What’s it like? That I suppose is a question we are all asking. Here's a quick gleaning of case studies from online news. It can be rough... but it can be survived.
A Wuhan man who came down with the coronavirus in
mid-January said he spent three agonizing weeks with worsening symptoms that
began when he woke up one day feeling “sore all over.”
The coronavirus had yet to sweep China when Tiger Ye began
feeling ill on Jan. 17, and he suspected nothing more than the common cold or
flu, he told the Guardian.
Doctors prescribed him medication and sent him to quarantine
at home, where his family stocked up on food and Ye retreated to his room.
A week later, he began to develop a cough and fever, and was
re-admitted to the hospital. Tests showed the infection had spread throughout
his lungs, but he had yet to be diagnosed with coronavirus.
Ye said that from Jan. 21-26 was “the worst time.”
“I coughed so bad my stomach was hurting and my back ached,”
he said, adding, “I thought I may have to say goodbye to this life forever.”
On Jan. 29, his older brother and grandmother — who had been
delivering him food to his room — came down with symptoms. On the same day,
doctors officially diagnosed Ye with the virus, and prescribed him five days of
anti-HIV medication.
By Feb. 4, a test showed improvements in Ye’s lungs. His
family also began to feel better. Three days later, doctors declared him
coronavirus-free.
A 48-year-old woman from a small town in Ohio is recovering
in quarantine after a scary diagnosis of COVID-19, the disease caused by the
novel coronavirus. She's only the second known victim in Summit County.
“I became sick quickly Wednesday afternoon. I felt run down
and feverish. By the time I got home I had a fever of 99.2. I was uncomfortable,
headache, and a cough that was heavy but not producing anything. I fell asleep
and woke at 3 am. My heart was racing. I had trouble catching my breath and my
chest felt tight every time I coughed. I contacted a great nurse I know...she
said go in, but call first. I called the ER, told them my symptoms and the had
me call a closed ohio dept of health number. I was clearly in distress so my
nurse called them back and said I was coming in. It's a good thing I did. My BP
was very low and my heart rate was very high. These are not good signs on top
of fever and cough. They admitted me and I was tested for every single other
thing and then they ran the covid test.”
“I am the face of this infection. It is brutal and I'm a
healthy 48 year old with no underlying conditions. I'm not 100% better but I'm
home resting. Please take this seriously. People you love, their lives may
depend on it.”
"Quarantine is not fun, but I would much rather be in
quarantine and know I’m not exposing anyone else to this — and I’ll take that,"
she added.
CBS News spoke with three individuals who have contracted COVID-19
and found out how the illness is affecting them.
A woman named A.N. preferred to use only her initials and
said she’s had the virus for more than two weeks.
She said she was initially treated in a Seattle-area
hospital in early March but was not offered a test for COVID-19, even though
the medical staff was concerned.
"I could see them through the window and they were
utterly panicked and they had no idea what they were doing. It was unnerving to
be completely honest,” A.N. said.
She said she dialed into a telehealth appointment where she
was told to report to a clinic where she was swabbed in her car and confirmed
positive in less than 24 hours.
"Excuse me, but it feels like hell. I've had the flu
before, it's not even comparable. The fever is so high you hallucinate,” she
said. "I'm still having a fever, but it's coming down slowly. I'm only at
100.8 at the moment, which is a dramatic improvement."
Clay Bentley is still hospitalized in Rome, Georgia. He said
you’ll know it if you get it.
Bentley said symptoms developed a day after he sang with his
church choir. He was first diagnosed with pneumonia and was sent home from the
hospital.
"Four days later I got to a point where I couldn’t get
out of bed and I said to them ‘Ya’ll sent me home to die.’ And I said, ‘I can’t
even move or breathe. Can’t catch my breath,’” Bentley said.
When Bentley returned to the hospital, he realized several
other members of his church were also there. The other members also tested
positive for coronavirus.
Bentley is now in recovery and looking forward to getting
home to his family.
"I felt like today that I have turned third base and
I’m headed for home. I felt like I’m through the hard part and ready to go
home,” Bentley said.
Elizabeth Schneider believes she and a number of her friends
contracted coronavirus while at a party in Seattle. She tested for COVID-19
after her symptoms had subsided.
"When I had the most severe symptoms, it literally felt
like I had a different strain of the flu,” Schneider said.
Schneider has a background in microbiology, so through her
experience, she does have some advice for those who are anxious.
“If we look at the long term here, I think things will
improve,” Schneider said. “This is a fact, I did not have to buy any toilet paper
while I was sick. I just got by with the regular stash of toilet paper that I
have. It’s good to tell people out there and it’s good to smile and have a
laugh.”
