COVID-19 has affected thousands of people across the country in 2020. There have been studies, data and conspiracy theories on everything from the how the virus started, to how it has spread, to vaccines. There’s also been arguments on how to help protect yourself from getting the virus, from masking, to social distancing and washing your hands. People who have had the virus are sharing their stories about their battles with COVID-19. Beth is in her early 50s and was hit hard by the coronavirus back in June. She says she first felt achy with chills and decided to go to bed after a night out eating. She woke up the next morning with a fever and tried to treat it at home with over-the-counter medications and went to work, thinking she had just a small flu. A couple of days later she had trouble breathing and her inhaler wasn’t doing any good, so she decided to go to her nearby hospital knowing she had the virus. Beth says when they X-rayed her chest “they told me I had pneumonia in both lungs and it was COVID.” By that time her oxygen levels were in the 80s and they put her on oxygen. Beth adds “I had one nurse that would come in and an aide that would stand at the door to bring her stuff if she needed it. It was just really a weird experience for me.” Beth says about Day Three in the hospital, things went from bad to worse. “My stats got down to 79 and they couldn’t get them up,” she adds. Doctors started her on Remdesivir treatments that last five days. Beth says “within the first 24 hours I started feeling a lot better, but still feeling crappy.” After a couple of days, doctors determined she recovered enough to be finish recovering at home, but with oxygen. The story doesn’t end there. Beth says after she got home “my husband then caught it and within a couple of days he was in the hospital.” Luckily for him he was only in the hospital for a day after antibiotic treatments worked on him. She says it took him seven days to recover. Recently her son and daughter-in-law also contracted COVID-19 and are now recovering. Her son had pneumonia in one of his lungs, but was able to be treated with antibiotics at home. Her son was a COVID denier before the virus affected both Beth and himself. She says “it really really bothered him that he become positive. He was one of those people who thought they are just stacking the numbers and the hospitals get incentives when they say it’s a COVID case, things like that.” She adds, “with him getting it and me getting it, it changed his way of looking at it.” It’s another example to take the preventative measures in combating the virus. Beth says “we are so worried about ourselves, but you don’t realize that the person that you passed if you don’t have a mask on and you cough, you may not even know you have it and pass it on to them and they end up in the hospital. Think about your neighbors too.” If you have a story about COVID-19 and you want to share it with others, email us at dave.zorn@kaff.com or message us on Facebook. Stay safe.
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