This is a statement that never dreamed that I would say but yet I am saying it today as I write about my experience with COVID. This is part of the adventure and part of my journey along the Kidney Trails.
I remember being at work one day and hearing COVID. It is a word that causes concern wherever you may be. So it was this day when I heard the word, it was not the first time that I heard it but this time was different the way it was said and the seriousness behind it. It was not long before I was sent to get a test, even though I had no symptoms. Once I found out that I was to be tested one of the first things I did was to call my transplant team and let them know that there was a potential exposure. Then called my wife and told her that I needed to be tested and I would tried to isolate myself as much as possible until the results came back.
As I went for the COVID test it would be a lie if I did not say I was a little concerned but one thing that I was not was fearful. Why not you may ask are you not a concerned as a transplant patient? Are you not immune compromised and what about your family? Yes, yes all these thoughts went through my mind but also part of a old song that I have known since I was a child. “I know on whom my faith is fixed”.
When I got home I tried to isolate myself from my family the best I could. Which when I walked in the house my kids came up to hug me and it was hard for me to tell them no not today. The wait for the results was agonizing but wait I had to. Finally the results came in and I was negative, what a sense of relief even though at the time I did not realize it would be a short lived.
About a week later, I came home from work and around 8 and spiked a small fever that night but it was gone with in a few hours I thought that is strange but I had just just started some antibiotics for something else and thought maybe I was having a reaction to them. By the next day I felt better but still a little tired. By the weekend I spiked another fever but it was gone by the afternoon. That weekend I still did not feel the greatest and even spiked another small fever but it went away in a few hours.
The next week I felt ok but felt I should call my doctor and transplant team to let them know what was going on. I was able to set up a telemedicine visit with my PCP and after explaining how I was feeling, he thought it was a good possibility and that it could be the antibiotic but he also said we need to think about the possibility of COVID and if I felt worse to get a COVID test. The next day the fever was back and I felt much worse when I would go to get up to get a drink of water it felt as though I had just ran a long ways. Knowing that this was more than an antibiotic reaction I called them again and they said to get tested for COVID and they would send the order in. Also I called transplant to make them aware of the issue. They were glad I called and even more so that I was getting tested just so that it could be ruled out.
That night I went to get tested but I was to late to get in so it was scheduled for next day. As I drove home that night the emotions started to hit me. Driving down the road the tears started to fall as I realized that it was a good possibility that I had contracted this cursed disease. Questions started to go through my mind such as would I make it? Would my transplanted kidney be ok? What about my wife and kids? would they contract it? What about my son if he got it would he make it through being only 3? he has had trouble with his lungs since he was 7 months and this year he had no issues but would they come back and would it be worse? Yet still those words came to my mind over and over again ” I know on whom my faith is fixed, I know on whom I trust”.
The next day I went for my COVID test after the test I went home to wait on the results. As I waited it seemed the worse I got. One thing that I did was drink water and not just a little but I drank anywhere from 90 to 150 ounces a day and some of those days I felt it was an achievement to get the 90 down. On Friday there was still no word on the results of the test they had said it would take 24-48 hours. By the weekend we still had not heard and by this time I felt that if it was not COVID I needed to go to the hospital. My good wife called the clinic where I was tested they said that they did not have it that they sent it to my PCP but being Saturday he was off. She asked was there anyway we could find out someway somehow the results for her husband was a transplant patient and if this was not COVID she would need to take him to the hospital. They said they would see what they could do.
20 Minutes later my phone rang…
Tune in next week as I continues to share my journey through some of the toughest parts of COVID valley and don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss any new and exciting content.
Kidney Trails 