Personal covid experiences

[Jean in Newcastle]

38 minutes ago, Frances said:

So the saga continues. The good news is my mom is still negative. She is being treated for C diff and could be released to a nursing home for rehab as soon as tomorrow, but they are having a difficult time finding a place that can both handle C diff isolation and has no Covid cases. They may send her several hours away. But no one will be allowed to visit anyway, so she’s resigned to that possibility.

Her apartment needs to be deep cleaned and sanitized before she can return to it after rehab. Normally, my brother’s family would handle it, but they are all in quarantine with two positive, active cases. She doesn’t even have a phone or iPad or change of clothes because no one can go to her apartment and get those things. So she asked me to see if her old cleaning person and friend from when she owned her home could do it. Turns out she is in quarantine herself because her partner and several relatives are positive. One young niece has been in the hospital for two weeks.

This is all happening in IA, MN, and WI, as my family lives or lived in the tristate area. But the commonality is a WI hotspot.

It looks like my niece from Japan will be flying home to help sometime early next month. She was supposed to be helping her Japanese grandma with dementia right now, after she finished her multi year teaching contract, but that didn’t work out. So she is actually relatively free right now and can travel back to Japan on her Japanese passport when my mom no longer needs help.

Can you order a few clothes on Amazon and have them delivered to her?  (Don't know if this is allowed). 

[Frances]

4 minutes ago, Jean in Newcastle said:

Can you order a few clothes on Amazon and have them delivered to her?  (Don't know if this is allowed). 

That’s a good idea! I will ask her about it on the phone tomorrow. I know she has lost lots of weight, so she might even need some smaller things for awhile.

[Shoeless]

2 hours ago, Not_a_Number said:

Your governor is 𝚜̶𝚘̶𝚖̶𝚎̶𝚝̶𝚑̶𝚒̶𝚗̶𝚐̶ ̶𝚎̶𝚕̶𝚜̶𝚎̶...💩

 

Fixed that for ya. 

[BeachGal]

deleted

Edited October 30, 2020 by BeachGal

[Not_a_Number]

53 minutes ago, BeachGal said:

Because some of you are dealing with Covid in your family, I’ll post this here as well as the giant thread.

The gout medication Colchicine is working very well in moderate to severe Covid patients. If you or a loved one gets even moderately sick, you should ask for it. Print out the study and show it to them.

https://www.hindawi.com/journals/cjidmm/2020/8865954/

Results: An initial analysis performed on all patients, irrespective of the availability of two timepoint inflammatory markers, revealed a lower mortality (49.1% versus 72.9%, ), a lower percentage of intubations (52.8% versus 73.6%, ), and a higher discharge rate (50.9% versus 27.1%, ), in the patients who received colchicine. Patients in the final comprehensive analysis groups (34 in the colchicine group and 78 in the control group) had a similar prevalence of comorbid medical conditions, except for renal failure, which was higher in the control group (65.3% versus 35.2%, ). HTN (71.8% versus 52.9%, ) and DM (51.3% versus 32.4%, ) were also more prevalent in the control group, although the difference was not statistically significant. Patients who received colchicine had a lower mortality than the control group (47.1% versus 80.8%, ), lower rate of intubations (47.1% versus 87.2%, ), and a higher discharge rate (52.9% versus 19.2%, ). Patients in the colchicine group also showed a more significant decrease in inflammatory markers for D-dimer (), CRP (), and ferritin (). Conclusions. Our study demonstrates that colchicine improved outcomes in patients with COVID-19 receiving standard of care therapy. Future randomized, placebo-controlled clinical trials to assess the potential benefit of colchicine in COVID-19 are warranted.

Interesting! Thank you for posting 🙂 . I hope they'll have some RCTs for this. 

Overall, I'd like to keep this thread for personal experiences, because I tend to want to discuss studies in detail, but I don't want to derail the thread. Please tag me if you post this somewhere we can discuss it! (I haven't looked at it carefully; just a note, in case you want to discuss.) 

