Our COVID Story

The Beginning

It all started on a bright and happy Sunday afternoon. I was having a particularly great day with our toddler and was feeling good about getting back into a rhythm of teaching and mommying. Little did I know what lay ahead in the coming days. My husband walked in after working at church all day and said he thought he had COVID. He was extremely fatigued and felt feverish, so we took his temperature but he didn’t have a fever at the time. I was determined for him to be fine, so I told him that it was probably nothing and went on about our day. But boy oh boy, was I wrong. 

A couple of hours later, my husband actually began to run a fever. Knowing that some of his coworkers had recently tested positive for COVID, he knew he needed to try to get tested immediately. He ran out late Sunday night to the nearest open place with rapid tests. I was a nervous wreck. Most people fear the virus itself, but I feared the circumstances the virus would put us in. I started frantically texting my coworkers, knowing that if he tested positive then I would be out for a while. And sure enough, the thing I had been dreading the most occurred. My husband tested positive which meant I would be leaving a classroom full of first graders for 14 days at the beginning of the school year. Not only that, but he would be isolated and I would be caring for our toddler all by myself in quarantine while simultaneously trying to work from home. A complete nightmare. 

Day 1

Day one was honestly a disaster. My poor husband was feverish and slept the entire day in our guest bedroom. I was desperately trying to make plans for the teacher that was taking over my classroom, but our son also wanted my undivided attention. He had been struggling with separation anxiety after I had returned to work a couple weeks prior, but now he was ecstatic to be home with me. I loved being with him but the stress of trying to figure out how to work, care for him, care for my husband, and juggle it all alone for 14 days was extremely overwhelming. 

Things were okay in the morning, but as the day went on everything began to unravel. I had asked my team of first grade teachers to gather some materials for me to be able to make teaching videos at home. They graciously got everything together and left it outside of the school for me to grab after school when no one was around. I had planned to leave after my son’s nap, but he was taking an extremely long nap that day and it was getting late. So I regretfully woke him up and stuck him in the car to leave. Once I had woken him, he was not the same child he was earlier that day. He was very congested and tired and would not stop crying no matter what I did. None of his favorite snacks, drinks, car toys, or music would calm him down. He was bright red and sweating but I had no way to take his temperature while driving in the car. I had already been in contact with his pediatrician that day to inform him of our situation and he had mentioned that I could bring him in any day if I thought he needed to be tested. Well I knew they were about to close, so I immediately contacted them again and they thankfully said to bring him on in. I whipped my car around and headed for the doctor’s office. 

When I arrived, I had to park at the back entrance and wait for someone to come and let us in the back way. They took us straight to a room and we waited for the doc. My sweet boy seemed pitiful at that moment. He just wanted to rest up against me while we waited. Once the doctor came, he checked everything out and thankfully all of his vitals were great. They tested him then sent it off, letting us know it’d be a couple of days before we received results. I hadn’t really been worried about the virus to begin with, but when your baby gets sick with anything the mind starts to panic. Good news is that the doctor informed me that if my son tested positive, then there should be no reason to worry because he was otherwise very healthy. He also told me that out of the 150 positive pediatric cases at their office, none of those children had severe cases or needed to be taken to a hospital. That was actually very shocking to me but oh so relieving. 

I had also remembered that if he were to test positive and I were also to test positive, then our quarantine would be shortened to 10 days and we wouldn’t have to isolate my husband. So I thought I would try to rush to the clinic after I put my son down for bed and get myself tested. At this point in the day, however, it was already dinner time and my son’s bedtime was approaching but I still needed to go by my school and grab the materials that were still just sitting outside. So I left the doctor’s office and booked it to the school then back home again. I fed, bathed, and put my son to bed then rushed out the door and headed to the clinic.  

Once I arrived, I hurried to the front desk and was immediately told that they were no longer testing that day. All that rushing, running around, and stressing was for nothing. I defeatedly got back in the car and begin to look at the daunting days ahead. The thought of taking care of my son completely alone, working from home, and never able to leave the house for two straight weeks made me want to curl into a ball. I had experienced just one day in quarantine and was already about to lose it. I called my mom in tears on the way home, and of course she did the motherly thing of listening and comforting. Then I walked straight up to my son’s room, picked him up out of his crib, and just held him in the rocking chair for a long time. Sweet boy gave me all the calming I needed. But that was still just day one. 

