On Sunday night, June 7th, my tummy started feeling funny and my low back ached. The next morning I felt bloated and a little sore, but nothing major, so I carried on as usual. Tuesday I still wasn’t feeling right, but it wasn’t too bad until the evening when I felt fatigued and fuzzy-headed. That’s when I started to get concerned. What was going on with me?
I thought back on my week and realized I’d had my hair cut, eaten for the first time at a restaurant (outdoors), and eaten at someone’s home on their outdoor patio. While all of these environments had felt safe to me and were with known people in my life, something had clearly gone wrong. But what? If it were food poisoning, my usual experience with that is intense GI symptoms within the first 24 hours that pass within 48. It had been 4 days since my last meal away from home.
So I started researching on the Internet, and I learned something I didn’t know: GI symptoms are not unusual in COVID-19 patients and some patients only have GI symptoms. Ok, so that may explain the toilet paper run… Why was I completely unaware of this? But, I didn’t have a fever, so it couldn’t be the virus. Reading on, I found out that there is a subset of low-severity, GI-only patients who never get a fever. This was causing alarm in the gastroenterology community, because it meant 1) they could be exposed to the virus and not realize it 2) their patients could have COVID-19 and be spreading the virus unknowingly.
Here are links to the best articles I found:
https://www.medpagetoday.com/infectiousdisease/covid19/85721
https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2020/04/stomach-complaints-common-in-covid-19-patients.html
Ok, so I admit I got really anxious at this point and it didn’t help my poor tummy. By Wednesday morning, June 10, I was even more bloated and sore and I had no appetite, but still no fever. This was not getting better on its own and it was time for me to consult a doctor.
After breakfast, I clicked the link to Doctor on Demand from our insurance company’s website. I chose Dr. Judith Weiss from the list and scheduled an 11:00 appointment. A few minutes before I tested my laptop’s connection and shortly after 11:00, Dr. Weiss and I were talking. Amazing! I’d never done a virtual doctor appointment before and was fascinated at what an easy and effective way it is to see a physician. From my screening information, she knew my issues and asked me what I’d done over the last week. When I described eating food out of our home, she said she suspected a bacterial infection from the food. She had me palpitate my stomach while she watched intently, asking where it hurt and how it felt. She had me open my mouth so she could see my tongue. I was slightly dehydrated. She suggested I take probiotics (50-100 billion), GasX, Tums and fennel tea and give it a few days. If my symptoms got worse or I started running a fever, call her back. I felt relieved. She didn’t think I had COVID-19, but I could screen for a test and let the health department decide. She spent 20 minutes with me, which was more than I’ve seen of a doctor in years.
In the meantime, Scott had reached out to his sister who is a PA. She called us over lunch and said it did sound like something I ate, but she recommended I do the online screen for our local health department and see if they wanted to test me for COVID-19. She also added that I should eat a very bland diet until I felt better.
I started following all the recommendations that afternoon and I did the screen for Washoe County Health Department. Within an hour, they emailed me back. They wanted to test me and I should quarantine until I got the results back. I stared at the screen and soaked in the message, then scheduled a test. The earliest they could get me in was Friday morning and it would take 3-5 days to get results. I digested what this meant, it was time to cancel everything on my calendar for a week and explain why.
I started making calls and sending emails and texts with my head spinning and my heart beating double-time, while my tummy kept doing flip flops. I think it was hardest for my mom who is 85 and relies on Scott and I to do her shopping, errands and help around her home. We brainstormed about what we could do to get her help in the meantime, since Scott can’t go out either. Thankfully, we’d just stocked her up with groceries. But we also worried that if I had it, I’d exposed her. Other people I called to cancel appointments with, who had seen me recently, expressed concern too. I could suddenly see those pictures of how the virus spreads produced by epidemiologists, unfolding through my own contact list as I retraced two weeks of my steps. What should I do? In the end, I decided the chance I had coronavirus was low and I shouldn’t unnecessarily alarm people. I’m not sure that was the right decision, but it was the one I made.
Then Scott and I tried to figure out what we should do in our home. I knew I’d already exposed him, but we decided it was best to take precautions. I moved into the guest bedroom and bathroom, separated my eating area, washed my hands and masked when in the kitchen. We cleaned surfaces more often and used Lysol.
I think it was hardest to be separated from him. I longed to lay my head on his chest and feel his arms around me. It was strange to eat at another table and to have to navigate around each other in our own home. I felt for all the people out there who are also experiencing this right now. I wondered what it would be like if my symptoms got worse and he had to drop me at the hospital. What if I didn’t make it and we never saw each other again? I was overcome with compassion for all those who are having to do that around the world.
By Wednesday evening, I felt better. I think all the recommendations were helpful, especially the super-duper probiotic. On Thursday morning my mother called and said she’d been thinking about it and her digestive system hadn’t been right since we’d eaten together at someone’s house the week before. Her symptoms weren’t as severe as mine so she hadn’t thought it relevant until she reflected on it overnight. I was flooded by relief. I realized I couldn’t imagine that I’d gotten sick eating away from home, because no one I ate with was sick, except me. This had made the novel coronavirus a more likely cause than I ever would have considered normally. Maybe it was food poisoning after all! So I did some research on the CDC website and sure enough, some forms of bacteria in food can take longer than 24 hours to manifest symptoms and take longer to clear than 48 hours.