[LinRTX]

And my daughter has tested positive for Covid. She says her symptoms are very mild. Just tired and a sore throat. Her husband is trying to get tested. He actually feels worse, but his insurance makes it harder to get the test.

[Not_a_Number]

1 minute ago, LinRTX said:

And my daughter has tested positive for Covid. She says her symptoms are very mild. Just tired and a sore throat. Her husband is trying to get tested. He actually feels worse, but his insurance makes it harder to get the test.

Oh no 😞 . I'm sorry.

[SKL]

Well, the 70+ owner at my kid's activity has been back to work and, per my kid, she seems perfectly normal.  (I heard of her diagnosis exactly 1 week ago, but the doc thinks she caught it over a week earlier - but who knows ....)

Her daughter (50ish) started getting sick a few days ago, and I haven't heard much from her, other than she doesn't plan to be back for a week or two.

Daughter's husband just had a lung transplant about a year ago.  I hope he doesn't catch Covid.

[Not_a_Number]

2 minutes ago, SKL said:

Well, the 70+ owner at my kid's activity has been back to work and, per my kid, she seems perfectly normal.

That's great to hear! It's such a random disease... 

[BeachGal]

1 hour ago, Not_a_Number said:

Interesting! Thank you for posting 🙂 . I hope they'll have some RCTs for this. 

Overall, I'd like to keep this thread for personal experiences, because I tend to want to discuss studies in detail, but I don't want to derail the thread. Please tag me if you post this somewhere we can discuss it! (I haven't looked at it carefully; just a note, in case you want to discuss.) 

No problem. I'll delete it. :)

[Not_a_Number]

1 minute ago, BeachGal said:

No problem. I'll delete it. 🙂

No need!! 

Oh, you did already. Thanks 🙂 . Do tag me if you post it elsewhere!!

Edited October 30, 2020 by Not_a_Number

[BeachGal]

Just now, Not_a_Number said:

No need!! 

I posted it on the big thread, too. 🙂

[Bootsie]

My coworker's 17-year old son has had COVID.  He was probably exposed at his workplace, but is uncertain of the source.  He felt bad for a couple of days with a fever but seems to have fully recovered now.  My coworker, her husband, and their other child living in the same home have all tested negative and have not had any symptoms.  

[ktgrok]

Friend who lives in Colorado springs just posted that her husband had an exposure at work, he and she both have symptoms, but only he tested positive (she tested negative, but has same symptoms as husband, so..yah)

 

[PinkTulip]

Happy to report my immuno-compromised nephew and his wife are still doing really well. They have both lost their sense of taste and smell, and are more tired than usual, but do not have any other symptoms. My nephew’s o2 sats have stayed high/normal and no temperatures or breathing issues at all. 

[Not_a_Number]

1 minute ago, PinkTulip said:

Happy to report my immuno-compromised nephew and his wife are still doing really well. They have both lost their sense of taste and smell, and are more tired than usual, but do not have any other symptoms. My nephew’s o2 sats have stayed high/normal and no temperatures or breathing issues at all. 

I'm really glad to hear that! 

Such a random virus... 

[Carrie12345]

I forgot to update that I learned a friend’s teenaged daughter tested positive around a week ago. Dh heard that she’s doing well, but I’ll try to touch base tomorrow.

[Shoeless]

On 10/15/2020 at 2:12 AM, MissLemon said:

I can't go into many details, but a friend and their family are all sick with covid: Two parents, 2 older kids in the house. It sounds like Parent A caught it and passed it to Parent B and Kid 1. So far Kid 2 has no symptoms. One of the adults has several risk factors and is now hospitalized. 

 

On 10/16/2020 at 3:56 PM, MissLemon said:

Quoting myself for continuity.

My friend's other older child has it.  Friend is really struggling at the hospital, and it sounds like they will be moving her to ICU. 