Day 2

Day two was not as hectic but still quite stressful. I knew that if I wanted to be tested then I would have to go first thing in the morning. The problem was that I did not feel comfortable taking my impulsive and fussy toddler with me to wait for an unknowing amount of time. The second problem was that my husband was technically supposed to be isolated but we couldn’t have anyone else come in to watch our son. So my husband was put on dad duty while I went to the clinic. I learned that I could register online two hours before they opened, so I set an alarm and registered at dawn. Patients were instructed to wait in their cars until receiving a text message to come inside. I arrived at the clinic, parked my car, and waited. And waited. And waited. 

The estimated wait period was very wrong and I ended up waiting almost three hours to be seen. Once I finally made it into a room, they asked what brought me in and I informed them of my husband’s positive case. They had me answer “yes” or “no” to any symptoms that I had, but at that moment the only symptoms I had were congestion and a sore throat, and I thought I just had allergies. They then tested me for the flu, strep, and did a rapid COVID test. I waited twenty minutes then the doctor came and gave me the results. All the tests were negative, including the rapid test. But because my husband was positive, they wanted to do a send-off COVID test. They swabbed me again then said that I would receive the results in three days. Once again, that estimated time was very wrong. Try eight days... but I’ll get back to that.   

Once I got home, my husband went back to bed and I took over parent duty. I eventually put our son down for a nap and immediately got to work. I rushed to get everything set up exactly how it was set up when we had to teach virtually in the spring. I moved the kitchen table centerpiece to the side then spread out all of my materials across the table. I set up my computer and my ring light stand and got in position. I hit record and taught a lesson, then another, and another until my son woke up from his nap, much like I did in the spring. I still had more to record, so I thought I’d try to teach a lesson while he was awake. And of course he loved it and wanted to help. It was actually one of the sweetest things to watch him imitate me and pretend to teach alongside me. While none of this was ideal, I at least thought that maybe being quarantined for two weeks wouldn’t be as hard as I thought because I had already taught from home in the spring. However, things took another turn for the worse later that afternoon...

Once dinner time hit, I was starting to feel extremely fatigued with an incredibly soar throat. As the evening went on, a headache and chills overtook. Much like how my husband’s symptoms started, I felt feverish but had no fever at first. By bedtime, though, my temperature was 101.  Although my rapid test read negative that morning, I knew that I was definitely positive. 

Days 3-4

I took some Tylenol and immediately went to sleep, but my fever still remained in the morning. Thankfully, my husband’s fever was gone so he took care of our son and let me sleep. I honestly slept the day away. I woke up a few times and tried to help my husband, who was also still feeling miserable, but I didn’t last long before ending up back in bed. As soon as the sun was up the next day, I was back at the clinic to be re-tested. I hadn’t heard from my send-off test but I knew that I had the dreaded virus. Sure enough, after going through all the waiting, questions, and tests, the rapid test confirmed that I definitely had a positive case. I was so congested that they gave me a steroid shot and cough medicine then told me to quarantine and sent me on my way so they could see yet another patient waiting to be tested. I headed home to join my husband in our infirmary. 

It had been five days since my husband had tested positive and he was still feeling extremely fatigued and congested. His fever was gone but new symptoms began to arise, such as loss of taste and smell, body aches, and constant headaches. It was my third day since my symptoms started and my fever was still coming and going, along with extreme fatigue and congestion. We hoped that our toddler would somehow avoid contracting it, but we knew it was inevitable at this point. Then by that afternoon, lo and behold, we were all three suffering from the virus together. 

Our son had been extra tired and congested those first days in quarantine then he began to have an eczema flare up on his face. But he never ran a fever and his Covid test came back negative, so we just assumed he had a cold at first. But once my husband and I both had tested positive, I knew it was only a matter of time before he began to run a fever, too. And sadly that is exactly what happened. His fever began just before bedtime, so we gave him Tylenol and put him down. We contacted his pediatrician and updated him on my positive test and our son’s symptoms. Since we were already quarantined, there was no reason to get our son retested. But because my husband and I were both sick, our pediatrician believed that our son most definitely had contracted it despite his negative test. We were all in the thick of it together from that point on. 

Day 5

The next day, just like my husband and I had done, our son slept the day away. Poor buddy was so exhausted, congested, feverish, and not wanting to eat. He thankfully was never fussy or irritable, just extremely tired. But since we were also still so fatigued, we slept when he slept. In fact, at one point I went to check on him but he wasn’t in his crib. I found him in the bed with my husband. They were cuddled right next to each other and sleeping as hard as they could. We may had all been sick, but that is one of the sweetest images that I will never forget. 

