Hello friends, welcome back to my blog. As a healthcare worker, I was always careful about wearing a mask, keeping my distance, and sanitizing my hands. To my surprise, I just got Covid after two and a half years of Covid FREE. By the time I wrote this blog, it had been five days since I tested positive and six days since symptoms started. Here is my story.
How did I get it?
I speculate that I got it either from a friend or his toddler over the weekend.
Did I get the vaccine?
You bet I did. I received a total of 3 doses of Pfizer, including the booster shot, at the beginning of this year, 2022.
What were your symptoms?
When I woke up the following Monday, I had a scratchy throat but hadn’t coughed. The cough started around noon. It was like a short cough every two hours. I was still feeling fine when I got home. On Tuesday morning, my throat pain got a little intense, so I took an at-home test kit, which was positive.
I called employee health, and they told me that the day I tested positive was day 0, and I could go back to work if I tested negative on day fifth. Here is the link to CDC’s Quarantine and Isolation Guidelines if you have additional questions
Before I went to bed on Tuesday night, my temperature was 99 degrees F. Tuesday night was the worse because:
- High fever. My whole body was on fire. I should have called my wife to put me in a bath, but it was the middle of the night, and I wasn’t thinking straight.
- I tossed and turned. I woke up at least five times because of the fever.
- Nightmare. I have been playing Elden Ring and had a nightmare about it.
- Backache.
- Dry cough
- White patches inside my throat.
- It hurts when I swallow.
By Wednesday morning, I felt terrible. I contacted my primary doctor to schedule a telephone visit. I explained that I had Covid and possible strep throat, so I recommended that the doctor prescribe Amoxicillin 500 mg by mouth twice daily for ten days. The doctor’s secretary asked if I wanted Paxlovid. I said yes, but when I got a text from my pharmacy, I only got Augmentin 500mg-125mg 1 tab by mouth twice daily for seven days and Promethazine-DM for cough. I was a little confused about the Paxlovid but didn’t bother calling my doctor back.
Wednesday night was also stormy. After all, I woke up multiple times because my dry cough became a productive cough. Symptoms showed that I possibly now have bronchitis, so I up my Augmentin dose to three times a day.
By Thursday, symptoms started to slow down, and I am on the road to recovery. The productive cough still happened, but it wasn’t as bad.
Sunday is day 5th, and I just tested negative. What’s a relief.
Did you have to use PTO for work?
Luckily, my employer offers up to 40 hours if you care for yourself and a family member and an additional 40 hours if you are tested positive. I didn’t have to use my PTO for the four days that I am off, which is equivalent to 32 hours.
Do you think the vaccine helps?
I definitely think my Pfizer shot reduced the severity of my Covid symptoms. I worked in the hospital during the worse of the pandemic and have seen many people die from Covid, including a few young patients.
Any other loss of money resulting from having Covid?
The two medications that were prescribed to me cost $9. Using my PTO for the four days I am off would be equivalent to roughly $2,000 worth of PTO. Luckily, I didn’t have to.
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