Greenburgh Public Library Blog

Riding Out the Storm: My Experience with Covid-19

It was the prayers and good wishes of my friends and family and the steadfast love of my beloved wife that carried me through being sick with Covid-19. The difficult experience of the last two and half weeks has given me a second chance at life, and for that I am extremely grateful. 

April 2 

It's all they talked about on the news in our area. You pray that it won’t happen to you or your loved ones. It did, and Covid-19 was truly a nightmare that we all saw coming. 

I started feeling strangely feverish - a sensation that I never experienced before, it felt different. I was hopeful that it was just allergies. I had been extremely cautious the previous two weeks. Other than a quick trip to the package room in my building the night before and down to the compact room that afternoon, I did not leave my apartment. I was afraid of encountering people in the hallway.

I finally told my wife I was feeling feverish at 10:30 pm that night. My wife took my temperature which was 100.3, a low grade fever. I immediately called my doctor’s office. The on-duty nurse told me to go to the emergency room if it continued in the morning. I quickly gathered some clothes and went into our second bedroom, within a half hour of speaking to my doctor.  We didn’t have Tylenol in the house like all the doctors were recommending. I wound up taking two Ibuprofen. 

My wife brought Tylenol for me the next day. I informed my boss that I could not work from home because I was feverish and in quarantine.  Because I am 60 years old, have Cerebral Palsy, and suffered a few bouts of bronchitis and other respiratory illnesses in my life, the doctor informed me that he wanted me to be tested for the novel coronavirus, which set my nerves on edge. My doctor told me that someone would be calling about scheduling a test. The doctor’s office called back and I was scheduled for an appointment to be tested on Monday, April 6 at 8:15 am. 

April 4-5 

Overall I felt good that first weekend in quarantine. Obviously I was mostly scared for my wife, because she also had high risk factors for the virus.  I kept going back to the week before trying to figure out who or where I could have gotten infected. Over this weekend I told my siblings and friends of my circumstances.  My wife and I developed a system of how I would be served my meals. She served my meals on paper plates.  We would text and communicate via phone. The only time I went out was to use the bathroom, which was directly across the hall from the room I was isolated in. I always made sure my wife was not around when I left the room to go use the bathroom, and thank God our apartment has two bathrooms. I don’t know what we would have done otherwise.  

I had to monitor my temperature; taking it every few hours. My wife brought Tylenol on her way home from work and I would take it for fever spikes when needed. That first Sunday night my fever spiked to 100.5 the highest I would record. The next morning when I woke up; it had gone back down to 98.2  

April 6 - 11

My appointment to be tested was for 8:15 am at the Scarsdale Medical Group Office on Heathcote Road. My wife drove me. I was in the passenger side of the back seat wearing gloves and a mask, shaking so much from the anxiety that I could not think straight..  I tried not to touch anything in the car.  

We drove into the Scarsdale Medical group parking lot where they had set up the testing site. There were three cars waiting and two tents set up for appointments.  Medical personnel were dressed in hazmat gear.  We were told to stay in the car and leave the windows up. I noticed an elderly couple in the next car and felt empathy. I prayed for their good health. 

Finally the nurse came to the car and asked for identification and insurance and what symptoms I had. My wife answered on my behalf due to my nerves. They came around to my side of the car and I opened the window halfway. They took my temp (still holding at 98.2), and my heart rate which was obviously very high. Then my nose was swabbed. I was very uncomfortable.  Just as the nurse started to swab my nose, my wife blurted out “stop being a drama queen” in an attempt to lighten the mood. Needless to say I had used every ounce of self control to keep myself from laughing with a giant q-tip way up my nose. Not a pretty sight!  

When I previously asked my doctor he told me I should get my results 1-2 days,  unfortunately the site personnel told me 3-5 days.  We returned home and I quickly went back into isolation while my wife headed to work. I knew that would be my last time outside for at least two weeks. Now I had to ride out the impending storm which gathered over me. 

My condition started going downhill as the week wore on. I lost my appetite.  I felt very sick, lethargic, and kept getting fever spikes. I can say now I lost 12 pounds. I would not recommend the corona diet to anyone. It sounds illogical but I can say I smelled the virus. It was very different, it was a sickness. This horrible sense stuck with me for the next week and a half.  I continued watching the news on TV which kept getting worse and worse as the President had warned.  

