It sunk in on March 6, 2020, that due to COVID-19, my university was going to shut down and faculty and students and staff were going into lockdown at their homes. My town turned into a ghost town overnight. Students were told not to return to school from their Spring break. All our teaching and learning was going to happen remotely. I was not going to socialize with friends and colleagues or go to a bar or restaurant for an evening of fun. I thought this was only going to take a couple of weeks and all would be back to life as usual. I was careful from the get-go. I washed my hands frequently. I was in the house by myself. I did not mix with other people. I knew I was safe.
On October 5, a friend of mine, Angie, who had lost a job and could not afford life's basics came seeking shelter. Angie assured me they had been isolated in their house until they could not afford it any longer.
The next day, Angie woke up with severe cough and chest pain. On Wednesday, Oct 7, I told Angie to call the Konza Clinic which takes people without health insurance, and Angie was too weak to make the call. I made the call on her behalf. They gave her an appointment for Friday to go get tested for COVID-19.
I woke in the middle of the night of Oct 14 with a severe sore throat. It felt like some huge ragged rock was violently hitting my throat. My legs from knees down were very tired and heavy. It was as if someone was holding them down. I had difficulty moving the legs in bed. My whole body felt as like ice cubes dissolving under running water. I felt my soul leave my body. It was like how steam evaporates from the forest in the early morning hours or after a good afternoon rain. COVID-19 is a disease I could not wish on my worst enemy.
Right away I took vitamin C and Zinc supplements and a spoonful of raw honey. I always keep raw honey in the house for therapeutic purposes. In the morning, I started taking lemon and ginger tea. I must have taken about 30 cups that day and have been diligently taking the tea every day since then. By the evening, the sore throat had found its way back to where it had come from. But the fatigue intensified. Also, I realized I had lost the sense of taste and smell. Fortunately, my appetite remained great.
At this time, Angie had not heard back from the clinic and so we were treating everything as a cold. I really did not think it could be COVID-19 because I had been careful all those months and I trusted my friend. I did not visit the store since March 6. I ordered all of my groceries and house supplies online. While on walks, I always socially distanced and wore a mask. I knew I had beaten this thing.
On Oct 15, I researched places that offered COVID-19 testing and were able to secure an appointment for Oct 17 at 7: 10 am. The results were released on Oct 18, but no one called me to tell me I had tested positive for COVID-19. Two days later when I called to ask, they said I had
to look up the results online by opening an account. There were no instructions or questions whatsoever about what to do if you tested positive for COVID-19. I called the doctor's office because I had an appointment for blood work, and they said, 'OK, take good care.'
When you call into a doctor's office you receive an outgoing message to not call the doctor but 911 if you have tested positive for COVID-19 and are having respiratory complications. So, if you are not 'dying' so to say, stay home and do what you can to survive. By noontime, I remembered I had saved a post from WhatsApp by Dr. Kiiza Besigye about a cocktail recipe on how to boost the immune system. I made the cocktail and hauled it in for the next four days.
In the meantime, I continued to eat well, drink plenty of room temperature water and millet porridge, do simple exercises, rest a lot, and drink freshly made vegetable juices such as beetroot, carrot, celery, and radish. Fruits including bananas, mangoes, Kiwis, Pomegranate, and green leafy vegetables, eggs, legumes, and sweet potatoes, comprised my diet.
The Riley County Health Department called on Nov 5 and cleared me as I no longer exhibited serious illness. They, however, warned that fatigue would linger on. For two months, I am still struggling with fatigue and have not recovered the sense of taste and smell.Ability to take care of myself, eating nutritious foods, keeping hydrated, staying active and resting enough were key companions on this COVID-19 journey.