Peace of Mind Organizing

My experience with COVID

24 January 2022

On January 12, 2022, I tested positive for COVID. I believe I picked it up eating in a restaurant.

Based on symptoms, I think I had the Omicron variant. Thanks to having been vaccinated and boosted, the symptoms were quite mild. I felt like I had a cold for about five days and one of the days I felt like I had a bad cold.

Because I know all the questions that have swirled through my head about COVID over the last almost two years, I thought I’d share my experience here in case it answered any questions you have.

The day I believe I became infected was Saturday, January 8. Here’s the timeline:

• Saturday, January 8: Exposure
• Monday, January 10: Very slight symptoms (mild shortness of breath), later in the day
• Tuesday, January 11: More obvious symptoms (stuffy nose, scratchy throat, shortness of breath going up and down stairs). I went to a testing site and got a rapid test. The result was negative. At this point my doctor friend told me to get another test the next day because I probably tested too soon, with the optimal time between 48 hours after symptom onset. (He also said that in January 2022 any signs of a cold are more likely to be COVID than anything else.)
• Wednesday, January 12: My symptoms were worse. I went back to the testing site and got another rapid test + a PCR test. The rapid test result was positive and I started isolating, based on recommendations from the Centers for Disease Control. My husband went with me and also took a rapid test and PCR test. The result of his rapid test was negative.
• Thursday, January 13: My worst day, symptoms-wise. My throat was sore and gravelly and I was quite tired. I even took a nap. After that I felt better each day.
• Monday, January 17: I ended strict isolation. I allowed myself to watch TV upstairs unmasked unless Barry came in the room. But I continued sleeping in the guest bed until Friday.
• Saturday, January 22: I resumed normal life. (The 2022 version of normal life.)

Interestingly enough, my husband’s PCR test was also negative and at least three subsequent rapid tests have been negative. I don’t know how that happened, but I’m grateful!

We live in a two-family house, so it was easy for me to isolate. We live on the second floor, but my office and the bathroom I use are on the first floor, so it was just a matter of moving into the first-floor guest room. Whenever I was upstairs, I wore an N95 mask. I prepared meals (or Barry prepared them for me) upstairs and brought them downstairs to eat.

Thanks to being vaccinated and boosted, my experience with COVID was more an inconvenience than anything. I was scheduled to fly to Walla Walla to see family and am so glad I was diagnosed before getting on a plane. I rescheduled the trip for two weeks later.

I didn’t expect the sense of relief I’d feel once I actually got COVID and didn’t get very sick. Of course I’ll continue to mask in public, but I am so grateful that chances are slim that I will get sick from (or pass on) COVID for the next several months. That gives me much more peace of mind in traveling to see my elderly father and aunt and my high-risk brother.

I hope reading this is a little helpful!

Tagged with: covid, covid-19

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