Days 6-10ish

Time stood still through the next week. We were exhausted and a bit delusional. Unlike most viruses, COVID symptoms weren’t gone in a just a few days. It honestly took the entire 10 days of quarantine to start feeling better, and even then our symptoms weren’t completely gone. Our son’s symptoms thankfully only lasted two days, but my husband and I suffered for what felt like eternity. Having to work, making daily sub plans and videoing lessons, while also having COVID and taking care of my COVID family is honestly a huge blur. All I remember is that my husband and I took shifts to take care of our son. One of us would get up with him in the mornings until his nap then we’d switch until bedtime. Whoever was off parent duty was either working or sleeping. I honestly had not slept that much since my first trimester of pregnancy. While our son sprung right back to normal, we continued to feel sluggish and zonked. Toys that weren’t toys turned into toys, and I could not have cared less. If it wasn’t dangerous and kept him busy, then I just laid on the couch as a silent sufferer. 

The fact that we could never leave our house started to take a toll on us mentally. There is no telling how many times we went on our back deck just to get outside. We both had moments that we admitted to each other that we felt a sense of depression. But I am so thankful that we had each other. My heart aches for the people that are quarantining alone, suffering alone in a hospital bed, or living alone and avoiding going out. I cannot imagine having to do it all alone.

Because we couldn’t leave our house, we had to get all of our groceries and house needs delivered. The thought of cooking, however, made me want to cry. But we were incredibly blessed by our friends and family wanting to send us meals. We didn’t ask a single person to help us. Instead, everyone reached out to us and offered to help. In fact, we had a meal delivered to us every single day that we were in quarantine. We felt so loved and cared for despite the physical distance. 

Near the end of quarantine, I finally got a call from the county health department to inform me that my send-off test was positive. It had been eight days since I had taken that test. Eight days! How is that okay? If I hadn’t already been in quarantine and never had symptoms then I would’ve continued working and going out in public. Then who knows how many more people would have contracted it. That’s insane. But I knew the woman who called was just doing her job, so I answered all of her questions. She asked about all of my symptoms, when they began, how I felt at that point, if anyone else at home got it, etc. She ended by telling me that I needed to quarantine starting from the day that I got a positive test, which of course was eight days prior. Then that was that. 

After Effects

Although time stood still, it also flew by during those days. But before we knew it, our quarantine came to an end. Before our son could return to his daycare, however, my husband and I both needed a negative test. We were a bit worried because my school nurse informed us that a person with COVID could test positive for up to 90 days! So yet again, we took turns going back to the clinic to get yet another rapid test done. Thankfully, both of our tests came back negative and we could rest easy. We returned to work and our son returned to school. But believe it or not, some symptoms lingered on through the next couple of weeks. 

Fatigue settled over us, headaches came often, and we continued to struggle to taste and smell. Our sense of taste and smell took the longest to recover, and I sometimes wonder if it has yet to completely return. Another strange symptom that has continued to linger is brain fog. We still often find ourselves getting things confused, saying things incorrectly, forgetting things, and losing concentration. It has been a very long recovery process compared to an average flu or cold. Although the length of the virus’ duration was longer than expected, we are truly so blessed to not have had any severe symptoms or issues. It mainly felt like we suffered through a long flu, along with some other strange symptoms, but our lives were never in danger. God protected us and provided for us. We were  truly blessed. 

In Conclusion

To conclude our Coronavirus tales, my husband, my son, and myself all contracted the virus. It was miserable but God was good. This pandemic has hospitalized and taken lives of our friends and friends’ families. We have seen the true suffering that it can cause. Therefore, I cannot complain of our time with COVID, but rather thank the Lord for taking care of us. My husband is alive and well. My son is alive and well. And I am alive and well. Thank you, Lord. 

Summary of Symptoms

List of Symptoms:

• Congestion

• Headache

• Fever

• Chills

• Cough 

• Body aches

• Brain Fog

• Nausea 

• Upset stomach

• Loss of taste and smell

• *We never had shortness of breath

Order of Symptoms:

1. Started with congestion and fatigue. 

2. Then fever, chills, body aches, headache, and cough came on a couple of days later. 

3. Brain fog settled over us. 

4. Fever went away after a couple of days but the congestion, cough, aches, and headaches remained. 

5. Then nausea and diarrhea set in and came on and off throughout the duration of the virus. 

6. At some point, we lost our sense of taste and smell and it took weeks to return. (I sometimes wonder if they have fully returned)

7. Most symptoms lingered for quite a while. We still sometimes struggle with headaches and brain fog. 

8. Doctors have told us that it can take up to 90 days to fully get out of your system. Yay life.