“Recovery”, it’s a simple word, yet holds great meaning to those who have battled the Corona Virus in full combat and live to tell the tale. Today I had the honor of speaking to someone who is barely coming back to some bit of normalcy after being sick since January. I had no idea she was sick, until I got a chance to speak to her over the phone after several attempts to connect since the beginning of the year. I remember leaving her a voice message saying, “I hope all is well”. Today I learned that all was not well, and boy did she have a story to tell.
She told me she got sick at work. A co-worker of hers had come to work although his wife was sick and he was showing symptoms. She said she did not think he should be there, but he stayed at work anyway. Due to normal day to day task, he answered the phone, but the call was for her. When he passed her the phone, he also passed her the virus, because no more than a day later she was in bad shape.
Everything began to happen so very quickly. She became very lethargic and was hard for her to breathe. It came to a point where she asked her husband to take her to the Urgent Care. When they got there, it was closed due to the pandemic. From there they went to the Emergency Room. This is where reality hit, and everything became a living nightmare.
The moment she arrived in the Emergency Room they could see the signs of Covid 19 all over her. She was hoping she had the flu, but it was worse than she hoped. The Medical Staff placed her in a wheelchair and quickly whisked her away from her husband without her even having the chance to say bye to him. When she got situated in her hospital bed her temperature kept spiking so the nurses had to continue to pack her with ice because she wasn’t able to take any Tylenol, due to an adverse reaction with the medications they needed to give her.
With the Corona Virus many people experience symptoms in different ways. For her, she experienced an opposite reaction to taste, where others lost their sense of taste, her taste buds were heightened. They were so sensitive that bottled water taste sugary to her. She also lost 20 pounds in 3 days and had to have an IV because she could not hold down food or water. She was in the worst shape, but she said she was not scared, she was sad.
She said she was sad because she did not get a chance to say goodbye. Although other people around her had their mobile phone, she did not know where her phone was. She felt that if it was her time to go, she could accept that, but she was sad because everything happened so quick. From the moment she was taken away from her husband and rushed to ICU she did not get a chance to say goodbye and that is what bothered her the most. For 3 weeks she did not get to see her family.
As time went on, she began to get better. Her phone was found and someone was able to help her charge it so she could call her family, but the battle wasn’t over. Corona hit her hard and she is dealing with the aftermath of hair loss, and foggy brain. She literally gets headaches when having to recall information. She currently is working a part time shift no more than 4 hours a day a few days a week. Her Doctor says she will continue to get better. Her hair will recover from the shock to her body and stop falling out and eventually things will become clear. For now, she just needs to take it one step at a time.
She is so grateful to have recovered from such a traumatic ordeal. She is back home with her loving husband and family. Before getting off the phone I told to her, how good it was to hear her voice. We met a few years back only over the phone. We never met in person, but she has always been able to call upon me for support so I want to always stay available as a resource. Today she was available to me as a true testament of courage and gratitude for life. Up until today I’ve known of people who have had Covid, and as I mentioned many of them experienced it differently. Most of them mildly, but when I spoke to someone I knew who had to truly go through the full gambit of what covid unfortunately has to offer it made me realize how important it is to be cautious as we move forward in our new normal.
D.C. Beckner