A Covid Story From A CoWorker
A coworker of mine shared this on our work chat today. This is a co worker that I know first hand. He is on my team. We've hung out. I know him first hand. This is not a friend of a friend. This is a direct contact who was away sick. Manager didn't tell us why at the time but we could speculate. He has recovered. We have all been work from home status since end of March so there was fortunately no office spread. Anyways, this is what he shared today. Thought it was worth sharing someone's verbatim first hand experience.
[quote]I haven't talked about this at work yet, but I had COVID-19 in mid-June and it was bad. Ended up in ICU but was able to come home for Father's Day and finish recovering at home. I learned a lot while I was sick about how to take care of yourself. Obviously, I'm not a doctor but I want to share my experience and maybe it will help someone.
Call your doctor asap, especially if you lose your sense of taste or smell. I was told at the ER this is a pretty obvious sign you have it and it proved right.
ER was still not testing everyone, so going there and getting tested is not a guarantee. However, their turnaround time is about 1-2 days. If you know someone who is sick and been in contact with them or you meet CDC guidelines for high risk, then you'll be tested. I was tested because my girlfriend was sick and lost her sense of taste and smell.
500 mg of Tylenol every six hours helps with the headaches. I had a temp of 102-103 and was able to keep it down to 99-100 after Tylenol. I had to take it religiously for almost two weeks.
If you have trouble breathing and can get Albuterol, get it! I was lucky I had bronchitis in March because I had a decent supply of Albuterol on hand. This is a life saver when you are struggling to breath. It reduces the inflammation in your lungs temporarily. I was taking it every 4 hours at one point (which was how it was prescribed when I had bronchitis).
Sleep on your stomach if you catch pneumonia. Apparently, the shape of your ribs causes your lungs to flatten when you lay on your back but expands when laying on your stomach. This was also a life saver.
ER and ICU beds are not comfortable and they constantly check on you, take blood, setup IV, etc.. If you can take care of yourself at home, I recommend it as long as you can because you'll get more actual rest. However, don't avoid it if your condition is serious.
If your situation was bad like mine, you're going to need help. If you live alone and you get seriously sick, call 911 because when its bad, you're basically out of it due to fatigue, high fevers, and muscle aches.
If you lose your sense of taste and smell, food and drinks will be a struggle. Water is obvious but you'll have to experiment to find out what foods you can tolerate. I found a soft & chewy granola bar was the only thing I could tolerate. Seriously...
I hope this helps someone that gets sick but I mostly hope no one has to endure this either. [/quote]
[quote]I haven't talked about this at work yet, but I had COVID-19 in mid-June and it was bad. Ended up in ICU but was able to come home for Father's Day and finish recovering at home. I learned a lot while I was sick about how to take care of yourself. Obviously, I'm not a doctor but I want to share my experience and maybe it will help someone.
Call your doctor asap, especially if you lose your sense of taste or smell. I was told at the ER this is a pretty obvious sign you have it and it proved right.
ER was still not testing everyone, so going there and getting tested is not a guarantee. However, their turnaround time is about 1-2 days. If you know someone who is sick and been in contact with them or you meet CDC guidelines for high risk, then you'll be tested. I was tested because my girlfriend was sick and lost her sense of taste and smell.
500 mg of Tylenol every six hours helps with the headaches. I had a temp of 102-103 and was able to keep it down to 99-100 after Tylenol. I had to take it religiously for almost two weeks.
If you have trouble breathing and can get Albuterol, get it! I was lucky I had bronchitis in March because I had a decent supply of Albuterol on hand. This is a life saver when you are struggling to breath. It reduces the inflammation in your lungs temporarily. I was taking it every 4 hours at one point (which was how it was prescribed when I had bronchitis).
Sleep on your stomach if you catch pneumonia. Apparently, the shape of your ribs causes your lungs to flatten when you lay on your back but expands when laying on your stomach. This was also a life saver.
ER and ICU beds are not comfortable and they constantly check on you, take blood, setup IV, etc.. If you can take care of yourself at home, I recommend it as long as you can because you'll get more actual rest. However, don't avoid it if your condition is serious.
If your situation was bad like mine, you're going to need help. If you live alone and you get seriously sick, call 911 because when its bad, you're basically out of it due to fatigue, high fevers, and muscle aches.
If you lose your sense of taste and smell, food and drinks will be a struggle. Water is obvious but you'll have to experiment to find out what foods you can tolerate. I found a soft & chewy granola bar was the only thing I could tolerate. Seriously...
I hope this helps someone that gets sick but I mostly hope no one has to endure this either. [/quote]
