area was terrible due to smoke from the California wildfires. We couldn't see the mountains at all and everything was hazy. Last time the air was bad it made me feel sick: coughing, lightheaded, headache. So when I didn't feel good on the 7th and 8th, I knew it was the bad air. I googled "symptoms of bad air" and had many of the symptoms. I also googled "coronavirus symptoms" and while some symptoms overlapped, I did not have the tell-tale signs of a fever or loss of taste or smell. I truly felt it was the bad air making me sick. For those two days I went about my normal business. While I didn't feel good, I felt well enough to keep up the regular routine. 

Friday the 9th I felt quite a bit better. I figured it was because the air quality was better. I managed to clean the entire house, catch up on school work, and hang out with the family. 

Saturday the 10th was when I work up and felt awful. My throat was very sore and red and I had body aches and my cough had returned, only worse. That morning I had a covid test and a strep test. The strep test was negative and I was told to wait 24 hours for my covid results. Saturday evening I lost my sense of taste, but didn't realize it. I just thought the dinner was bland and gross, haha. Sunday morning I woke up and realized I couldn't smell the lotion I put on after I showered. I frantically sniffed everything in the bathroom--perfume, toothpaste, mouthwash, lotion--I couldn't smell any of it! 

Two hours later my positive test result came in. I have coronavirus. 

Once I got tested on Saturday, we decided I should isolate in our bedroom. Mitch has been sleeping on the couch since then. 

Mitch and the kids were tested on Monday. Their results came back on Tuesday. Layla joined me in our bedroom and we have been isolated in here together ever since.

Thankfully, Layla has no symptoms. She had a runny/stuffy nose for a few days but it was long enough ago that Davis County Health Department does not consider it part of her current diagnosis. 

I have been quite sick. Saturday, Sunday, and Monday were miserable. Body aches, nausea, exhaustian, and not being able to taste or smell anything. Since then I have started feeling a bit better each day. I still take naps and sit around most of the day. Moving around too much tires me out quickly. I also ran a humidifier for the first 4 days, 24/7 and took Tylenol and Robitussin or Mucinex regularly. 

Today is Thursday. I still have some congestion in my chest, a stuffy nose, and I cannot taste or smell anything Not even in the slightest. It is so bizarre! If food is particulary salty, I can taste a slight salty taste, but beyond that ... nothing. 

We have since learned that Layla's school has 5 positive cases, including Layla. One of Layla's friends who is also in her class at school has also tested positive and is asymptomatic. Her family was tested becuase like us, their mom was sick. We are assuming that Layla contracted it from this friend. 

The kids are home from school for two weeks. Mitch is working from home for two weeks. I am not able to go to work or school for two weeks. Thank heavens for technology that allows us to continue working and learning from home!

The ripple effect of this is crazy. My friends are quarantined for two weeks because I went to lunch with them on Thursday (though I'm not sure if my symptoms started on Wednesday or Saturday...). The school counselor I work with is quarantined for two weeks. My uncle and his family drove from their home in California to St. George and were intending to drive the rest of the way to my parents' house when my positive results came in, so they turned around and drove home. 

Normally I would feel awful about this, but I genuinely had no idea I was possibly spreading coronavirus. Thankfully so far everyone I was around has tested negative. Still waiting on one or two more, but I'm hopeful they're negative too. 

Now we're trying to keep busy without completely rotting our brains out with tv and video games. On the other hand, I am grateful we have tv and video games because we are literally stuck inside the house with nowhere to go and even separated from each other. But each day that passes it gets better and we get closer to normal life again. 

When all is said and done, I am just grateful to have a mild case of this. I was worried at first. My lungs are not in optimal health and never have been, I think as a result of being born 12 weeks premature. So I am relieved and so happy that I was not more sick than I am. Mitch gave me a blessing on Saturday night. The only thing I remember him saying was to be patient as I heal. I am trying to do that with every tasteless bite I take of food. :)