No end in sight… | Jessica Bussert | Founder & CEO Tuesday, May 13th
In my last post, I shared with you all that I was sidelined from the ER due to the car accident. As part of that, I’ve been instructed to get a bunch of MRIs to help assess soft tissue injuries. Yesterday I had the first of the MRIs at a facility not too far from my apartment.
Afterward, on the walk back to my place I noticed that my throat was feeling a little sore. The skies were blue but the temperature was cool. As such, I didn’t think much of the chills I was feeling. I got back to my apartment and climbed into bed for a nap. I was achy and exhausted and just wanted to get warmed up and sleep for a little while. The sleep didn’t come and I just couldn’t seem to get warmed up no matter how many blankets I threw over me. I started to get concerned when the shivering started. I just couldn’t stop shaking from the chills. After about 30 minutes I got up and headed into the bathroom for a hot shower to thaw myself out. I stood under the water for half an hour shaking like a Mexican jumping bean (remember those?) before I finally started to warm up. My head was hurting along with everything else.
It should have been obvious to me long before this point. Perhaps I was just in denial. But after I got out of the shower and crawled back under the covers there was no longer any doubt in my mind.
I’ve got COVID-19.
I haven’t had the test but I really don’t need one to see what is now blatantly obvious. I’ve spent the last month assessing countless patients in the ER suffering from exactly the same symptoms. The only one I’m not experiencing is a lack of taste. I wish I had that one as well because right now my mouth tastes like garbage.
So, what does this all mean? Well, I’m stuck here in NYC longer than I was expecting. I’m going to need to move from my shared apartment to a private hotel room to better isolate. I’ve had to cancel the remainder of the MRIs and I’ll need to reschedule those after I’m well again. All in all it looks like I’ll be stuck here until early to mid June.
Social distancing has been particularly difficult for me. I’m an extrovert and I need human interaction in order to be happy. I’ve been struggling with depression already and 14 days in solitary confinement isn’t going to help that any. Right now I’m just hoping for a bathtub in whatever hotel room I end up in. A nice long bath with a glass of Malbec sounds like just the medicine I need right now. Luckily for me I stocked up before I fell ill!
I’ll be writing again over the next couple of weeks to hopefully give you better insight on what the infection actually feels like. I’m healthy and have no pre-existing conditions so I’m confident that this will end up being a mild case without any major complications.
Wish me luck!
-Jessica