Hi Everyone!
This is just a quick update of how I am doing and to share that I had Covid again.
Not a long time ago, I tested positive of Covid again, for the second time. Last year, before Christmas and New Year, I got the virus for the very first time. I wrote a post about it in my blog if you haven’t read it yet. It was a mix of I was expecting it but hoping I would not get sick with it. Expecting it in a sense because there was an outbreak in our ward so I felt that sooner or later, I would get it myself considering my not so strong immune system. But then I was still hopeful I would be spared. Obviously, I still got it though.
This time, we had Covid patients in the ward again, however because I had it before, I was slightly confident that I will be Covid-free. Little did I know that just a 12 hour day shift in that Covid bay, the virus was slowly penetrating my system already.
Symptoms
Like the first time, my first symptom was an itchy throat. But it could just be anything. Sometimes I would have itchy throat but when I get enough sleep and rest, it would go away. This, though, progressed to cough. The cough I got was not as bad as when I had it the first time. However, it would still be very difficult for me to expectorate despite my cough syrup and Carbocisteine tablets. Until to the point of me gagging as if I would vomit. Every time I cough, I had to reposition myself upright. I guess gravity helped in my case.
Other symptoms I had were runny nose but very mild. I still did feel weak and had a headache to the point that I would only want to stay in bed for days. But overall, I can say that the symptoms were milder than my first Covid experience. I’m thankful for the 2 doses of vaccine I had plus the booster. They did wonderful things to the people of the world.
The policy in the UK has changed with regard to isolation due to Covid. If before, I needed to isolate for 14 days, this time, it was only for 7-10 days. I needed to take lateral tests on the 6th and 7th day and if they were negative, I can go back to work.
LFT’s Results
I did several lateral flow tests prior to this because we were told to test ourselves before going to work. And all them were negative until this one. As you can see, there is this very faint line on the ‘T’. Based on my previous experience, that is a positive. That was exactly what my first confirmatory LFT looked like so I knew I had it again.
The next day I did it again when it was more obvious. My symptoms were also worse compared to the first few days. This was when I had all symptoms of cough, runny nose, headache and body weakness.
I can’t remember if this was done on day 3 or 4 but I wanted to try taking two tests at one time (as if I was in denial). They both came back very distinctly positive. As you notice the ‘T’ lines were darker than the ‘C’. Indeed, I had Covid, again.
Anyway, after testing positive on LFT, our hospital policy says to book for a PCR test at the hospital immediately as a confirmatory test. I did that as well and yes, it was positive. So, I was on isolation for more than a week. I am so thankful for the Partner for taking care of me during those days.
No fun to be sick.
Getting Covid the second time was still as hard a I had it the first time. It did not not only make me suffer physically with all the symptoms but it also affected me mentally and emotionally. It is always tough to be sick, period.
It has been a couple of weeks since my symptoms started. I am doing absolutely fine now, back to work and was even assigned to Covid patients on my first day, ha! But I am alright, overall.
Let’s take care of ourselves. Keep healthy. Have enough sleep and rest. Eat healthy. Exercise. Take supplements if you think you need them. Be happy. Be strong.
