Picture taken April 9th mid-day…looking more awake!!! Someone asked me why was I taking photos of myself…the answer is: I wanted to see what my face looked like to see if I was looking better.

Thursday April 9th, 2020:

I woke up at 7AM and couldn’t stop coughing. My new morning routine began with a coughing attack served medium rare. Mornings were the worst in regards to my coughing. I was able to go back to sleep and wake back up around 8:15AM. I felt okay. My labored breathing was better. My neck pain was minimal. I was able to sit up and finally get some business work on the computer done. I still felt dizzy when walking to the bathroom, but overall I was happy for positive progress towards feeling normal again...

We had to leave at 10AM for the drive to University Hospitals Landerbrook Health Center Facility in Mayfield Heights, OH to get COVID-19 tested. It took us 45 minutes to get there. I handled the drive okay, I just felt very tired and woozy. Wearing my mask made it harder to breathe, but we had the windows down so the fresh air helped soothe my anxious thoughts and airwaves. We arrived at 10:45AM and waited in a long line of cars for about 1 hr and 15 minutes. There were big signs saying “PLEASE have ID ready and Keep Windows Rolled Up”. Also, “No Video Recording”. I posted some pictures, no video, to give everyone a visual of the environment.

I thought it was strange to see so many cars with only 1 person in the car, but then I realized NOBODY else would have WANTED to be in the car with a possible COVID victim. That being said, I’m very grateful for Darcy, with her mask, and windows down, taking the chance and driving me to the facility. I can tell you right now that THERE IS NO WAY I COULD HAVE DRIVEN A CAR. I was too weak, delirious, and super out of it to drive a vehicle.

Once we got closer and closer to the big white tents I began to wonder how they would test me if we had to keep our windows rolled up? We pulled up to the first table and Darcy had to press my driver’s license against the window for them to see identification. As I’m sitting in the passenger seat I noticed the nurse had to walkie talkie someone my last name, go back into the white tent, and then look for “my bag” and papers. Next, she walks over to my side and asks me to just slightly crack my window and slips some papers inside the car when, lo and behold, I read I would be SELF administering the test. LIKE WHAT THE F***??????

She put my bag of medical supplies in between the windshield and the wiper and told us to drive forward to the next table. In my dazed and confused state, I turn to Darcy and I’m like “SHOVE THE SWAB IN MY NOSE? SHOVE? SHOVE UP? SHOVE BACK?” WTH. I texted my nurse friend Susan real fast and asked her what to do. She said “shove it until it stops”.

So we pull up to the next tent. A nurse comes around to my window and yells out, “roll the window down so I can give you the swabs”. That was the ONLY verbal instructions for the test. He handed me the swab and I was so anxious on how to do it I just stuck it straight up in my right nostril and totally forgot to roll it. I pulled it out and asked Darcy, “could you please count to 10 because - A. I have no idea if I’m doing this right and - B. I don’t know how long 10 seconds is”. I shoved the same swab into my left nostril and remembered to roll it that time. However, putting the swab in my nose never hurt (which I would later find out that the swab is actually suppose to go back into the throat cavity and hurt like hell). I handed the swab back to the nurse, he put in a tube, walked to the other side of the car, and that was it. We drove home. It was the most “not what I expected event of the day”. I thought to myself, I’m not a doctor or nurse and was taught NOT to put things in your nose as a kid. How the shit was I suppose to know if I did that right? I posted a picture of the verbal instructions so y’all can see that it says nothing about throat cavity.

I took Tylenol for the drive home because I was beginning to feel sick. Once we got home around 12:30PM, my breathing was at 24 breathes per minute and I was running a low grade temperature of 99.5. I had a long call with my sister from 2-4PM that exerted a lot of energy. After the call I had a massive coughing attack that last over 30 minutes and then got a pounding headache.

That evening around 8PM I had another “episode” laying in bed by myself upstairs. I could barely move, felt extremely dazed and confused, couldn’t open my eyes, my breathing slowed way down and my heart rate dropped to 39 beats per minute. I vaguely remember Dori, the dog, jumping on the bed and licking me which helped me come to a little bit. It was enough that I was able to make a noise for Darcy to come running upstairs. She sat me up and forced more Tylenol in my mouth. Tylenol seemed to fix this paralytic state. I had now taken 6000 mg of Tylenol within 24 hours which might have been just a few too many. We didn’t know what else to do…this would be the last episode I would have…we still aren’t sure what was causing them…SOOOOOOO WEIRD!!!!!!

I still had a headache around 10PM and was extremely anxious to fall asleep. I did finally fall asleep around 2AM.

This photo is of the start of the line we entered at UH Landerbrook Health Center in Mayfield Heights, OH

The written instructions on how to self administer the nose swab test.

Day #6 - The Day I Got COVID-19 Tested

Day #7 - Test Results

Day #5 - The Brain Fog Is Real