She says the coughing fits are BAD, and simple things like shifting in bed or picking up a cup of water sets them off. She cannot breathe normally, just tiny little breaths because deeper ones set off unrelenting coughing fits and her O2 drops.  The headache never stops and nothing takes away the pain. Psychologically, it is very hard and she's described that she is basically willing herself to keep going and keep living, because it would be easy to give up and die.  She's able to post fb updates.  For now. 

This is MODERATE covid, according to her doctor. Moderate. 

Wear your damn masks, people. 

Quoting myself for background:

My friend is still in the hospital.  Her xrays do not show improvement, but they also do not show any worsening. She is waiting to see if her covid test comes back negative. She is still on a zillion different meds and injections every day. Still is left breathless very easily and needs supplemental oxygen. They don't want her moving around at all because it drops her O2 levels, which puts a lot of stress on the heart.  But! Her attitude has improved. She has posted a little more on social media and seems to be in better spirits, has cracked a few jokes, etc, which is good. They anticipate she'll be in the hospital for several more weeks and then go home on oxygen.   

An interesting and important thing one of her care team told her is that it is extremely important she try to keep eating.  Even if she only eats a fraction of what she normally would, she needs to try because it's easy to lose the ability to swallow properly in this situation. Breathing affects your ability to swallow, and since Covid severely impacts the ability to breathe, patients are needing therapy to relearn how to swallow food and drink again.    

Her family has retested and are now Covid negative. They are still really tired and run down, but are considered Covid-free now.    

[DawnM]

I know 3 people who have died of Corona this week and NONE of them had underlying health issues that could be blamed on Corona even though it was probably something else (as people like to say.)

One yesterday was a 50 something  year old, NO health issues.   Just got Corona because he didn't like wearing masks.   A pastor at my friend's church.   

Meanwhile, I was sent home from work Wed and told not to come back until next week because one of the anti-maskers took his mask off in my office and then got Corona.   He is in his early 30s and doesn't have a bad case, but he sent 3 of us staff members home.  

I got a test yesterday and have no symptoms, so I assume I am ok, but we will see.

[Mrs Tiggywinkle]

7 of my coworkers have tested positive. 2 are off quarantine now.  Everyone had very mild cases; about 48 hours of low grade fever, body aches and chills.

I finally got a test 2 days ago but no result yet.  I still can’t smell anything. It’s very weird.

[Not_a_Number]

4 minutes ago, Mrs Tiggywinkle said:

7 of my coworkers have tested positive. 2 are off quarantine now.  Everyone had very mild cases; about 48 hours of low grade fever, body aches and chills.

I finally got a test 2 days ago but no result yet.  I still can’t smell anything. It’s very weird.

I wonder if the masking did help the severity?

[Mrs Tiggywinkle]

26 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

I wonder if the masking did help the severity?

Maybe reduced viral load just enough.  The local health department actually came into the workplace because so many got sick at once.  They agreed that it’s likely the sleeping arrangements and air system— a lot of my coworkers have sleep apnea so they use cpap at night which is known to help aerosolize the virus and increase the viral load, then there are not enough places for people to sleep in separate rooms, and there’s the air conduction system which is constantly on recycling air throughout the building.  Sleeping with masks on isn’t really feasible, especially for those with sleep apnea.  You can’t house people separately. The air system runs both heat and A/C and it’s too cold now not to have some heat.  The health department basically said: we have no suggestions for you.

[Spryte]

My kid’s best friend just lost her grandfather to Covid.  His other best friend (there are two) lost an uncle back in March.  This really stinks. My kid is having trouble processing this, he’s so sad for them.

[Not_a_Number]

2 minutes ago, Spryte said:

My kid’s best friend just lost her grandfather to Covid.  His other best friend (there are two) lost an uncle back in March.  This really stinks. My kid is having trouble processing this, he’s so sad for them.

Oh, I am so sorry 😞 . How old were they? 

[Bootsie]

DS's friend was tested for work with a rapid test, which came back positive.  This was followed up by a test that took two days to get results and that test came back negative.  He hasn't had any symptoms and no known exposure, so the assumption is that the rapid test was a false positive.

