When Coronavirus Hits home! (This one is personal)

*Disclaimer: This post was written while I was dealing with Coronavirus: with all the symptoms, mixed emotions, a lot of anger and frustration.

Twenty-Twenty!! What a way to start a new decade!

Coronavirus has put the entire world on lockdown. Who would have thought a virus would paralyze the whole planet?!! The virus reminded some people of important information such as washing hands (lol), cleaning their space, disinfecting things etc. No matter what precautions were taken, Coronavirus hit. It did not only hit home…but it hit ME! 

When it all started

A few weeks ago, after the lockdown started, I asked my employer to work from home as I did not feel safe. At the end of the lockdown period, I would go to the office twice a week. No procedures were put in place at the office except for hand sanitizers, social distancing and masks. No plexiglass separating our offices, they were not taking people’s temperature, they did not require people to get tested, no disinfecting wipes available for the employees. It was the same for a few other places as well, however cleaning wipes, sprays, gloves, masks and were available. 

On Sunday, July 12th, I was in contact with someone who had the virus and everything shifted! That day, I was wearing a mask and gloves but the protection was not enough. I concluded that the virus airborne and I caught it through my eyes! It did not take much time for the symptoms to appear.

The following Tuesday, July 14th, I was working at home with a fan blowing on my back. I felt a little chill, but I didn’t think anything of it. I would turn the fan on and off as I was either too “hot” or too “cold”. The following day, July 15th, the body aches started. It was UNBEARABLE! I rarely get sick so I knew something was wrong. I took my temperature and it was 38.8°C. I messaged my friends, family and employer to let everyone know that was heading to the clinic to get tested. My sister and I went to a first place close to our house, it was jam-packed! So, we went elsewhere, the line was still long and they were closing soon but since I had told the nurses I had a fever they allowed us to stay. The people behind us were sent home and were told to come back in the morning.

Standing in line was painful! my body was aching! It’s a different feeling than being sore from a workout. It’s 10 times worse! I had to go and sit on the side of the road. Imagine ME!!! At that point, I didn’t care about germs or how dirty the ground was. I just needed to sit! I took the test through the throat; I DID NOT want to do it through the nose! lol The nurse was telling me that the test could be less accurate in the throat. We left the place at around 8h30 pm. I was told they would call on a private number and to pick up because they won’t a leave message. I went back home but was in extreme pain and exhausted.

The next day, July 16th. At exactly 11h12 am EST, I get THE Private call. The gentleman said: “Hi Genika, how are you? So you were born at so and so hospital, your parents’ names are ….” I cut him short and said: “Do you have the results?” He said: “Yes, ok, we’ll start with that…the test came back POSITIVE“. My heart sank! “……stay in isolation for 14 days, bla, bla, bla…..” I couldn’t hear the gentlemen anymore. Confused and baffled, I couldn’t believe it. Why me out of everybody?…I’m super careful? How come?…I’m sooo careful!…What do I do now?…Who gave it to me?…It must be so and so…I can’t believe it…The test is not accurate! Yet again, I had all the symptoms. I contacted my employer, friends and family to advise them and tell them that they should get tested. I felt like a big piece of Coronavirus!

People’s comments

Some of the most frustrating comments I’ve heard: “It’s just like the flu,” “You’re young; nothing will happen to you. It is only fatal to seniors or people with medical conditions’’: “It’s everywhere,” “Everyone has or will have Covid-19“, “Where did she catch it? She probably went to a restaurant”. My response was: What if I never have the flu?! I actually don’t and barely get sick. Young people died from it! So people want to play detective? Ok….And let’s not forget the famous Ginger-Lemon-Honey tea recipe!!! Oohh, and the conspiracy theories!! Hearing these things was so frustrating, especially when you are dealing with the sickness. It’s easy to give advice when we’re not in the situation. Some of them were coming from a good place, others….no comment!

