Update: Trying to Get Tested for COVID-19, Part 5

(This image is a stock photo and not me, but it pretty much depicts what I would look like taking my temperature 10 times a day if my hair did not look so crazy.)

Day 13: It’s all about fever management now.

I’ve spent the last five days completely resting for the most part. I have done some light writing and worked a little, but on day 10, I woke up feeling much better and started to do some light housework and it literally knocked me down for the next five days. The key to this phase is to stay in your beds or on your couches, even after you feel much better because the kick-back in week two is brutal.

My lungs are mostly clear. There is an occasional rattle, but it seems to be resolving itself fairly quickly. My head cold symptoms have also flared up again and I have had continued swollen glands and an occasional runny nose. It’s so interesting to me how quickly the symptoms can come and go. The dry cough is still here, but is really rare and only a few times a day and I am using the cough as an overall barometer for contagiousness. Once I am 72 hours completely free from this cough, I will consider possibly leaving my apartment for groceries.

We need to talk about this fever. My natural temperature runs low and is typically 96.8 (instead of 98.6). My temperature has been ranging from the low 99 range to the 98 range, which is a fever for me. I have bright red cheeks and break into a sweat several times a day. I often find that I will be in my bed and trying to rest and I will just roll back and forth and moan from sheer irritability. I take two maximum strength Tylenol several times a day and it seems to help a little bit. If my lungs were not clear while I feel this bad, I would have gone to the hospital.

The key for me in the first week, as an asthmatic, was making sure that I had constant access to my rescue albuterol inhaler (I used it several times a day) and making sure I was resting completely. I also took high doses of vitamin C, Omega-3 fish oils, and Mucinex DM during the daytime. I have switched to taking only Tylenol due to reports that other pain relievers may exacerbate COVID-19 symptoms. I have also continued to use my Flonase spray that I use daily and my regular dose of Claritin. In the first week I drank a lot of hot tea with honey for my cough and that would keep the painful symptoms at bay for a few hours. I also ate a lot of hot soup in that first week after reports that hot liquids were essential to break up the mucus on the lungs and keep your breathing clear.

Amee Vanderpool @girlsreallyrule

My mom just had groceries delivered for the first time and she insisted that I watch her unpack each item on FaceTime complete with a description of why she got it and what she would use it for...so how's your day going? 😳

Now it feels like a waiting game while I seem to re-live the same day over and over. It’s key to keep your spirits up considering that most of us are completely isolated, so make sure to have as much contact with others through phone calls or Face Time or Zoom-it really does help to make sure your sense of well-being stays strong. I have said this before, but I’m going to re-emphasize it: there is no room here for extra worry or panic. People with asthma are already triggered by these things and they do nothing to help us now. Stay pragmatic and focused and just know that getting this virus is not a death sentence for people like us. There were several times this week where I started to cry and I stopped myself knowing that creating more mucus was only going to hurt me in the long run. Stay focused and use your head, we can all fix our hair later.

You got this.

For the first post in this series, including Day 1, Day 3 and Day 6 click here.

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Amee Vanderpool writes the “Shero” Newsletter and is an attorney, contributor to magazines and newspapers and an analyst for BBC radio. She can be reached at avanderpool@gmail.com or follow her on Twitter @girlsreallyrule.