Sunday, April 19, 2020

Corona Virus or Fever Bug?

     Back on Feb 3, 2020 and on Feb 5, 2020 I had to go to the nurse at work for Tylenol. I had an extremely bad headache. I have not had one that bad in years. My head hurt all week but I just assumed it was stress. 

     Then on Thursday Feb 6, 2020 I woke up feeling very tired, like I had a bladder infection. My back hurt bad and I just did not feel well. So I took off work, guzzled water all day and rested. I did not have a fever.

      I woke up Friday Feb 7, 2020 feeling better, still had that headache but still no fever so I went to work. I only had one sick day left so just could not miss work. Of course if I thought I was contagious I would have stayed home but at this point I had no fever and thought it was my kidneys. I worked all day but was very tired and had to take Tylenol again for that headache.  When I got home from work my back was hurting again.

     I woke up Saturday Feb 8. 2020 with severe back and side pain I just knew my kidneys or maybe even my gal bladder were infected or something was going on related to one or the other. That is how bad my back and side hurt.  I was careful to eat low fat food and drink lots of water. I took Tylenol for the pain along with the continuing headache. In the past when my kidneys were infected I had that severe headache. What was different is that now I had a dry cough too It was not extreme but bad enough.

     When I woke up Sunday Feb 9. 2020 I had a temperature of 99.9. I decided it was time to go to ER and get it checked out. Last time I let my kidneys go my fever spiked at 105. I did not want that to happen again.  I headed to the ER around 6:00 PM. It was super crowded because this was flu season.... They had some confusion with my urine but in the end finally at 12:30 AM the next day after a lot of blood work and a CT scan they told me they did not find an infection, that my gal bladder and kidneys were fine. They said it must just be severe muscle strain and a virus or some sort was the reason for the temperature and cough.  They gave me a prescription for pain medicine and sent me home.

    While waiting at the 24 hour pharmacy to pick up my medicine I could feel my inner body temperature rising. I started to freeze and well, you just know when your temperature is rising.  

    When I got home around 2 AM after picking up my meds on Feb 10, 2020 I took my temperature and it was 101.9 needless to say I messaged work and took the next day off. I still wasn't sure about my kidneys because I wasn't real confident the hospital had been careful with my urine samples...but kidneys don't cause a cough. I just chalked that up to well, I had no clue what that was all about. 

     I was super tired on Monday, had a fever still of 101.9 and just slept all day when I could rest. 

     I woke up on Tuesday Feb 11, 2020 with the same 101.9 temperature. I still had the pain along with the body aches which started Sunday when the fever started. I pretty much slept all day on Tuesday too when I could.

    On Wed I woke up with a 102.9 temp so decided it was time to see my doctor. I made an appointment for Thursday. I rested all day Wednesday...when I could rest. The pain medicine did help.

    On Thursday I went to my appointment. My doctor said that I had a kidney infection from looking at my urine but needed to send it off to confirm. She prescribed an antibiotic and sent me on my way...

     Friday my temperature was 102.9. I still was very tired, hurt all over and was miserable. The cough was better though if I remember right. It was more annoying than anything.

     I had the 102.9 temp until Sunday when my fever finally broke. So I went to work on Monday...I was still very tired but had gone 24 hours fever free. Plus it was a kidney infection right...

     Monday afternoon my doctors office called and told me to stop the antibiotic because it was not a kidney infection.....I asked what it was and they said must have just been a virus of some sort. 


    When I returned to work on Monday I learned that many others had missed school, staff and kids alike. Then I went to my other school on Wednesday and many people were gone there. My kids told me they had experienced the same thing I had. No one really knew what it was, some had tested positive for the flu but others just had the strange fever bug. Some teachers had more than half of their student body gone. Most were gone about a week. It ran through like wild fire. Right before spring break it seemed to have calmed down a bit. 