As the day went on, I continued to improve and by Friday morning (June 12) my belly was nearly normal. So, it seemed odd to get in the car and drive down to the County Fairgrounds where they were doing the testing and get in line. But, I knew it was what I needed to do for everyone as well as myself. I was shocked at the lines of cars entering the fairgrounds. The National Guard was directing traffic, checking that we had an appointment and then putting us in line to drive up to the testing tents. We were instructed to keep our windows closed at all times and everything was done by sign language and showing an ID out my window. It was surreal. I turned on my radio and listened to music to add some kind of normalcy to the experience.
I came to a place in line, where someone had a clipboard and showed me my lab sheet through the window. He pointed to my name and at me, looking at me with a question mark in his eyes. I nodded. He handed the clipboard to a driver in a golf cart who took me and another car towards the testing tents. As I approached the tent, this is what I saw:
Here’s the team who tested me:
One of the ladies in the hazmat suits came to the car and verified my name and birthdate. She asked me to ease my seat back and relax, it would smart a bit. Then she tickled my brain with a long swab! Well, it wasn’t quite that bad, but she did have to go a ways up into my sinus cavities (both sides) to get the sample. It made my eyes tear up and my nose smart, but it was quick and then it was over. I was shepherded out the exit and headed home. Overall, an impressively organized experience that took about 40 minutes from the time I pulled in. I’m guessing there were at least 100 other vehicles in line with me.
Then we waited. I admit we relaxed our precautions as my symptoms disappeared and I returned to our table and our bed. We were both sure that I didn’t have COVID-19. But, we did follow the instruction not to go out in public until we had the results. I must admit it was nice to have a break from the anxieties of re-entry that we’d both been experiencing. It’s actually harder trying to figure out what is ok to do and what isn’t than it is just staying home! I don’t think I realized how stressful that has been as everything re-opens while the number of active cases keep going up. Doesn’t make a lot of sense. On the other hand, we can’t all stay home forever either. What a dilemma!
During our quarantine, one of my friends sent me a great article that discusses candidly this dilemma. It is an interview with a top epidemiologist and the summary points are at the top. If you have the time, the whole interview is worth reading and the end summary talks about finding our Goldilocks Zone as we navigate our future living with this virus:
My time in quarantine has given me an opportunity to reflect on my own Goldilocks Zone. Where am I personally with what I feel safe doing right now? I’ve got my shopping routine down using a mask and disinfectant wipes and ordering more online. I’m ok with being outside with people, keeping our distance while walking together. I enjoy BYOBS (Bring Your Own Beverage and Snacks) get-togethers with friends and neighbors in our backyards or in local parks. I’m comfortable with our decision to view my mom as a member of our household and continue to help her at home and have meals with her. I think not doing this would be more detrimental to her health than the risk it poses if we are careful about what we do so as not to unnecessarily expose her. Having our housekeeper come as long as she is masked and we stay in rooms she isn’t cleaning, which is what we do anyway. Our planned trips to go to self-contained condos or cabins where they have strong cleaning protocols also feels safe. Though I plan to bring disinfectants and clean again upon arrival…
What do I not feel comfortable with at this time? My overall rule at this time is not to be in an enclosed environment within 6 feet of anyone except Scott and mom, without a mask on. So here are some specific examples of what I wouldn’t do at this time: Eat inside a restaurant (I will consider outside dining in a restaurant whose kitchen practices I trust, but probably not until our number of active cases go down significantly). Go to the gym or pool. Drive in a car with anyone except Scott or mom. Eat inside someone’s home or share food/serving utensils. Be in any crowded group setting. Travel in a plane, train or ship. I also don’t feel comfortable going anywhere further than a few hours drive from home, so I can get back to my mom if she needs me. We’ve cancelled all our summer camping trips with Pearl, as we don’t feel safe sharing public bathrooms.
On the sixth day after my test, we were wondering what had happened? Both my mom and Scott’s dad were running out of things and so were we. Neighbors and friends offered to make a shopping and delivery run for us. We heard that state lab was running behind in processing tests due to 1) the failure of a robot in the lab and 2) simultaneously being inundated with tests from residential care facilities and prisons on top of a high community testing load.
One week after my test, I checked on the quarantine protocols if I were positive. It turns out that you are to quarantine until 10 days after your symptoms began and 3 days after they stop. I was already out of the quarantine period even if I’d been positive! And, everyone I’d had contact with prior to my quarantine was already out of their quarantine period, except Scott and my mom! And then suddenly, later the same day, my results came in. I was negative.
What a strange experience it has been. I am lucky that I am retired and that we had just resupplied ourselves and our parents before this happened. If I’d been working, I would have missed a week and a half of work. If it takes this long to get results, what good is this in helping us prevent infections? If I had the virus and passed it along to any of my contacts, they had already been out passing it along to others for 11-14 days. We’ve got to do better than this if we are hoping testing and contact tracing can help slow the spread of Covid-19.