Finally on Saturday afternoon I heard from my doctor that I tested positive for the coronavirus, a mild case of it, so he was not worried about it. That weekend I stopped watching the news. I couldn’t concentrate on things. I felt very weak. This was definitely the low point as I started thinking about my own mortality for the first time. Even though I had overcome Cerebral Palsy (My parents were told by the doctors after I was born, to go home and we will call you and let you know when your baby dies--a call they never received) to build a wonderful and blessed life. I thought this was the beginning of the end.  

April 12

Easter was the holiday that never happened. I prayed that I would not die. I was fearful that my wife would get infected. I talked to my brothers, sister and friends everyday just trying to stay alive and connected to people, grasping on the hope I would get better soon. That night my fever spiked 100.3 and I started coughing. The good thing was I took my oldest brother Joe’s advice to heart and changed the channel and stopped watching the news so much. Stay informed but tune out the negative.  

April 13
My fever during the morning went down to 99.1 but remained constant the rest of the day.  My appetite got so bad I had to force myself to eat and drink. Finally, I asked my wife for iced tea which I have not had in a long time and that seemed to help. My wife had made me macaroni for dinner that evening and for some reason, I gobbled it up. I can’t explain why.

April 15

My coughing fits continued.  Not bad, but bad enough. Coughing kept me up some nights but overall I slept okay on my air mattress in our guest room which I had to blow up each night and then air out each morning. I called my doctor every couple of days to give him updates. He had originally told me on Saturday in 7-10 days I would be feeling better and as it turned out, he was right.  He also said that the cough would linger for a while afterwards. I slowly started getting my energy back this day. I took my temp and it was 99.7 not great. Oddly enough even though I still coughed like a heavy smoker, I felt better than I had in a week and a half. I had to monitor my situation closely to make sure I did not suffer any downturn in my condition. I began to see a glimmer of light at the other end of the tunnel.  

April 17 - 19

For my 10th Wedding Anniversary I hastily made a card for my wife and taped it to the wall so when she came out of the bedroom in the morning she would see it. For the second straight day my temperature was 99.1 in the morning but went down to under 98.7 the rest of the day, amazingly without taking tylenol, although I took it as a precaution when I went to bed at night.  Eating food became less of an issue, my appetite slowly but surely came back. If I could maintain my body temperature for three days I could come out of isolation on Monday. I was finally preparing to come out of quarantine and was now looking forward to coming out and joining the living again. 

Up until now it felt like a nightmare. My wife and I had planned to go away for our anniversary  but obviously we could not go. We’re planning to do something later this year. I owe her for all that she did for me. The end of my personal hell with this was in sight, and I could not wait.  For Saturday and Sunday my temperature stayed under 98.7. I planned to come out at lunch time on Monday. 

April 20 

When I woke up in the morning my temperature was 98.4.  I started preparing my jailbreak. I put my clothes in garbage bags for the laundry.  Anything else that belonged outside the room I put on the small serving table outside my room and I disinfected. I loaded bedsheets in another garbage bag to be washed.  I folded up the blanket, put the pillows in a small pile, folded up the blow up bed, and cracked the window slightly to air out the room.  I took my temperature one last time (98.4) and shut the door behind me.  After taking a shower and putting on fresh clothes, I walked out of quarantine at 1:55 that afternoon after almost 18 days. I walked into the living and let out a big cheer and with that I knew the nightmare was finally over. 

April 30  It has been 4 weeks since I walked into and a week and a half  since I walked out of my own personal nightmare. It's hard to put into words how happy and relieved I am to have conquered this dreaded virus. I can tell you that Covid-19 is not like the flu, it is much worse. I cannot describe what it does to a person. It seems to have attacked different people in different ways.  I am also mindful that I was extremely lucky; that I did not suffer some of the worst symptoms of this virus. So many people have endured more pain and suffering from this than me.  An unimaginable number of families have lost loved ones to the virus.  Speaking on behalf of those of us who have recovered from Covid-19, we will never forget the experience. 

Stay safe my friends.