[Guest]

My dd’s good friend (remember the karaoke girl? Same friend.) has COVID. She does not seem to be terribly sick. My dd has not seen her in over two weeks, so not concerned about that possible issue. 

[Terabith]

8 minutes ago, Quill said:

My dd’s good friend (remember the karaoke girl? Same friend.) has COVID. She does not seem to be terribly sick. My dd has not seen her in over two weeks, so not concerned about that possible issue. 

Did you ever get your karaoke cds back from her?

[Spryte]

7 minutes ago, Not_a_Number said:

Oh, I am so sorry 😞 . How old were they? 

The uncle was in his 60s, I think.  That’s a guess, I only knew him from parties at the friend’s house.

The grandfather was on the younger side of grandparenthood.  I don’t know his age, but I’d guess late 60s/early 70s.  

[Not_a_Number]

Just now, Spryte said:

The uncle was in his 60s, I think.  That’s a guess, I only knew him from parties at the friend’s house.

The grandfather was on the younger side of grandparenthood.  I don’t know his age, but I’d guess late 60s/early 70s.  

Oh, gosh. That's extra heartbreaking. Not that it's not heartbreaking when a grandparent in their 80s dies, but it's more expected... 

[Guest]

1 minute ago, Terabith said:

Did you ever get your karaoke cds back from her?

My dd has them. I’ll be seeing my dd next weekend. 

[Gobblygook]

My son's good friend just tested positive, along with his parents. He is doing well now although he was pretty miserable for a few days. 

I just got official notice from their high school and DS has to quarantine for two weeks, as expected. 

[Not_a_Number]

1 minute ago, Gobblygook said:

My son's good friend just tested positive, along with his parents. He is doing well now although he was pretty miserable for a few days. 

I just got official notice from their high school and DS has to quarantine for two weeks, as expected. 

Ugh. How are his parents, do you know? 

[Gobblygook]

The latest I heard is that they are doing okay. 

[Shoeless]

16 hours ago, MissLemon said:

 

Quoting myself for background:

My friend is still in the hospital.  Her xrays do not show improvement, but they also do not show any worsening. She is waiting to see if her covid test comes back negative. She is still on a zillion different meds and injections every day. Still is left breathless very easily and needs supplemental oxygen. They don't want her moving around at all because it drops her O2 levels, which puts a lot of stress on the heart.  But! Her attitude has improved. She has posted a little more on social media and seems to be in better spirits, has cracked a few jokes, etc, which is good. They anticipate she'll be in the hospital for several more weeks and then go home on oxygen.   

An interesting and important thing one of her care team told her is that it is extremely important she try to keep eating.  Even if she only eats a fraction of what she normally would, she needs to try because it's easy to lose the ability to swallow properly in this situation. Breathing affects your ability to swallow, and since Covid severely impacts the ability to breathe, patients are needing therapy to relearn how to swallow food and drink again.    

Her family has retested and are now Covid negative. They are still really tired and run down, but are considered Covid-free now.    

I spoke too soon. My friend is having trouble again, and is being transferred to a different hospital. They are discussing intubation/ventilation. They took more xrays and her lungs have worsened, (possible bacterial pneumonia on top of Covid), and her heart is enlarged.  She's still testing Covid postive, too. 

I hope she makes it through the transfer. She started at Hospital A, seemed stable, and was then transferred to Hospital B.  The transfer was HARD. They had a hard time getting her O2 to stabilize after the transfer.  Now they want to move her back to Hospital A. 

Just...ugh. why. why why why why why....

Edited November 1, 2020 by MissLemon

[Not_a_Number]

1 hour ago, MissLemon said:

I spoke too soon. My friend is having trouble again, and is being transferred to a different hospital. They are discussing intubation/ventilation. They took more xrays and her lungs have worsened, (possible bacterial pneumonia on top of Covid), and her heart is enlarged.  She's still testing Covid postive, too. 

