My husband and I have both been sick with coronavirus for over a week now. And I do mean sick. Covid 19 is NOT just a straightforward flu. We are not the lucky ones who've gotten through it with only loss of taste and smell. We've had ongoing fever that breaks and restarts every day for eleven days. We've had intense body aches and exhaustion. Despite drinking loads of fluid, he got dehydrated from fever. His urine turned brown. I've been coughing and have had migraine-like headaches. We have been unable to eat and nothing tastes or sounds good.
Thankfully, neither of us have been short of breath but we know that could come. I've heard Covid 19 symptoms referred to as an Advent calendar where each day brings something different. A few days ago I started feeling nausea and vomited. Today's new thing is dizziness and a persistent lightheaded feeling. I have fainted once and even laying down with my eyes closed I feel faint.
Today we noticed another frightening coronavirus impact: my husband has lost a great deal of weight and looks scary thin. I've lost weight too, though not as much. The point of this blog is to talk about weight loss. Being overweight, weight loss is a good thing for me. But not like this. Covid 19 weight loss is not healthy. It's almost like a wasting away. It's similar to what I experienced when I had campylobacter or c.jejuni food poisoning.
To the people who are angry about Covid 19 closures and worried about opening things up and getting back to normal, let me offer this perspective. We don't know how long these symptoms will last. We don't know what's behind tomorrow's Advent calendar window, or the next day's, week's, etc. We don't know how coronavirus will affect us in years to come. We don't know when, if ever, we will be "back to normal."
And this is just what "healthy" people experience. It doesn't begin to cover the suffering of those with compromised immune systems or underlying health issues. Every day it seems my email box contains intentions from our prayer chain for families grieving loved ones lost to Covid. Those who couldn't survive the breathing complications or respirator. So I guess we are the lucky ones. We're a little battered and worse for wear, but we'll get through this. And we have so much to be grateful for.
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