Posted by: Denise on: March 12, 2021
After posting all kinds of pretty valid, but ultimately useless advice on how to prevent Covid 19, I caught it. Here is, briefly I hope, my Covid-19 timeline.
October 23, 2020:
My husband left work early with cold symptoms. It is a family business and our son is the general manager, and told my husband that not only did he need to go home (as would any employee) but that he had to get tested. So he did, with the 15-minute test. It turned out he tested positive, and by that evening he ran a 103-degree fever. Our two sons wanted me to go to our cottage (45 minutes away) and quarantine there without my husband. At the time, so suddenly, he was bedridden and too ill to look after himself. I couldn’t leave him. So I very carefully started our homebound isolation. He was already in the guest room, as soon as he came home with the positive diagnosis. I moved all his bathroom items into a separate bathroom as well, aired out the remainder of the house and wiped everything down with Clorox wipes. Initially, he only ate what I brought to his room onto a TV table I’d brought up from the basement. Once he could leave bed, we both wore masks and never stayed in the same room. I would air and wipe down any room he’d been in, which included only the kitchen or the home office. It was difficult, tedious and lonely, but I persisted.
October 30 – November 13, 2020
Eight days later, I figured I was going to beat this and not catch the virus. Ha! On the ninth day, I started to have symptoms of an upper respiratory illness. But I was okay, and kept working remotely with my laptop in the family room (the office was taken up by hubby). I did develop a cough, but it wasn’t anything to write home about. Then came the loss of taste and smell, along with loss also of appetite. It’s hard to eat when food has only texture. I forced myself to eat at least a little bit. I was diagnosed November 1. By the following weekend, I’d been advised to sleep on my stomach to avoid pneumonia. It was either this sleep position, or the cough, that created a horrific back ache. By November 9, I called my husband (who was now back at work, totally recovered) to come home as it was hard for me to function as I was terrified to cough for fear of the pain that shot through my body like jolts, with each cough. He came home and insisted we go to the hospital. We went. After a chest x-ray and a quick examination, I was given a 600mg Motrin and sent home.
I spent the next five days living on Motrin, taking as much as I could, according to the bottle (6/day, max) My body stopped coughing. I would feel the urge, but my body stopped the impulse. It was not intentional, but a response to the pain reflex. I took my temperature and oxygen reading several times a day. I’d not yet spiked any fever, but my oxygen level was slowly dropping.
November 14, 2020
By Saturday evening, the 14th of November, when my husband came home from work, my oxygen level was 77. Time to go to the hospital again. This time, they admitted me. The weird thing is that I almost immediately spiked a fever, right in the ER. I know it was in the 100s, but I was too spaced out to recollect for certain. They left me lying on the exam table for hours, as I waited for an available room. I was in terrible pain from my back, making it very hard to lay on the exam table, but the staff was more concerned about the Covid, understandably, and pretty much ignored my pain. Later that night, I was escorted up to my room where I would be oxygenated and poked till the following Friday when, thank you God, I was released.
My hospital stay was difficult. No visitors allowed, which while understandable, made it hard for both me and my husband. I did keep my cellphone charged, but I could speak for two to three minutes before I would get exhausted from the effort. I could also text, but that, too, was a challenge. TV was boring, which was a good thing, as it meant to me that I wasn’t doing that bad, or I’d just be sleeping. There was no special treatment available, as (in my opinion) all emphasis has been on vaccinating. There was no hydrochloroquine, no ivermectin, no regeneron, no convalenscent antibodies (several friends who’d had Covid volunteered, but it didn’t work that way). All that was available was steroids. Thankfully, the famous (or infamous) ventilators were no longer used as quickly as they were a year ago. They did give me an immunoglobulin infusion, and that apparently helped. As I had the infusion on a Wednesday, and was released the following Friday afternoon.
It took about two weeks till I was functioning normally. It was hard for me to walk, not only from the pain (diagnosed in the hospital via my husband’s remote pleading) as a fracture of my L4 vertebrae (low in the small of the back). Now it is March 11 as I write this, and I’m (finally!) 99% better. I will give bullet points so as not to bore you with an even longer story.
What I did to prevent getting Covid
What I did to treat Covid
At home: two different antibiotics, Motrin, nebulized hydrogen peroxide (food grade), nebulized cortisone, supplements: beta glucan/lysine, zinc, quercetin, plus all the others I normally take.