I hope she makes it through the transfer. She started at Hospital A, seemed stable, and was then transferred to Hospital B.  The transfer was HARD. They had a hard time getting her O2 to stabilize after the transfer.  Now they want to move her back to Hospital A. 

Just...ugh. why. why why why why why....

Oh geez. You really do seem to have bad COVID luck 😕 . I hope your friend gets better soon. 

[Shoeless]

8 hours ago, MissLemon said:

I spoke too soon. My friend is having trouble again, and is being transferred to a different hospital. They are discussing intubation/ventilation. They took more xrays and her lungs have worsened, (possible bacterial pneumonia on top of Covid), and her heart is enlarged.  She's still testing Covid postive, too. 

I hope she makes it through the transfer. She started at Hospital A, seemed stable, and was then transferred to Hospital B.  The transfer was HARD. They had a hard time getting her O2 to stabilize after the transfer.  Now they want to move her back to Hospital A. 

Just...ugh. why. why why why why why....

Guys, I'm not religious at all, but if you are, please please pray for my friend. She's doing very badly.  They are waiting for an ICU bed to open up for her.  She has bacterial and Covid pneumonia and is beyond exhausted. It's bad, really bad. They've discussed intubation and ventilation.  The pulmonologist even said something about "If it comes to needing a lung transplant..."Her name is Michelle and she has 2 kids, a husband, and a cat that all miss her so much and need her to come home.  She's a really, really nice person and was not reckless or casual about covid at all. 

And please, PLEASE wear your masks.  This isn't a joke! 

 

[Ausmumof3]

2 hours ago, MissLemon said:

Guys, I'm not religious at all, but if you are, please please pray for my friend. She's doing very badly.  They are waiting for an ICU bed to open up for her.  She has bacterial and Covid pneumonia and is beyond exhausted. It's bad, really bad. They've discussed intubation and ventilation.  The pulmonologist even said something about "If it comes to needing a lung transplant..."Her name is Michelle and she has 2 kids, a husband, and a cat that all miss her so much and need her to come home.  She's a really, really nice person and was not reckless or casual about covid at all. 

And please, PLEASE wear your masks.  This isn't a joke! 

 

Praying

[Not_a_Number]

2 hours ago, MissLemon said:

Guys, I'm not religious at all, but if you are, please please pray for my friend. She's doing very badly.  They are waiting for an ICU bed to open up for her.  She has bacterial and Covid pneumonia and is beyond exhausted. It's bad, really bad. They've discussed intubation and ventilation.  The pulmonologist even said something about "If it comes to needing a lung transplant..."Her name is Michelle and she has 2 kids, a husband, and a cat that all miss her so much and need her to come home.  She's a really, really nice person and was not reckless or casual about covid at all. 

And please, PLEASE wear your masks.  This isn't a joke! 

 

I’m not religious, but I’m thinking of you and sending all the positive energy 😞 

[ktgrok]

3 hours ago, MissLemon said:

Guys, I'm not religious at all, but if you are, please please pray for my friend. She's doing very badly.  They are waiting for an ICU bed to open up for her.  She has bacterial and Covid pneumonia and is beyond exhausted. It's bad, really bad. They've discussed intubation and ventilation.  The pulmonologist even said something about "If it comes to needing a lung transplant..."Her name is Michelle and she has 2 kids, a husband, and a cat that all miss her so much and need her to come home.  She's a really, really nice person and was not reckless or casual about covid at all. 

And please, PLEASE wear your masks.  This isn't a joke! 

 

Praying - will include her in the Prayers of the People section of church today, when we pray for all who are sick or suffering. (in my living room, so privately)

[Soror]

Prayers for your friend @MissLemon.

[mommyoffive]

3 hours ago, MissLemon said:

Guys, I'm not religious at all, but if you are, please please pray for my friend. She's doing very badly.  They are waiting for an ICU bed to open up for her.  She has bacterial and Covid pneumonia and is beyond exhausted. It's bad, really bad. They've discussed intubation and ventilation.  The pulmonologist even said something about "If it comes to needing a lung transplant..."Her name is Michelle and she has 2 kids, a husband, and a cat that all miss her so much and need her to come home.  She's a really, really nice person and was not reckless or casual about covid at all. 

