One week before Thanksgiving 2021, after nearly two years avoiding the SARS-CoV-2 virus, I finally caught COVID-19.
Day 1 – A simple sore throat
My throat swelled. I thought little of the inflammation because difficulty swallowing (dysphagia) is a classic dermatomyositis symptom. My immune system attacks the muscles in my esophagus, causing the throat muscles to weaken and have trouble contracting. This was one of the earliest signs of my disease, beginning in May 2018.
At work, I was amid writing a proposal for on-call geotechnical services to a California city. I took two naproxen and fought through the symptoms.
Day 2 – Difficulty breathing and loss of smell
I woke up exhausted with an intermittent cough. My chest felt like someone had stacked hardcover medical texts on my sternum. Breathing became a chore—albeit nothing life threatening.
Proposal deadlines be damned. I felt terrible and took the day off work with plans to return to writing over the weekend.
By Wednesday evening, food began to taste bland. I had trouble smelling coffee beans. Even my sugar-free soda alternative—water with black cherry Mio—tasted like cough syrup aged in wine casks.
Day 3 – COVID-19 suspected
My congestion worsened. My throat was beyond sore. I still had difficulty breathing. And at that point, I could not even smell the bergamot in my cologne or in my Earl Grey tea.
Add in my feverish chills and all the signs of COVID-19 were present. This realization made me anxious. Not only would I be battling the virus with a suppressed immune system, but I would be doing so without the benefit of the vaccine.
As I discuss here, the immunosuppressants I have been taking for my dermatomyositis render the vaccine largely ineffective. And because of my underlying condition, being vaccinated would be more of a risk than contracting COVID-19.
At least, that was my hypothesis based on two peer-reviewed studies. With my symptoms, I was about to put it to the test.
Day 4 – COVID-19 confirmed
I ordered an at-home COVID-19 test from Walgreens to be delivered early Friday morning via Door Dash—a testament to twenty-first-century technology and convenience.
Within three minutes, the strip on the at-home test turned fuchsia, well beyond the light pink needed for a positive result.
Interestingly, that afternoon, after just 36 hours, my fever diminished. I was able to breathe easier.
I mustered up the energy and courage to notify the two people with whom I came in close contact of my positive test—my psychologist and a friend I went hiking with the prior Sunday.
I felt like I had texted sexual partners about a case of the clap. Nobody was thrilled, and my friend in particular did not receive the news well.
Day 5 – Symptoms improve
All my symptoms improved except for the worst sinus congestion of my life and the accompanying loss of smell. With some over-the-counter nasal decongestants and a couple naproxen, I was able to return to writing the proposal I had put off for three days.
Day 6 – Sunday morning pseudoephedrine delivery
My initially unsympathetic friend changed her attitude and visited me Sunday morning to deliver pseudoephedrine. Thanks to nonsensical regulations aimed at tracking would-be Walter Whites and curtailing at-home methamphetamine production, pseudoephedrine is one of the few items Amazon or Door Dash cannot deliver.
Day 7 – Internal proposal deadline met
I felt markedly better by Monday morning. Thanks to the modern miracle that is pseudoephedrine, I was able to stave off the severe congestion and make enough progress on the proposal to ready it for Tuesday’s peer review.
Click here for part two of my battle with SARS-CoV-2.