Maggie AstorCompte certifié

During coughing fits, he would make these inhuman noises that sounded like he was choking. But he couldn’t answer my alarmed are-you-okays because he was busy coughing uncontrollably. 7/x

[cw: weight] . . . On top of the fever and cough, he had chills, fatigue, headaches, and nausea. Promethazine helped with the nausea, but not enough. He barely ate anything. He lost 15 pounds in two weeks. 8/x

My illness was milder than his. This is an extremely low bar. It did START mild. I got a cough and a low-grade fever on Tuesday, March 24. My fever only lasted three days. On Friday, March 27, I felt fine and thought I was over it. I wasn’t. 9/x

That Saturday, March 28, I started coughing so violently I almost threw up several times. I couldn’t stop. I coughed so much my ribs and abs and head hurt. I googled whether it was possible to break a rib from coughing. I cried and that made me cough more. 10/x

After a coughing fit, my whole body would be shaking and I’d have to lie down. I kept getting chills and cold sweats despite not having a fever anymore. My chest felt tight and I didn’t know if it was from the virus or from anxiety. 11/x

Sunday night, I had an awful headache and nausea and lay awake for hours, willing myself not to throw up because my ribs and abs already hurt so much from coughing. I also lost my sense of smell on Sunday, six days into my symptoms. 12/x

The cough, headache, and nausea improved slooowly over the next few days. I’ve been basically okay since this Saturday, April 4, just still really tired and can’t smell. Food tastes like nothing. I avoid scales, but I can tell I’ve lost weight. 13/x

I also want to talk about the mental side of this. Frankly, much of the past two weeks is a blur of anxiety. Fun fact: Panic attacks make you feel like you can’t breathe. This is bad when you’ve been told to stay home “unless you have trouble breathing.” 14/x