My corona experience

[Jeannie]

I’m so glad you’re feeling better!

Jeannie

[Henry Krinkle]

I am glad you're feeling better Kath and glad you had a milder version of Covid-19.

[OhDark30]

Thanks, everyone, and for the caveat about time-limited immunity, C


From my reading*, this coronavirus has mutated fairly rapidly already, this is one of the ways they’re tracking transmission across space
And yes, like the flu, this makes vaccination trickier

I certainly won’t be making any assumptions about my immunity
It’s frustrating with the UK’s sparse testing that so many of us are uncertain of our infection status: thousands of NHS personnel are self-isolating when they could be back on the frontline

And of course the uncertainty adds to the stress for people and families

Hasn’t life got awfully complicated in the last few weeks? :-)


*source article https://nextstrain.org/ncov

[skywatch]

Flu vaccines don’t give ‘once and for all’ protection. In the UK, for example, if you’re 65+ you get called for a flu jab before the flu season starts. It will be the same, I guess with the new virus. The annual flu jab is ‘updated’ each year with the likely variants, and that’s likely to be replicated too.

Exactly in the same way they make the vaccines for the seasonal influenza/ flu - one per year, assuming the same cycle.

Thanks, everyone, and for the caveat about time-limited immunity, C

Here in the Divided States of Confusistan, we also get a flu shot once a year. Won't it be interesting to get a few COVID-21,22,23,24,,,antibodies thrown into the salad!

If I haven't already said something like this elsewhere, let me just say that I care about you all very much. Hoping everyone who experiences this infection can do it as tough-ass as Kath!

[is that my watch]

hey glad to still have you around

[happyscrappyheropup]

Here in the Divided States of Confusistan, we also get a flu shot once a year. Won't it be interesting to get a few COVID-21,22,23,24,,,antibodies thrown into the salad!

If I haven't already said something like this elsewhere, let me just say that I care about you all very much. Hoping everyone who experiences this infection can do it as tough-ass as Kath!

Wife is a 50+ year old asthmatic distance runner, so she's at slightly elevated risk, we both get the flu shots each year.

Kath - I'll jump on the bandwagon and echo the sentiments previously posted. Glad you're on the other side of it and feeling better. And thanks for sharing the experience.

Some friends who live in Sweden and were not tested think they had it run through their whole house. 2 adults, one mid 30s, one early 40s, and 3 kids, aged 3, 7, and 11. Kids and 40+ year old dad did great, fever, some coughs, fatigue, few days feeling close to normal Mom ended up getting pneumonia and required antibiotics, but no hospitalization. Her illness lasted about 4x the duration of the rest of the family. All the kids had it easier than dad or mom.

[gnuyork]

Sharing it with you, so you’re not facing the unknown

I found it really helpful and reassuring that my sister and boyfriend (C & J, late 40s), and friend E (mid 40s) have had it and are OK, so thought I’d do the same for you

Background:
I’m in my early 50s, in good health, though slightly overweight
I had pneumonia in 2008

*NB None of us have been tested for the virus. We’ve had symptoms as detailed
Only E had a thermometer available

Quick take:
- 3 days of feeling dreadful, then exhausted for 4
- first symptoms: sore throat, intense headache (‘like a helmet’), high temperature
- coughing follows, chest pain, shortness of breath
- J & I both had intense muscle pain at the site of previous injury
- C & I found it came and went in waves of feeling worse, then not so intense, then rough again
- I lost my sense of smell temporarily

Top tips:
Stay hydrated, elevated, motivated

Hydrated:
- Drink *loads*: water, tea, coffee, soup
- Add flavour to water eg elderflower cordial

Elevated:
- I slept and rested with my upper body elevated on pillows to lessen fluid buildup in my lungs
- This successfully kept intense pain to 2 points in my lower chest
- The feeling of being sat on, and short of breath, was the worst thing about this. If I hadn’t previously had pneumonia, where this was worse, it would have been quite alarming

Motivated:
- Keeping in touch with cheerful things and people in the outside world helped: on here, chuckling at memes, chatting to friends & reading when able
-When able to eat I kept to my usual mealtimes to have some structure
- Having a treat ready to get through low moments: I was holding out for a pot of tropical fruits in jelly, which I finally ate on Saturday when over the worst

Hope this helps
And thanks guys for being a refuge to come to in all the craziness

After my wife's grandpa passed from this virus a couple weeks ago, now her father in Mexico is infected and not doing well. I have used this info for her to send to her cousins to offer some sort of help. Add to that that my own grandfather (NY state) is in the hospital since memorial day (not Covid related) and he's not doing well at all either. It's tough that my parents and uncle's/aunts because they aren't permitted to be with him in the hospital right now. He may not make it.

Rough week.

[tribe125]

Rough indeed, and it’s sad to hear the news.

Few of us could have imagined this savage destruction.

[mlcor]

Rough indeed, and it’s sad to hear the news.

Few of us could have imagined this savage destruction.

And sadly, too many here believe it's imaginary (or at least exaggerated). Sigh.

[hayday]

It'll miraculously disappear by Memorial Day is what I was told.