     Looking back on the experience after learning about the Coronavirus symptoms I wonder now if we had it or just a fever bug. I hope they find an inexpensive way to find out.  If it was the Coronavirus it was not fun but I never felt at deaths door....and all of us survived! 


Side Story-Water Damage During Sickness ---Not Fun

     Not only was I sick but in the middle of it all on Tuesday morning at 1 AM my mom who is staying with me woke up and told me the roof was leaking in the extra bedroom. This was interesting as I live on the first floor of an apartment building. with another apartment above me. It had been raining though but still that was odd. But the water was pouring all along the ceiling. I called maintenance and they came to check it out an hour later. In the meantime we had to move the books and furniture from the area that was leaking All while I had this 101.9 temp and felt like warmed over death...

      Maintenance was at my apartment until 3 AM then back around 8 AM the next day to work on things. My bedroom also had to be torn apart because it leaked there too. The rain drain pipe had broken and leaked all over. So along with being sick I slept on the sofa for a few nights as it took 3 days for them to fix the leak and repair the water damage. It was an interesting addition to being ill.

+Coronavirus +Covid19 +sick

     

Wednesday, April 8, 2020

United States Needs Ration Cards During Coronavirus Government Shut Down

     Due to the toilet paper shortage  in the United States I think the United States needs to start sending our ration cards. Stores have tried to solve the shortage problem by limiting items people can buy per visit but it is not working. There is still a shortage of items and this should not be happening! There must be those who send different family members in each day to purchase items or others who go in several different times each day themselves to purchase the same item. Sadly these people do not care that others are doing without while they have way more than they need.

    Yes larger families need more of each item, they are not the ones causing the shortages. Those who are buying way more than they need are causing the problem. If everyone had purchased like they always did we would not be in this shape. Something has to change! The government needs to take control. They control everything else right now so why not this?

   They rationed during WWII so why not now. It would work like this: the government sends out ration cards for each of the high need items based on the number of people in a household. So if you have a family of 2 you get enough for your family of 2. If you have a family of 8 you get enough vouchers for your family of 8.  People go to the store, use their voucher and then have to wait until the next voucher book issued

     Just a thought....one I think that would work....Maybe by creating the ration cards some of us can find items we need when we go to the store.

Thursday, April 2, 2020

Coping With The Coronavirus Government Shut Down by Controlling Fear

I have been struggling with depression over the Coronavirus government shut down, feeling hopeless and like life will never be the same again. Like this is a forever shut down, feeling like the quality of life has taken a complete dive and wondering what the point is of life anymore. I have simply been trying to find a way to cope, a way to no longer feel this severe dread every morning when I get out of bed, to stop waking up worrying about the demise of the people who have lost work and businesses that have shut down, to stop feeling sad because all of the places I love are closed and to stop feeling this complete feeling of destitute like nothing will ever be good or normal again.

I have really been tying to find a way to cope with the depression and feeling of hopelessness which is extremely unhealthy...I have sat and wondered how I can end these feelings, how I can regain hope. How to see the sunshine through the storm.

There is nothing I can do to change what the government has done so I have to accept it and find a way to stay mentally healthy....I also realize that I need to empathize with those who fear the virus because they feel a real fear. I personally do not fear the virus as much as I fear the fallout from the shut down. I fear for the loss of livelihood for many, a livelihood that for some will never return.

I finally found something that helped me realize how important it is that regardless of what I fear it is important for me to stop letting that fear grip me. I read an article that made me realize how detrimental my fear is because those who fear the disease fear it as much as I fear the economy crashing and the fallout from the shut down....we all need to stop letting the fear guide us no matter what it is we fear. This article was helpful in putting things into perspective and to remind me that regardless of why we are in this, we are all in it and have to find ways to cope or our mental health will be our demise.

I plan to follow what this article says to do...work towards ending my fear so I can see positives in life once again.

Here is the great article!

https://medium.com/the-mission/why-coronavirus-should-be-the-least-of-your-worries-d6ed6abe75bc