About a week ago, I started feeling under the weather. Since this is a story concerning all three of us, I actually need to start further back, but my getting sick was the start of our discovery that Covid — and not your typical sickness — had entered our house.
Prior to my getting sick, Jessica and Namine had been fighting a cold for some time. Jessica had come down with it first, about two weeks before. It progressed from a viral infection to bacterial, requiring her to start a round of antibiotics. It got so bad that she actually had to stop that and start on something stronger.
While Jessica was fighting her illness, Namine also got sick. Like Jessica’s, it started out viral. We brought Namine in to see her doctor, who confirmed this. Anticipating that it would blossom into the same thing Jessica had (or similar), we requested antibiotics. This request was denied.
We ended up bringing Namine back in, with the doctor confirming — surprise — that she had a bacterial infection. The first of two antibiotics was prescribed. Days later, we got a different prescription to replace it, as Namine started to develop an allergic reaction. Fortunately, the reaction was relatively mild, as these things go: she developed a rash, but did not require hospitalization or an epi-pen injection.
It was around the time of Namine’s first antibiotic that I started to feel under the weather. At the time, I figured I would be able to fight off the cold better than Jessica or Namine had; I usually do. I, however, am susceptible to ear infections, and sure enough, my ears started to hurt. I went in to Urgent Care, where they confirmed the matter.
It was at the Urgent Care where I, on nothing more than a whim, suggested that they do a Covid test. I suspected nothing, nor did I feel as other family members had described what having Covid was like. (Yet.) To my surprise, the test came back positive. From there, we knew we had to get Jessica and Namine tested — although we were certain of what the results would be, and we were right.
In the past several days, Jessica and I have begun to recover. We are coughing — and coughing stuff up — less, and we’re starting to feel a little more like ourselves again. Namine, on the other hand, is still coughing quite a bit. Her cough has a barky, croup-like quality that mine and Jessica’s never had, which we attributed to her narrow airway (thanks to her having Pierre Robin Sequence).
This persistent cough led us to fear that something has gone deeper than Namine’s airway and into her lungs. Therefore, we took her in to see her pediatrician one more time. She (the pediatrician) confirmed that Namine’s lungs are clear; that the medication she’s taking will continue to protect her lungs; and we must simply wait out the cough. It will just take time, although “just” anything in regard to Covid feels like no small matter.
Our having come down with Covid has been trying. We are fortunate to have been vaccinated, all three of us, for we’re certain we would have had a much more difficult time of it, had we not. We’re thankful for responsive doctors. We’re also thankful that even with Namine’s medical complications, it has required nothing more strenuous than repeated trips to her doctor (and Urgent Care outside the doctor’s normal hours).
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