Schneider is now donating her blood to help with the quest
to develop a coronavirus vaccine.
AKRON, Ohio – Amy Driscoll followed all the recommended
protocols.
Wash your hands. Use hand sanitizer. Don’t touch your face.
The Hudson, Ohio, resident still contracted COVID-19, the
disease caused by the novel coronavirus that has caused daily life in many
places around the world to come to a screeching halt.
Her first reaction when her test results came back: “Are you
kidding me?”
Driscoll became the second confirmed case of COVID-19 in
Ohio's Summit County last week, posting about her experience on Facebook –
under her maiden name of Brock – as a way to encourage others to take the
disease seriously.
“I was really sick,” she said. “I was really scared there
for a little while about how sick I was.”
Driscoll is 48 and provided the Akron Beacon Journal, part
of the USA TODAY Network, with documentation from her hospitalization. The
paperwork indicates she is to remain quarantined and that she is required to
notify anyone who treats her that she is under investigation for COVID-19.
Driscoll, who is home now under quarantine, said she is
starting to feel better but is still exhausted and dealing with symptoms like
fatigue and headaches.
“Just like my body has been through a battle,” she said.
Amy Driscoll looks on from inside her house as son Cade, 14,
grabs food dropped off by her friends.
The mother of four said she was at work at an insurance
company on Wednesday when around 3 p.m. she started to feel tired as if she was
starting to get sick.
She went home at the end of the day and took her
temperature, which was 99.2 degrees, just above normal. She said she took
Motrin and fell asleep.
When she woke up at 3 a.m., she was coughing and her chest
hurt.
“It was hard to get a breath in and my chest felt
constricted,” Driscoll said. “It was like nothing I had ever quite
experienced.”
he called her cousin, who is a nurse, and then University
Hospitals’ Ahuja Medical Center. The hospital, she said, initially told her to
call the Ohio Department of Health’s call center number, but at 3 a.m., there
was no answer. Her cousin called Ahuja Medical Center back and told them
Driscoll was on her way.
On arrival, Driscoll said, the hospital immediately put her
into isolation. They informed her they needed to run a litany of other tests to
rule out diseases like the flu and pneumonia, which she has had before. If all
were negative, she could be tested for COVID-19.
On Monday, March 9, I became sick while skiing with my
family in Aspen, Colorado.
My symptoms began with a light cough and, in a couple of
days, progressed to body aches, chills and a much more painful cough.However,
at that point, I did not think of the possibility that I could have contracted
the virus because I still did not have a fever or shortness of breath -- two of
its hallmark symptoms.
That Monday night, I flew back to Nashville and that's when
things started getting worse.
By Wednesday, I had terrible body aches, a very productive
cough and terrible night sweats; I was regularly coughing up golf-ball sized
chunks of mucus.
Many times throughout the night I would wake up so sweaty
that it was easier to get in the shower and rinse off before going back to bed,
a process that would repeat itself three or four times throughout the night.
I was tired, achy and was dizzy/nauseous throughout the next
couple of days. My cough felt like someone set my chest on fire and my bed felt
like I had just gotten out of the pool and lay down without drying off.
On Thursday afternoon, I went to an Urgent Care clinic. They
tested me for the flu, which came back negative, and later prescribed some
steroids and cough medicine for the coughing discharge.
On Thursday evening, however, I was reading the Aspen Times
and other local Colorado newspapers when I found out that Aspen had the largest
COVID-19 cluster outbreak in Colorado: 9 people were presumed-positive for the
virus. Also, two guests at a resort in which we had dinner and drinks several
times self-quarantined. Adding up the symptoms and my possible exposure, I
began to think I may have it.
On Friday, I went to Vanderbilt to get tested for COVID-19.
The wait was long and the test isn't pleasant.
The test is a two-part swab: one swab of the back of your
throat and one swab of the inside of your nose -- very, very deep inside your
nose. Deep enough that it still hurt an hour later.
By now, my symptoms have started getting better: the
coughing discharge was getting smaller and the cough was less painful. Though I
was still tired and a bit dizzy, I had more energy. The night sweats were also
getting less aggressive.
I have been quarantined since coming back and will stay
quarantined until March 26, assuming things don't take an unexpected turn for
the worst.
By now, many of my symptoms have gone away. The cough is now
mostly dry and the night sweats are less aggressive, though they are still
there.
I feel like I am through the worst and have made it to the
other side, but only time will tell what will happen next.
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