My ongoing battle with COVID-19

[Jigman13]

I know this isn't a fishing post but it deserves the eyes and attention nonetheless. And it actually started on Saturday after a solo back bay fluke mission...

I take the CDC precautions. I wear a mask. I sanitize. My kids wear their masks. We sanitize them. We limit our exposure to people with minimal grocery store and beer runs. The occasional home depot one off. That's about it.

Last Wednesday my 12 yr old son spiked a 101 fever. Dosed him ibuprofen and it went down. Never came back up. Day or two later, dry cough and lite scratchy throat. He was bouncing off the walls, eating, gaming, running around the yard no worse for wear.

Saturday I went back bay fluking. Saturday night I started feeling off. Wasnt sure if it was the heat I exposed myself to or what--i drank lots of fluids and stuffed my face. Woke up foggy on sunday. Had breakfast, took some advil and had my usual cop of coffee. By midday my lower back started to ache. Not strain ache, but "oh shit I think I'm getting sick" ache. As the sun set every joint in my body from head to toe felt like it was 3x the size and on fire. It felt like I was getting beaten with a hot pipe.

In bed Sunday nite, took my temp...102.8. Ok, this is no joke. I was laying in 65 degree room with 3 blankets on, shorts, t shirt, sweat pants and hooded sweatshirt--freezing and on fire at the same time. I didnt take fever reducers immediately as I wanted the fever to do what it's supposed to do. So I laid in bed, wrapped up and bundled, writhing in pain. I eventually passed out.

When I awoke very early monday morning, I had sweat thru every layer, every blanket and my sheets. I thought I peed the bed. Stripped the bed down, into the washer with bleach along with my clothes, up into the bathroom where 3 advil slid down the hatch. Started the shower. Set the temp to about body temp. Didnt wanna raise my temp again after that... I step in and I weakly moan in pain. Just the water from the shower head hitting my skin had my nerve endings firing. It actually hurt to shower...

At 830ish monday my son and I went to get tested. Upon arrival neither of us had fevers. The advil worked for me and he was 4plus days removed from his fever. We both got the deep nasal pharyngeal swab. That's also awful.

The rest of Monday I just ate and drank fluids, took vitamins, tested and walked around my yard when I had the energy. I didnt want to get complacent or atrophy in anyway. The aches were def prevalent and the bottoms of my feet hurt something fierce. Monday nite was a lesser repeat on sunday nite. My fever reached 101.5. I let it run its course for a few hrs, sweat profusely and then dosed advil. Fever came down to normal temp. Body aches still prevalent. I slept 6 or 7 hours on and off. Felt like decent rest.

Tuesday morning I wake up, no fever. I check every two hours. Wicked body aches though. I mean, brutal brutal stuff. 10 am I get a call with my test results. Shocked as i was told 3 to 4 days. 30 hrs later I'm being told i tested positive. While I had a feeling beforehand this was the case, the actuality of it all hit me like a ton of bricks. My son also tested positive. I also have two daughters ages 7 and 5 and my 36 year old fiance. Now what?

We traced back 14 days. Contacted everyone we remembered seeing or contacting. We're causing an all out community shit storm...at least we think we are anyway. Thankfully people are being understanding.

Tuesday night, no fever but I'm having a hellish time falling asleep bc of wicked, lucid dreams and full on anxiety like I've never felt before. I slept in roughly 2 hr increments. The terrifying dreams I cannot recollect. I recall merely flashes and bursts of light, and all around unpleasantness that had me shaking and sweating, keeping me from prolonged rest. No illness has ever done this to me before. Oh, and before bed I completely lost my sense of taste. Great...

Today, Wednesday, I woke up around 8 am. No fever. Lingering body aches. Dull headache. Same light, dry cough and scratchy throat I had since day 1. Had a telemed appt w my primary care MD and we went thru everything I laid in this post. He said I sounded better than most at day 4. My loss of taste was an anecdotal positive bc with the 250 cases hes helped manage during the pandemic, those who lost their sense of taste, encountered no breathing issues and had no underlying conditions fared the best. He was optimistic of my recovery. That was a slight relief to hear. He said to keep doing what I've been doing, quarantine for 10 days from test date, and get my daughters tested and keep an eye on them.

Kids arent nearly as statistically impacted by covid-19. The data, while not massive in subjects and tests, shows overwhelming ability for their immune systems to simply handle it better for a couple of reasons... their immune systems lack experience which benefits them in the case of covid-19...their bodies are learning the virus and fighting it strategically vs an adults all out onslaught. 2nd, they lack the immune receptors adults have.

