Still tired

 It's 2 1/2 weeks since I tested positive for COVID, and while I feel a lot better - not feeling sick anymore - I am still tired and get breathless pretty easily.

I continued to rest through the full week of my isolation, and on Day 7 I still tested positive so stayed in iso while the kids went back out and about. I was so blessed to have friends and family drop off supplies and check in on me regularly, and the kids took care of the animals and getting food organised. Tony brought over takeaway several times so food was pretty easy. I was positive again on Day 11 and finally tested negative on Day 15. 

I haven't been doing much - a little bit of tidying up or packing the dishwasher or washing some clothes, and a few trips to drop the kids to work or at friend's houses. I've been doing a 1000 piece jigsaw puzzle, but even sitting up to do that gets tiring after about an hour. Anything more strenuous and it's more like 10 or 15 minutes. So I've been spending lots of time reading, watching Netflix and Disney+, playing games on the computer, chatting on the phone - I can talk for a bit longer now before I get puffed out and it's usually not as bad as in that first week. Today though I was up for a while and played a board game with Tony - by the end of that I was finding breathing quite hard, it was breathlessness like I'd had early on. Lying down relieves it fairly quickly which is a good thing. There's a lot of smoke in the air today from burning off and a couple of nearby bushfires, so that's probably making the breathing a bit trickier.

It's a concern that there are so many people right now experiencing this. It's a disease that has quite an impact on so many people and I guess it's causing us all to slow down. I hope that people take the rest that they need and that case numbers start to fall, that people remain careful and - I don't know what else. I'd like it to start to have less of an impact on our world, but I do feel like that is a good way off yet.

Catching COVID

 Despite being super cautious, still wearing masks in public places, not going to many events or activities, I picked up COVID last week at our first homeschool camp for the year. I had decided not to organise a camp earlier in the year because the risk felt too great, but by this stage the kids were in desperate need of a few days away with friends, and I was too. We'd decided it was worth the risk and I stand by that even though I'm disappointed to have caught it. The weird thing is that I don't know who I got it from - no one else admitted to being sick, and no one else has caught it since I did, not any of my kids or the people I was hanging out with. Which is a relief, I was worried it was going to be a super spreader event. I guess I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time - and it shows how contagious this disease is. It's possible I didn't even talk to the person I caught it from, it could have been in the shared bathrooms at the caravan park.

I want to outline how the virus has played out for me, so that I don't forget.

Day 1

Woke up with a bit of a congested chest which worried me slightly, but then also had scratchy throat and eyes and runny nose so assumed it all part of the hayfever I'd been experiencing every morning. I was tired that day and spent hours just sitting and chatting and then curled up and reading, with no motivation even to go to the beach. I stood up after 2 hours reading and my entire body ached and I just wanted to sleep, even though I'd already had a nap before my reading stint. I decided instead to walk into town and see if the walk helped (I thought I might just be sore from an 8km walk the day before, combined with all the sitting around I'd done this day), and to pick up a RAT test while I was there. The walk was slow and I felt like I was getting a cold, feeling gradually worse and worse. When I got back to the caravan park and ducked into the bathrooms to do the test I had a really strong wave of dizziness. 

I did the RAT and glanced at it after about 5 minutes - a very strong second line was already showing. It was a horrible feeling, like a very bad dream, and I sat there for the rest of the 15 minutes trying to figure out what to do next. I ran into Caitlin as I left the bathrooms and we sat out the back working out the logistics - it was too late for me to pack up and go home that night, especially considering how unwell I was feeling, so Caitlin let the others know what had happened and I basically isolated (masked) at my tent for the rest of the evening. I did some tidying up so that pack up would be easier the next morning. My kids and the people we'd spent lots of time with did RATs and everyone else was negative.

Day 2

Felt like I had a nasty cold, and tired really easily. Felt like I had a fever. I was able to pack up with the help of the kids but had to stop and rest quite frequently. Talking and walking at the same time was tiring, as was standing up for too long at once. I had lots of offers of help and felt very supported and blessed to be surrounded by friends. We packed up and I drove home with one friend driving behind me in case things got too hard. It was a long drive, and I was masked so couldn't eat and drink like I normally do when I'm driving, and I didn't stop for a toilet stop so it was a huge relief to make it home! We put the tent up (cos it was wet) and the kids got the essential stuff out of the car and I went to bed. I was very very tired and had started to cough a lot as well - I felt like I had a bad head cold, with a dry cough. Sore sinuses and a runny nose, just very congested.

Day 3

The cough became more phlegmy and more frequent. My head felt a lot clearer, much less stuffy. I had no energy to do anything. Took the kids to get PCRs (Caitlin drove and I just curled up in the front seat and didn't want to move) - all negative. I walked out to the car to get something at one stage and walked too fast, was very puffed out for a while afterwards. Rested all day.

Day 4 

A bit more congested again and cough still happening. No loss of taste though. The breathlessness was worse- a 15 minute phone call had me puffing like I'd just run up a hill. In the night time I had night sweats which were horrible, especially when I got up to try and get some relief and then had breathlessness as well. Rested all day.

Day 5

Cough and congestion a little better, breathlessness much worse. Walking to the kitchen puffed me out. I really only have about 10 minutes of conversation in me and then it gets too tiring. Long sentences were hard work. Conscious of my breathing even if I wasn't doing much. Really smoky outside due to burning off so that didn't help with the breathing and meant I couldn't have the window open. Rested all day.