“The life which is unexamined is not worth living.”©Plato

Part 6

I think I had the corona virus from our New Year’s Eve our cruise.

We’d left on December 28  and returned on Jan 5. I was sick the following day. We’d both been feeling strangely achy the last two days onboard.

Hubby had taken two anitbiotic prescriptions. I had taken three. They didn’t help nor did over-the-counter meds before we went to the MD. Hubby was better after two weeks. I was better after six weeks but I do have autoimmune health issues which cause me to heal slower.

The cruise line was an Italian line. The ship had just arrived at Port Everglades directly from Italy. It was the first time this cruise line would be sailing the Caribbean. The ship was the Costa Luminosa.

The ship wasn’t clean. The staff looked unkept. The passengers were about 80% European, French, British and Chinese. There were a lot of children. 

One morning, we’d awakened too late to make it to the dining room for breakfast. I’m not a fan of buffets. I think the food always looks unappetizing. There are too many choices. It’s overwhelming to watch people mound huge amounts of food on their plates. You viewing gluttony at play. But, I take a med that requires food and it has to be taken early so we made our way to the buffet. I gathered my small bits of food and coffee. Hubby was on a search for a banana. Yes, he enjoys a banana everyday. I went to sit in, what I thought, was a quiet little area. 

A family, parents and small boy, sat across from me. I smiled at the boy. His hair was sticking up like a cute little porcupine. It looked like they’d done this hairstyle on purpose. He had big round dark eyes, super red chubby cheeks and a runny nose. I looked around to see if there was another table further away that I could move to. My feeling was that if he had a runny nose he might have a cough too. I located a table but as I stood up it was too late. He coughed right at me. He coughed several times. He sounded like a barking dog. It was deep and raspy.

No hand over his mouth … No cough in a tissue … No cough in the bend of his arm … Just a straight at me cough.

Since I was up and heading to that other table, I decided to talk to the parents. I told them their son looked sick and shouldn’t be in a public area with his cold. I said their son coughed in my direction and that I could get sick. I said if they could show him how to cough while covering his mouth with his hand or in bend of the arm. They looked at me like I was a crazy person. Perhaps, I was. I have a very weak and easily compromised autoimmune system. I just cann’t see parents taking a child out in public when they aren’t well. I suppose the red cheeks were from a fever.

The ship didn’t have any hand sanitizers anywhere. All of the criuses we’ve been on have them everywhere. There are times staff will come up to you and spray some in your hands. This ship was minus hand sanitizers.

The cruises have staff cleaning public areas all the time. The elevator buttons, hand rails, chair backs, door handles, just about anything people touch. This ship didn’t have anyone cleaning … ever. I remember commenting to my hubby that the children must be playing with the elevators button because they were very grimy. I’m a bit of a germ panic person so I always have tissues or hand wipes and sanitizers. I never touched the elevator buttons without a tissue. It was very bad.

Did I have COVID 19?

I couldn’t say a definitive yes. When there’s a test to see if you’ve contracted the virus, I will get it in order to definietly know. I had a lot of issues happen that could’ve brought on the virus. According to some articles I’ve read COVID19 started in Italy in November. 

My travels on an Italian ship started the end of December. The people on the ship could have been carriers or had it and not known. The cooks and staff could have had it or been carriers as well.

The man who coughed on me on New Year’s Eve could have had it or been a carrier. The little boy, who was Chinese might have had the virus and not a cold. Hubby had the virus for two weeks which is the time frame they’ve talked about on updates. 

I do know that I’ve had the flu in the past but this didn’t feel like the same thing. I feel if this was COVID19, it was the worse thing I’ve ever gone through. I’m hoping because I’ve been through it I can’t get it again. And, I might have built up an immunity to it. 

Thank you for reading 🙏🏻

May you have a safe journey during these difficult times. 

Isadora 😎

Part 1 – COVID19 and Me

Part 2 – COVID19 and Me – Part 2

Part 3 – COVID19 and Me – Part 3

Part 4 – COVID19 and Me – Part 4

Part 5 – COVID19 and Me – Part 5

“Come to the edge,” he said.

They said, “We are afraid.”

“Come to the edge,” he said.

They came.

He pushed them and they flew.” ©Guillaume Apollinaire

Part 4

There’s such a comfort as you arrive at the town where you live. I’ve been living in this home for 29 years. I love the tranquility there is within every wall. 

During the drive home, I started to feel chills. I wasn’t surprised. Sitting on a cold bench with the wind blasting your body could cause that. In the car, I decided that the minute I got home I’d take a hot bath and have a nap. I did. 

I slept for 24 hours and didn’t know it. Hubby would come in but let me sleep. Finally, when I got up I was very weak. My head hurt but it wasn’t a headache. I felt nauseous but I wasn’t throwing up. I had severe muscle aches and I had a cough too. I thought I’d gotten a cold.

I take quite a few medications so I was hesitant to take any of the over-the-counter meds I have in my home medicine cabinet. 

Two days later, with my symptoms getting worse, I conceded and took a liquid one. Then, some pills I had. In the meantime, hubby is down too and as weak as a weeping willow. 

By the third day, he decided, he was calling for a doctor appointment. He wasn’t happy I didn’t want to go to the doctor. I’m allergic to all antibiotics except for one. Each time I go to the doctor he makes me aware of that and encourages me to wait until the last possible moment to request them.

By the sixth day, my cough was getting worse. I was having difficulty breathing. It felt like there was an elephant sitting on my chest. The over-the-counter meds did nothing. Hubby was on antibiotics with no results. He went back for a different antibiotic. The doctor told him to stay away from me since he felt this was a very serious flu because he needed another prescription.

By the tenth day, I was coughing so hard it was difficult to catch my breathe; tears flowed and I had chest pain. My left side of my heart had enlarged a year ago so my cardiologist had done some surgery. I was at high risk. 

I needed to see the doctor. 

I’ve also had bronchial pneumonia three times and was hospitalized each time for that. I knew this cough was serious. I didn’t want to go to the hospital but if I had to go I’d go. I pleaded with the doctor when I saw him. I told him I’d been in bed and would continue to if need be. He gave me the antibiotic.

I did not get better. 

Florida was getting a cold snap from up north. It was cold out. I didn’t want to venture out in it but the meds the doctor gave me weren’t working. I put on a jacket, wrapped myself up in my trusty forever-with-me scarf over my head, around my nose and mouth and off we went to the doctor again. His nurse called in a prescription for a cough medication and an antibiotic, he sent me for a chest x-rays and called my pulmonologist for a next-day appointment. The x-rays were sent directly to the pulmonologist.

She read them. She said my lungs had fluid. I guess I should add that I had pulmonary embolisms in 2006 from surgery I’d had three says prior. My lungs have severe damage because of that. She prescribed a different antibiotic. She felt the one I had been taking was for bacterial infections not viral infections like I had. It took another three weeks for me to get better. I had lived for six weeks with this illness.

Isadora 😎

The saga with COVID 19 and Me will continue … come on back for the next chapter …

Part 1 – COVID19 and Me

Part 2 – COVID19 and Me – Part 2

Part 3 – COVID19 and Me – Part 3

Part 4 – COVID19 and Me – Part 4