Think of covid as Muhammad Ali's rope a dope... it's making our bodies fight it harder than necessary. In doing so two things occur: 1) our immune systems damage healthy parts of our virus plagued bodies and 2) our body is left in an even weaker state allowing the virus to take over. In bad scenarios, hyper immune responses occur where the body basically goes kamikaze to kill the virus regardless of what's in the way. This is deadly.

Anyhow, I wanted to share this with all of you. Not for well wishes. Not for 'hang in there, pal'. I know many of you are in my age range (37). Some with a kid or multiple like myself. Aging parents. You're also likely just as cautious as I am. Covid doesnt give a shit how cautious you are. It doesnt matter how old or young you are. It doesn't care how big your boat is, or how big the fish you keep lying about was. White guy? Who cares. Black guy? Who cares. Dont speak english? Who cares. It's no joke. It's not a hoax. It's not the government trying to control us. It's not something created to get Biden elected, or Trump out of the WH. Whether or not its naturally occurring or lab-manifested can be debated, but the truth of the matter is this virus is a well-oiled machine. It royally f'ed me up. And it's only day 4. I dont pray. But I might start. Not for me, for my kids. I hope they dont get the symptoms I've had. I also hope after 7 days I'm recovered and we're merely antibody carriers.

Wear your mask. Wash your hands. Wash your mask. Socially distance. I dont care what the president or governor says is open or what have you. I heeded the proper warnings and still caught it. Be careful.

[thmyorke1]

Thanks Jigman, I am wishing you and your family the best, please let us know how you recover. Sounds like you're holding up well and the family will be in good health

[AndyS]

Wow, some people I know 3+ weeks to get results back. Glad you are on the mend.

[bigfishy]

Sorry to hear....dont be afraid to get re-tested.... ya know like a second opinion....lots of false negative and false positive results goin around....ur symptoms sound earily similar to mine everytime I get sick, which is only once or twice a yr....

Good luck bud

[saxmatt]

Damn dude, that’s scary. I hope you and your family make it through it okay.

[Skunk City]

I think a lot of people have grown "covid-fatigued", in the fact that they are getting lacksidasical with their efforts to prevent this infection now that summer is here. You guys did the right thing and still got sick. You're a young man with a young family, that should open some eyes. For that reason only, I thank you for your post Jeremy. I work in a nursing home in Bergen county that got rocked hard by covid-19. Patients, staff, old, young, didnt matter. Hopefully you guys kick it quickly. With my younger coworkers that got it, it will suck for anywhere from 6 days to 6 weeks. One kicked the fever after 6 days and felt completely fine after, another was out for 6 weeks and still is having some breathing issues. A bunch in the 10-14 day time period of feeling rough. And yes, the nasal swab tests suck and are not a fun time. Tomorrow will be my 10th lol.

Jeremy sorry to read about you and your boy contracting the virus but thanks so much for sharing your story. People need to read your post and understand that even people who are well-intentioned and well-prepared are still at risk of being infected.

This isn't the common flu and if people don't start realizing that we're dealing with something the world has never dealt with before and start listening to science and world health leaders, this country is going to be in for a rude awakening if it's not already.

I wish you, your boy and your entire family the best making a full recovery. Take nothing for granted my friend as this virus can have lingering after effects as well. I hope and pray that people start to understand the severity of the health crisis we're dealing with as opposed to throwing caution to the wind and worrying only about their own personal agendas. That's only going to fuel the flames of what we're dealing with right now.

Wishes for a speedy recovery and thanks again for sharing your story. Certainly not an easy thing to do.

[Stella blue]

Thoughts and prayers for a speedy recovery for you and your family

[RiverRat77]

First I wish you and the family the best of health.
Second..Thank you for putting this out there. I am of very similar age, 2 kids both young men in high school. I have been slipping lately with the Covid-19 awareness. Not after reading your story, I am gonna start tidying up the ship a bit.
Again thanks for sharing & hope you bounce right back.

[icebadger]

jigman hope the best for you and your family that was a scary post, you were doing all the right things and it still found you. what did you come up with as far as who you were in contact with? any thing out of the ordinary? can you remember any place different you might have been? i know you do not pray so let me do it for you may god grant you and your son a speedy recovery and keep your other family members safe hope to hear that you got through this horrible experience.