For my birthday this year, I got an extra special gift: Covid. Yep, you read that right. I tested positive on my birthday.
I didn’t feel like I had Covid, but after a few days of feeling a cold coming on, I wanted to be extra sure I wasn’t heading into birthday celebrations with the possibility of infecting anyone. So, I headed to my local CVS and grabbed a two pack of at-home antigen tests. I couldn’t believe my eyes when the first came back positive, so I took the second test. Positive again. And then my PCR test came back positive as well.
F***king fantastic.
After the initial freakout, notifying the people I’d come into contact with, cancelling reservations and a quick cry, I took to the internet to figure out what to expect. What I found was a lot of helpful but very scientific pages and lots of generalizations, but I wanted everything in one place. In this post, I’ll go through my timeline of Covid symptoms, the immediate next steps I took, and how I prepared to leave isolation.
Background
For context, I am (newly) 33 years old, female, normal weight for my height, with no underlying health conditions. I had been training for a half marathon the 12 weeks prior to my diagnosis, so I was fairly fit. I had been double vaccinated (Moderna, second shot on 5/1), but hadn’t received my booster shot yet. I live alone with my small dog, and work remotely. I live in Alexandria, Virginia, right outside of Washington, D.C. I am NOT a healthcare provider or expert in Covid-19.
Timeline of Covid symptoms
- Tuesday, Nov. 9
- I went for a 4 mile run in the morning, thinking I was going to run my half marathon on Saturday the 13th (😭). I didn’t feel like the run was harder than I expected, but my Garmin watch said I needed 4 days to recover after I was done. For reference, my normal recovery time for a 4 mile run is about 24 hours. I thought maybe it just hadn’t gotten a good reading.
- Around mid-day, I started feeling a bit of fatigue and a dull headache. You know the feeling you get when you think you’re about to get sick? It was that feeling.
- I immediately started taking Zicam zinc supplements and went to bed early.
- Wednesday, Nov. 10
- I woke up not feeling any better. In fact, I was a little more fatigued and my headache was a little worse. I was still able to go about my day as normal, and had a family Zoom call later that night where my family said they had no idea I felt anything less than perfectly healthy.
- I continued to take Zicam, took a ginger shot from Whole Foods, and took a dose of Dayquil and one of Nyquil.
- Thursday, Nov. 11
- Surprised that I still didn’t feel better yet, this is the day I went to get tested. I tested at 8:30 am.
- By 4pm, I started to feel fully sick. My head was absolutely killing me, my nose was congested, and I began to develop a fever.
- By 8pm, I was in full on fever mode- chills, sweating, body aches, the works. That lasted all night, and into the next morning. I also lost my appetite.
- Medicated with Dayquil and Nyquil, lots of water and Gatorade.
- Friday, Nov. 12
- Called in sick to work. Splitting headache, congestion and runny nose, mild fever. Slight tickle of a cough, but nothing worth noting.
- Started to notice a decrease in sense of taste in smell, but it was slight.
- Decrease in appetite. Had ice cream for breakfast (lol), nothing for lunch, and then couldn’t finish my can of chicken noodle soup for dinner.
- Saturday, Nov. 13
- Symptoms started to lessen. Fever went away, and I was able to go on a masked walk for about 20 minutes.
- That proved a little too much and I immediately got back into bed under 100000 covers to watch more British Bake Off.
- Loss of taste and smell increased, occasional cough after talking too long, but that’s it.
- Sunday, Nov. 14
- Gradual improvement, but loss of taste and smell solidified. I can taste if something is sweet vs salty, but that’s about it.
- Monday, Nov. 15
- Gradual improvement. Still congested, slight cough after too many work calls.
- Tuesday, Nov. 16
- Feel almost back to normal, outside of congestion and loss of taste and smell!
- Wednesday, Nov. 17- Friday, Nov. 19
- Still no taste or smell and congested, but otherwise back to normal!
To do list
Ok you’ve tested positive- what next?
- Isolate immediately. I’m lucky that I live by myself, which made this step simple. If you don’t, find a way to separate yourself from the people you live with, ideally with a bathroom to yourself.
- Stay away from your pets. While it’s rare, the CDC says that humans can and have passed Covid-19 on to animals like cats and dogs. I had my boyfriend come pick up Luna, but if you don’t have someone who can watch your pet, refrain from close contact like snuggling and sleeping in the same bed. It’s so hard, I know! All I wanted to do after I was diagnosed was cry and hug Luna, but I had to keep pushing her away. My vet has some good tips for caring for your pets if you have no other alternative.
- Alert anyone you’ve been in close contact with in the past 2 days. The CDC classifies close contact as “someone who was less than 6 feet away from infected person for a cumulative total of 15 minutes or more over a 24-hour period.” A person can be infectious starting from 2 days before they show symptoms or test positive. I get it that this is not the type of news you want to give to people, and you may even feel embarrassed. But the bigger picture is you need to tell them.
- If you work in person, let your boss know. Listen, you seem like a smart cookie. You know not to go into work with Covid. Let your boss know and they’ll work with you on a plan.
- Cancel reservations and appointments. Make sure you let them know you were diagnosed with Covid. Often there will be a virtual option available, or they will be able to wave any cancellation fees.
- Call your doctor. Let them know you tested positive. They will add the information to your chart and be able to talk through any treatments that may be available to you. For example, people with preexisting conditions like asthma are eligible to get the monoclonal antibody IV treatment, which can help alleviate symptoms and shorten your illness time.
- Expect a call from the health department. If you got an official lab test somewhere, they will alert the health department of your positive diagnosis. Your local health department will call you to ask about your background and symptoms, and to ask who you’ve been in contact with for contact tracing. They’ll ask for names, dates of birth, addresses and phone numbers of those you’ve been in close contact with, but they’ll ask permission to use your name when alerting them. You have the option to remain anonymous. They may also give you a code to use for the COVIDWISE mobile alert, programmed into iPhones (and possibly Androids- I’m not sure) under your settings.
- Hydrate and rest. Seriously. This is the best way to get better. Drink so much water that you have to pee again as soon as you flush. When you’re not peeing, sleep. Find something to watch online. Binge daytime TV. Finally clean out your email inbox. Sleep whenever your eyes feel heavy.
Coming out of isolation
The CDC says you can come out of isolation after 10 days from your first symptom IF you also have not had a fever for 24 hours (without fever-reducing medication) and your symptoms are improving. If it’s been 10 days and you’re still feverish, continue to isolate. If it’s been 10 days and you don’t feel like your symptoms have improved (other than loss of taste or smell), continue to isolate.
I myself have been continuously disinfecting my living space throughout my isolation. I’m hitting all high-touch areas like doorknobs, handles and light switches daily. The CDC has some great cleaning tips here, and says that the Covid-19 virus can survive up to three days on hard surfaces without disinfecting. For me, I won’t have anyone over for at least three days after my isolation ends. I’ll of course be disinfecting every day, but that gives me peace of mind that no one will be exposed by touching something I may have missed.
I know that I’m going to take it slow coming out of isolation. The chances of me contracting Covid-19 were low, but it happened. I hate to be a broken record, but I was so surprised I caught Covid. I’m vaccinated, I wear a mask when I’m indoors, I wash my hands and disinfect regularly, I only attend large events when they are outdoors or vaccine-only. None of these things are silver bullets.
Keep staying vigilant, but sometimes sh*t happens (on your birthday).
