March 31, 2020
I’ve been sick. Last Wednesday I woke in the night with a fever. I called the Covid-19 hotline in Cape and was given questions. I answered all questions and did not qualify for testing. the good part is, I did not qualify for testing. The bad part is I will never know.
I try to live my life honestly and openly before God, my husband, my children and you. I know a lot of you are worried about me so I will tell you what happened as best as I can remember. The prayers, texts and kind thoughts have kept me going when I couldn’t face facebook. Well, plus I constantly listen to 99.1 Joy FM in St. Louis mostly because I know the lady that’s been doing mornings and she just calms me and I am still sad that she moved from Cape and left our radio station here. She used to do mornings here and we listened on the way to school, but then there she would be dropping her kids off right when I was dropping mine off. I made a game out of it. I wanted to hear her voice on the radio and see her at the same time. I pretty much thought it was magic. She would read the daily devotion in Jesus Calling for Kids. It spoke to me (still does) every single day. One day I finally asked. Truth was, she prerecorded the first two hours of her show the afternoon before so she could get her kids off to school every day. Now, when the new girl reads Jesus Calling every day, I still miss that voice…and smile because I knew her secret. (sorry, I digress)
So, the big question about being sick right now is pretty obvious. Covid-19?
Honestly, I don’t think so. But you know how it is at night when there’s no one around but the evil one to scare you. I spent two solid nights not sleeping a wink. This did not help my recovery. At first fever I called the hotline and did not qualify for testing. (we had been sheltering in place for 9 days, I had not come into contact with anyone who had the virus, taken all recommended precautions. The head doctor at southeast said that it would be very unlikely (it was still too early in our town). I didn’t want to go to the doctor to get anything checked out.
We received a letter from our insurance company saying that they were offering visits with MDs via video chat so I called the number and waited 6 hours to talk with a doctor who determined that I most likely had the flu She asked me the same questions as the hotline nurse asked. She prescribed tamiflu and Tesson perles for cough.
My friend is a nurse practitioner and the day before I got a fever I mailed her masks. Well, the next day I had to tell her that I got a fever and to sanitize the masks when she got them. She did and she kept checking on me every few days. I would get better but get scared at night then fever would return. I drank tons and tons of water and peed and peed (could this be the reason for the need for toilet paper?). Jeff would show up at the door and set food down for me. My fever would go up and down. I alternated sitting up and laying down and pacing a circle in my bedroom. When I felt well enough, I asked Jeff to open the front door and I left for my little craft castle. It has a longer pacing path. Through the whole sickness, my fever did not go over 102. I could eat and smell and taste and felt hunger. (Our large animal vet always says, “If they’re eating and $^i3, they’re not dying” so I took that as encouragement! I got delivery of eggs, bananas, oranges, suppers, and three glorious Doctor Peppers.
The last time my fever rose, I got on my knees and layed my burden down. That night I slept and had pleasant dreams. I woke to fever but I still felt better. On her daily check I asked my friend to call me in a script for an antibiotic thinking that it could have been a sinus infection that moved into bronchitis. Which given my sinuses and spring and the time we’d been outdoors and the fact that we were sheltering in place since the president told us to and sanitizing everything in site makes a whole lot more sense than the other. I started the antibiotic yesterday and have been fever free since yesterday evening for sure. I haven’t taken Tylenol or ibuprofen since Sunday. The triage nurse says I have to be fever free for 3 days in order to return to my family. I feel incredibly guilty. I want to be taking care of them. But my friend Sue says I am doing the very best thing I can do for them.
Right now, I just have a cough. But when I get any kind of sick, I get powerful coughs. I don’t want to video chat because of the coughs, but I am looking forward to the CSKMS sponsoring Zoom events for us to be able to get to visit. Tonight I did a Zoom meeting with our Grandma day crew. It was so good to see them. We are planning another one tomorrow and hopefully by then Gma will get to do it too!
In this, I am so blessed and haven’t missed a chance at giving thanks to God. Right down to when I finally got to see my Church service on Sunday, the first words I heard our wonderful pastor said were “do you have anxiety right now?” https://youtu.be/XcsoVGtN4U0 God is with me, as He is with you my friends.
So all in all, yes, I’m feeling much better! I hope this finds you in good health and counting your blessings as well.
happy cranking my friends. or mask making. whatever we can do to help in this time is much needed and appreciated.
jamie