After been fully vaccinated by Pfizer and a recent booster shot by Moderna I hoped that I had done all the right things to prevent getting this terrible virus. I watched and observed a good friend die of Covid who had not been vaccinated. He was in perfect shape, a weight lifter, singers and actors agent. He talked to me while in the hospital and told me he wanted no one to know. He was STRONG LIKE BULL he said. His passing saddens me to the core.
Following my eye surgery nearly two weeks ago now, I have been in nearly total seclusion while my eye was healing. The day prior to my eye surgery I was tested for Covid. Two days ago on Friday I was working on editing my first photo from a photo shoot the night before. It was a photo of Alice who always stands in for me while I am testing my lighting setup. After editing the photo my head filled with mucus and I began to chill. I got colder and colder to a level of shaking.
I went to bed. I knew something was terribly wrong and the C word certainly came to my mind.
Friday night was a night that I will not easily forget. Chills, sweats, achy body, coughs. At about 4 am I had a massive headache. I took 2 Tylenol and the headache got better.
Yesterday morning Alice convinced me to immediately go to a clinic to get checked. She was nearly convinced I had a bad flu because my symptoms came on so strong. I almost believed her, but my gut told me it was Covid. At about 9:00 am I set the earliest appointment available at the local CVS minute clinic at 3:40 pm. We arrived early and I was let right in. The CVS nurse practitioner said she would test me immediately for both the flu and covid. Both tests were done by me with a swab up my nose, both nostrils. Two swabs, one for the flu and the other for Covid. She told me the test take a while to come back. She put the tests in individual machines and then began my exam. My blood pressure was HIGH, but all other vitals including temperature, blood oxygen and others all seemed normal. She did tell me right away after I told her my symptoms she thought it was Covid. She said you will not believe how many people I see that had covid.
As she is talking to me I hear a machine sound ….. BEEP. She looks over and tells me I am negative for influenza A and B. Now the waiting game for machine number 2 to produce the results. BEEP. She looks over at it. I saw her demeanor change. She said, “you have Covid”. I wondered how many times she said that this very day. I was not surprised but had hoped I had just a terrible flu.
Alice is taking care of me, making me home made soups and checking my blood pressure, heart rate and blood oxygen levels. The nurse told me it was extremely likely Alice will get it soon.
Last night was a repeat of the first night as I woke up in a pool of sweat in my bed. I would move from side to side in my huge KING size bed to find a dry spot. Finally I took a shower at about 5 am. When I walked out of the shower Alice had already changed the sheets for me. She must have heard me from the other room while sleeping.
I am on a 7-10 day quarantine which started 2 days ago. So much for Holiday photo shoots and holiday get togethers. This year we will be hunkered down.
Here is to HOPE that by being fully vaccinated and boostered I will only be sick and not die from this terrible virus. That is the reason I took the vaccines in the first place.
I will write further blogs in the coming days…. Hoping some may read it.