Read about COVID hitting our house and my hospitalization with COVID.

COVID recovery is hard, y’all. Really hard.

I came home from the hospital on 2L of oxygen because I couldn’t keep my oxygen levels high enough when I walked around. That was fine. As long as I could be with my family. Twelve days of isolation was enough.

My first day home was hard. I was on my oxygen a lot because I was scared to not use it. I used my pulse ox a lot because I was scared my oxygen levels would drop below 90. Recovery is being scared a lot.

The second day home from the hospital, my daughter had a rash and fever. My husband called her pediatrician, and they wouldn’t see her because they said it was COVID. She already HAD COVID, my husband said, and surely she couldn’t be reinfected within a couple of weeks.

Lucy Gets Diagnosed with MIS-C

He took her to our children’s hospital’s Urgent Care. They knew exactly what was going on – Multisystem Inflammatory Syndrome in Children (MIS-C). This is the rare inflammation disease affecting some kids after they recover from COVID. By some, I mean only 1,027 have had it. At the time my daughter was diagnosed, fewer than 1,000 had gotten it.

My husband and daughter were sent straight over to the children’s hospital. Urgent Care called over, and they told my husband to not even park – to use the valet so they could get her right back into the ER.

Y’all. My SECOND DAY HOME FROM THE HOSPITAL and now my DAUGHTER was going to the hospital. I was trying not to freak out. Not only was I scared about being home alone during my COVID recovery with 5 pets to take care of while getting out of breath very easily but my daughter was in the ER without me, and that killed my heart.

The ER confirmed it was MIS-C. She had to be admitted. Her liver enzymes were high, her inflammation markers were high, and her fever was 103. She was terrified and in tears. I don’t blame her. She is 10. I was terrified to be admitted and I’m 40! Thankfully, she had her Dad there, and he was NOT leaving her.

Recovering While Home Alone

I’m not going to lie – this made my recovery even harder. My portable oxygen tank was in the car at the children’s hospital, so my husband called the company to drop off another one. Until they came, I was limited to how far the dog could go outside since I wasn’t attempting to move my main tank. It’s big! The dog wasn’t thrilled, but she dealt with it.

I was SO thankful for all the wonderful friends and co-workers we have who had sent us credit for Uber Eats and DoorDash. It was SO helpful because I could hardly walk from the living room couch to the hall bathroom without feeling like my lungs were going to give out. There is no possible way I could cook. So, I ordered delivery for my meals, and it was so nice. I got really used to just picking up my meals off the doorstep! I kind of miss it, but it sure is good to have home cooking again!

Every Day was a Guessing Game

We weren’t sure how long my daughter was going to be in the hospital. We were hoping only overnight but, sadly, we were wrong. They couldn’t get her fever to break consistently. It would break for a bit and then come back with a vengeance. Her rash was better on day 2, even without medicine, so they kept ice packs on her to bring her fever down. They couldn’t use Tylenol because she was being give a shot to prevent blood clotting every day.

Day 3 rolled around. We thought she’d be going home. Her numbers were better, though her liver enzymes were still a bit high, but they wanted to observe her. They started her on steroids, and she started looking better. It looked like she would be coming home on Sunday.

I was hanging out at the house watching a movie Saturday night when the power went out! Seriously – when it rains, it pours. And, obviously, someone was waiting outside to murder me. Or, maybe I’ve watched too many Lifetime movies. My main oxygen tank obviously wouldn’t work, so I was really glad we had gotten a new portable tank. I was able to use that until the power came on. We have a great village because our neighbors texted Joe to see if they needed to come over and check on me, and my sister-in-law offered to drive over to pick me up.

I fell asleep around 2 a.m., and at 4 a.m., Joe called to let me know Lucy had spiked another fever – the highest she’d had at 104. I was beside myself. I was so exhausted from having to take care of everything here while trying to recover from COVID, and I just really wanted to see my family. I was going on more than 2 weeks without them, except for that one day between my release from the hospitals and Lucy being admitted.

Finally Coming Home

When the doctor rounded, the fever had come down, and her numbers were much better – including her liver enzymes. They were good enough that he felt good sending her home because the fevers on their own weren’t that worrisome. I was on video chat with them at the time, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen Lucy get out of bed so fast!

Within a few hours, they were home, and none of us have ever been so happy. Our COVID recovery is continuing. My lungs have gotten stronger and stronger, and I’ve been off my oxygen for the most part now. I do use it at night and when I feel out of breath, though. Lucy had another fever when she got home, but it was much farther apart than her last, and she’s been fine since. We both have several follow-up appointments, and we’re hoping that after that we will be DONE with COVID.

This is no joke, y’all. COVID recovery is not easy. At least not for us. We’ve had a rough time with this. Wear your mask. Social distance. Keep yourselves safe.