And please, PLEASE wear your masks.  This isn't a joke! 

 

Sending so many prayers. 

[SKL]

I spoke to the owner of my kid's activity yesterday.  As previously mentioned, she is totally recovered.  She said they told her she isn't contagious and can assume she is immune for 3 months.  Of course nobody knows for sure, but apparently that is what they are telling people upon recovery.

Her daughter had a rough week last week, but felt "much better" by Saturday morning.

Daughter's husband, who had a lung transplant last year, is isolating - he moved in with his mom - not sure when he started that.  Hopefully he does not get exposed, as his risk is extremely high.

[Junie]

@MissLemon Praying for Melissa and her family.

[Shoeless]

Thank you, everyone. They got her into an ICU room.  I am hoping she soon will test covid negative so that her family can visit her. 

Covid is so frightening. There have been so many times where it seemed like things were looking up for her, then suddenly she'd crash down again. 

[DawnM]

Just an FYI:   I got my test results back and I tested negative.   I can return to work on Wed.

[mom2scouts]

VACCINE TRIAL UPDATE: I talked to DS and he says the trial he's in is very promising. They're hoping to have it ready in a couple of months! As we've said before, storage is a problem as it needs to stay frozen and it also requires two doses. Storage and making sure people get the second dose may make wide dispersal a bit more difficult.

[Frances]

My brother and SIL are worse today, about day 8 for him and maybe 6 or 7 for her. He’s had most of the classic symptoms - fever, cough, headache, aches, loss of taste and smell, extreme fatigue. Yesterday I spoke to him for a long time and was surprised they didn’t know about pulse oximeters given the medical people in the family. Today I was so concerned about him when we briefly talked that I overnighted one. Right after he got my text, he said an email arrived from their medical home saying they want him to be part of a study and are sending a thermometer, pulse oximeter, blood pressure monitor, and iPad. I’m relieved he’s going to be monitored, as he’s had no contact with any medical professionals since his positive test.

Edited November 2, 2020 by Frances

[Pen]

20 hours ago, MissLemon said:

Guys, I'm not religious at all, but if you are, please please pray for my friend. She's doing very badly.  They are waiting for an ICU bed to open up for her.  She has bacterial and Covid pneumonia and is beyond exhausted. It's bad, really bad. They've discussed intubation and ventilation.  The pulmonologist even said something about "If it comes to needing a lung transplant..."Her name is Michelle and she has 2 kids, a husband, and a cat that all miss her so much and need her to come home.  She's a really, really nice person and was not reckless or casual about covid at all. 

And please, PLEASE wear your masks.  This isn't a joke! 

 

 

Praying.

[Mrs Tiggywinkle]

I just got my positive today. They are considering it a reinfection as I had positive antibodies in May/June. I have to quarantine  until November 7, even though I had very mild but not definitive symptoms a week ago, they’re dating from the day I lost my sense of smell. So 10 days from start of symptoms. My kids have to quarantine until November 21. My husband has the essential employee exemption and can work; but our job is having him get tested today and then again next week.

[Not_a_Number]

10 hours ago, Frances said:

My brother and SIL are worse today, about day 8 for him and maybe 6 or 7 for her. He’s had most of the classic symptoms - fever, cough, headache, aches, loss of taste and smell, extreme fatigue. Yesterday I spoke to him for a long time and was surprised they didn’t know about pulse oximeters given the medical people in the family. Today I was so concerned about him when we briefly talked that I overnighted one. Right after he got my text, he said an email arrived from their medical home saying they want him to be part of a study and are sending a thermometer, pulse oximeter, blood pressure monitor, and iPad. I’m relieved he’s going to be monitored, as he’s had no contact with any medical professionals since his positive test.

He didn’t see a doctor?