In hospital: steroids via IV, eventually immunoglobulin via IV, and for pain: pain patches every 12 hours, and Tylenol.
Medical Issues since hospital discharge:
My conclusion:
I’m not certain what I can suggest. This was my experience, and if it helps you, or gives you hope that you can survive should you get the infection, that’s a good thing. It’s not good to live in fear. I wish you life. I wish you good health and hoping we can all get back to normal sometime this year.
– Denise
Posted by: Denise on: August 3, 2020
So it’s August 3, 2020, and despite all my expectations, all of us (CLL or not) are still dealing with the COVID-19 pandemic. I have good news to share. While I am still absolutely careful (and “safe”), despite my long-term CLL diagnosis, I’m not nearly as crazed, worried and frightened as I was earlier in the process. Why? There are a few reasons.
Keeping track. I’ve been watching the stats for Michigan, where I live. In fact, we live in one of the “hot spots,” and early in the course of this thing I live close enough to a main street to hear the ambulance sirens wailing on their way to either Beaumont or Providence Hospital. Very unsettling, to say the least. I knew many people who took ill, some who we’d been with socially just about when they’d become infected — two generations of the same family. Thankfully, they’ve all had a full recovery and no hospitalizations.
We are no longer a hot spot. (Yay!) Yes, there are more cases. But I also look at the daily deaths. And daily deaths are way down. I’m sure one of your local stations would have the same where you live. Be sure to click on all three tabs so that you can see the cases, the recoveries, and the deaths. If you look at the accumulated death rate (scroll down to find this), it’s horrible, going up, up, up! But if you look at the daily deaths, you can see that the numbers are way down.
Why is the death rate down? I truly don’t have a definitive answer. We only get the information that is given us. I can make an educated guess. It could be that younger people are among the ill, and they are, as a group, more able to recuperate. It could be we’re better protecting our residents in nursing homes. It could be that the disease itself has mutated and is now less lethal. It could be that we have better treatments that are keeping people from going into that final deadly stage with the cytokine storms we’ve been hearing about. Whatever the case, in southeast Michigan, right here in a former epicenter, we’re doing pretty well. Thank God!
So what am I doing to be safe? (Disclaimer here: this is what I do, and not a blanket recommendation. Consult with your own physician or trusted health professional if you have reservations. Or research it further — which is always a good idea.) Despite these wonderful Michigan indicators, we still have to be careful. Just like we have to be careful all the time, because of our CLL diagnosis. Here is a list:
Please keep in mind that these supplements are just that…supplements. I still keep to a healthy diet with no added sugar, etc., etc. Get sleep, exercise, clean water, clean air, reduce stress (when possible), and all that other healthy stuff. Read through this blog for more of that.
The bottom line is that I’m treating the pandemic, now, the same way I treat CLL. I take precautions, I stick to them like glue. And then, I just live my life. It feels a lot more normal.
What are you doing to make yourself feel safe during these crazy times? Please write and let me know.
As always, wishing you the very best of health,
Denise
Posted by: Denise on: March 18, 2020
I’m always dishing out advise, so I will share my take on CLL and COVID-19 here. If you have the CLL diagnosis, be careful! I’m not sure we have the immune system to fight off COVID-19. I read one CLL doctor’s recommendation to get IGIV (immunoglobulin by IV) if you get sick, to build your immunity and prevent pneumonia. So keep that in mind to ask your doctor should you come in contact with this virus. I personally do not go in for vaccinations, as I believe they further stress our immune systems…however, get this information from your doctor and make your own choice. This is serious, life-threatening business, and we’re all in it for the long haul.
So what have I been doing? As of last Friday, I’ve been working at home. It feels like I’m hiding out, although I do call girlfriends, and I have nearly constant contact with the people at work. That said, I still feel isolated. I’m not confident about seeing my grandkids (there are six of them now, and I miss them!). Yesterday evening, the president indicated this could last till August, maybe July. OMG! I know I have it easier because I have the house to myself and don’t have to amuse or entertain children. We have heat and electricity, running water with a working hot-water tank, and natural gas. So far, we’ve been able to stock up on the basics. I won’t go into crowded supermarkets, but there is a local health-food store that has groceries, and I wear my gloves and go in and out quickly. There are no more restaurants, no more sporting events, our synagogue closed, schools shut down. Like everyone else, I hate this!
