I just had Covid 19 and thought I’d tell you how it went. I felt pretty ill for a while and, I felt after reading various comments on various sites that people still regard this illness as a “little flu”. To counter that, I wanted to tell you about my experience.

My Covid experience

Until I had the disease myself, I didn’t know any people who’d (100% proven with a test) had the bug. There were plenty of people who said “Oh I think I had it in March or February”, but as we had no testing back then we will never know for sure.  I wanted to share my experience to give a contrast to both the nay sayers and the people who have sadly passed away.

Days 1-5

I first noticed feeling a bit off on Tuesday 15 December. On Wednesday, I noticed I had a cough, and in the afternoon, I developed a fever. I ordered a Covid-19 test that evening. I duly self-isolated from that point onwards. However, I wasn’t going out anywhere anyway as I work from home and London was going into lockdown.  

By the morning, I had a full-blown fever of 38.1C. However, I still didn’t want to believe I had Covid 19. My symptoms were more like actual flu, and as I didn’t have the flu vaccine, it was possible I’d got that. I thought this because I could still smell and taste fine.

I did my test and sent it off on Thursday. I even ‘went to work’ in my home office on Friday, but it was very unproductive. The days seemed to lengthen. A ‘brain fog’ descended where thinking straight seemed impossible. All I could do was watch endless Netflix shows.

I was scared. I didn’t want this, and my partner has asthma so naturally I was scared she would be badly affected by a disease that affects the lungs so badly. We live in a small flat, so if I contracted this, then it was almost certain she would too. On Friday, two days after me, she developed symptoms. There was a collective denial that we had it.

On Saturday, my taste disappeared, and weirdly my ears and eyes ached. My whole body hurt like I’d done a workout.

Days 5-9

On Sunday morning, the positive result came back. It was a hammer blow, and I must admit feeling a bit panicky. My chest felt pressured and tight.

Day 5-7 are apparently when people start to struggle with this illness. I must admit I felt a worsening of my symptoms at this point.

I had a blood oxygen meter which I’d bought in June. It was the type you put on the finger, and it measures heart rate and blood oxygen. My Oxygen was always borderline, OK at around 95-96%. If you go below 92%, they recommend seeing a Doctor.

Day 7 was when I started feeling better, but then it seemed I was knocked back a few steps. Day 8 and 9 were when I had a splitting headache and diarrhoea.

Day 9 is the hump day of Covid 19. If you make it this far without going to the hospital, you will either get better, or get worse and probably need a hospital. My partner’s Uncle is a microbiologist involved in making the Aussie vaccine and shared this info with us.

My partner was faring better, and although very sick too, she was not getting the expected asthma symptoms.

Day 10 – 12

Only on day ten did I feel things were getting better. I had the splitting headache, but all the other symptoms were getting better. Even at this point, I couldn’t be sure I was out of the woods.

Today, which is day 12 for me, and 10 for her, we are both feeling like new people. Although strangely, her smell disappeared today. We both still have awful coughs.

Doesn’t sound that bad, but to be honest, combined with the anxiety of knowing that day 9 is a turning point, and the fact I was fluctuating between feeling better and worse within a few hours several times a day with no idea where this was going.

I had a few moments of gasping for air and feeling faint. I worked out if I lay on my side or front; it relieved the breathlessness. A few times when I put the oxygen meter on, and it said 90% (and then quickly went to 94-95%), there was a panicky feeling. Do I call the ambulance? It was the last thing I wanted to do with the hospitals full to the gunnels and it being Christmas.

Christmas was spent feeling rotten. I’d made a mistake with the food delivery and couldn’t leave the house to get the ingredients I needed.  But we still made it work, and having gone through the horrors of the sickness together as a couple, made the little things on the day seem more special.

The verdict

I read The Times online, which has an active comments section. I was infuriated to see people saying they’d had it and it was nothing more than mild flu. I also wonder how many of those commenting actually had a test to confirm it, but that’s the cynic in me. That may have been true for them, but it doesn’t mean it will be the same for everyone. I’ve had various illnesses like flu, German measles, dysentery, and numerous chest infections, and this was the worst. It lasted the longest out of any of these. Usually, I’m over the flu in a week. Covid took a full ten days to start feeling human again. I think people’s bodies get tired and start failing at this point.

I know I’ve had it easy and my case is classed as a mild case, but I’ve never had an illness that lasted this long or affected my breathing as much as this. I’d say that the anxiety of actually having COVID 19 did not help, and the not knowing what way it could go really didn’t make me feel secure about it. Maybe I’m lucky but Covid 19 is a serious illness, and the problem is you just don’t know how it will affect you until it does.

I’m now praying we don’t get ‘long Covid’ which I’ve heard of a few people getting.

Stay safe and wear a mask.