I’ve been ordering my supplements and stocking up on my most important items. I need my Peak Immune and my D’mannose (prevents UTIs). Yes, we have enough toilet paper. LOL My husband always shops for our home and business like a hoarder, and he bought a huge supply about a week prior to the rush, just because. We are a little low on tissues, because apparently hubby shops like the rest of the country and finds TP to be the biggest necessity.
At work, one person called in sick and another came in sick! This is a particularly vexing situation, and world-wide at that. It hit home Monday when one of our newest and youngest employees showed up to work, sick with fever and cough. (Honestly!) This despite two company-wide personal-distance meetings where all were told to stay home WITH PAY. All employees were also given printed materials stating the same. He was tested for COVID-19 yesterday. Our business is 90% shut down; it is a small business with about 25 employees. We’re waiting for his results.
All that said, I prefer to remain optimistic. This situation will not go on forever. When the weather complies, we all can gather outdoors. In Michigan, that won’t be till April, and sometimes true spring doesn’t arrive till May. But the point is that this is temporary.
What can we all do? Do you need the official list again? I’ve added a few thoughts of my own.
Stay home, if at all possible. I’ve been able to get my work done from home, so far. Avoid young children, unless you live with them and can’t help it.
Wash hands frequently. Yes, I know that most people have heard this one ad nauseum. I use lukewarm water and mild soap, so as not to make my hands dry and cracked and vulnerable to germs. Remember also to moisturize your hands frequently. I like coconut oil because its soothing and it kills germs. Also O’keefe’s Working Hands is in all drugstores and is recommended by EWG.org (Environmental Working Group).
Clean your doorknobs and other surfaces. I use peroxide or vinegar, either sprayed or applied to paper towel and wiped. (Mostly peroxide, as it doesn’t stink.) I’ve started doing this every day. Every. Day. (Getting tired of it, but still a good idea.) Clean your car interior, light switches, faucets, handles, everything you regularly touch.
Wear gloves if you go into public to shop. I wear those cheap stretchy gloves from the dollar store and wash them frequently. It’s less crazy looking and more comfortable than vinyl. It’s also still cold where I live, so not a bad plan.
Cough into your elbow.
Bow vs Elbow Bump. According to my alternative doctor, do not elbow bump in greeting if you’re also sneezing into your elbow. Instead, he suggests a Japanese bow, from a distance. If you do get an unavoidable hand shake, wash your hands ASAP immediately after, or use hand sanitizer. (I prefer soap and water.) If you can’t wash or sanitize, keep your hands away from your face until you can!
Get enough sleep. Sleep restores your immune system. I often feel better in the morning no matter what’s going on, so long as I’ve had a good night’s sleep.
Take extra supplements. Zinc tablets. Peak Immune by Daiwa. Garlic pills (odorless, if you prefer). Elderberry (all sold out now, everywhere, but keep checking). Dr. Oz recommends Beta Glucan at 250 mg. There is also Echinacea, Oil of Oregano, and Licorice.
Chicken broth. Yes, mama’s traditional chicken soup is good for the soul – and for the immune system. Home made from organic free-range chicken is best. Simply put chicken in pot with carrots and celery, and maybe some parsnips. Add filtered water, just enough to cover all chicken and veggies. Add sea salt, bring to gentle boil. Once boiling, or nearly-boiling, cover and reduce to simmer for several hours. This makes DELICIOUS chicken and excellent soup. Sally Fallon of the Westin Price Foundation wrote an entire book about the health benefits of chicken soup.
Meditate. My personal meditation is reading or writing, and sometimes sketching. Anything that gets your brain off COVID-19 or any other worry. Anything that makes you lose track of time.
Air out your house. If It’s warm enough, and even if it isn’t…open your windows once or twice a day and let the fresh air in! A good air exchange can help rid your home of some of the pathogens.
Remove your shoes when you come in from the outdoors, particularly if you went to a market. Wear slippers inside, or go around in your stocking feet. No need to potentially track in dirt and possible germs.
Change your pillowcases daily. Or every-other day, if you prefer. This might involve more laundry, but this is where your face spends seven to nine hours each night. Keep it clean!
Know we will get through this. Engage in positive belief. We are a strong country and we will prevail. After that thought, we all need to take care of ourselves and our loved ones.
If you have more ideas on how to be safe, please share in the comments!
As always, wishing you the best of health!