The symptoms

Unfortunately, I almost had them all, except for diarrhea. I couldn’t believe it. I’m a pretty healthy person; I take my vitamins, drink my water, workout, yet not only did I catch this virus, but I had most of the symptoms. Mind you; I rarely get sick. The last time I had a cold was 2 years ago. I worked in a high-stress environment, late hours, and went to school part-time in the evening. Therefore, I was always tired and my body would not have the time to recover at night and the office was full of people and sample clothing everywhere and a dirty carpet! To give you an idea.

Here is the list of all my symptoms:

No motivation

For the first 3 days, I was ok. Right after that, I was down for a full week. No desire to do anything (not even online shopping 🤣🤣).

I was struggling to shower, moving, leaving the bed and eating. I would stay in bed and reflect on my current situation….., which was depressing.

Shortness of breath: 

When I first started writing this blog post, I didn’t have these symptoms and this is what I wrote on July 20th  at 3h am EST (because I would wake up at that time almost everyday…): “Let’s start with the most common one, to get it out of the way. I’m blessed that I didn’t deal with this. I would’ve freaked out, and let’s not talk about my family members! Plus, I couldn’t wrap my head around going to the hospital. I’m so sorry for the people who went through this. 

Only for things to change two days later… July 22nd, I thought I was going to DIE! Shortness of breath out of nowhere, couldn’t move, my lungs were hurting and I would cough and have mucus filling them. It was painful. I wanted to cry but didn’t have the strength to do so, I had a headache for hours, and I’m sure I would’ve had to go to the hospital. Tylenol, Vitamins, Magnesium were not working…..nothing was at this point! I asked my sisters if I would ever be able to sing again since inhaling was painful.

I would call on Jesus, lay hands on myself, declare the word, listen to some powerful prayers, and beg God to heal me. My friend, all the way from Nigeria, called me to pray; he didn’t know how the situation had deteriorated, but Lord knows how I needed that soft yet powerful prayer. 

The day after, my breathing was better; however, my breath was cut as if I had the hiccups, it’s difficult to explain, but it seems like it’s a common symptom of COVID-19; it was a weird feeling. The following day, it got better.

Loss of smell and appetite 

People say drink water, tea, eat fruits and vegetables, but the truth is you lose appetite and don’t want to have anything in your system. Not even water! Even though I was starving, I could spend the entire day or evening not eating. On day 8, the smell started coming back, and it took about 2 weeks to get my taste buds back fully. 

Fever, Fever, Fever

It felt like a never-ending fever! I had a fever for a week and a half!!!! Yes, you read, right! A week and a half! I would be in bed most of the day. I would take a Tylenol to bring my temperature down. Of course, it comes with excessive sweating!

Ocular pain

A common condition, yet few talk about it. My eyes were in so much pain. Just closing my eyes and touching my eyelids was a challenge. Moving my eyes from left to right was as painful as those body aches.

The journey

July 17th, no more body aches but still had the other symptoms. My sister (who came back negative) made my Bulletproof coffee, and it was my turning point—no taste of coffee whatsoever. Coffee is so strong you can’t miss out on the flavour….but I did it! Things were getting real…

July 19th, I ended up taking a Tylenol (or Acetaminophen), even though I’m anti-medication. I haven’t taken a pain killer in years, but the fever wouldn’t go away. That day I had excessive sweating. My clothes and sheets were soaking wet. My temperature went down but only for a few hours. Then it went up the next morning. Ohh….and for some reason, I had insomnia. I would wake up every day at 3 am! 

July 21st, the fever went all the way up to 40.28. I took Tylenol to control it. The fever went down for a few hours. 

July 22nd: Day 8! Apparently, there’s something with day 8. I didn’t know until later on that day. It was the worst day; I thought I wouldn’t live to see another day. That’s how bad I felt—shortness of breath, massive headache, cough, not able to leave my bed. Fever was still high. Everybody at home was panicking, but I tried calming them because I needed to relax and sleep to catch my breath. I had to limit all phone conversations.

My body was numb. I was leaning over a bowl of boiling water, trying to have the steam open my airways and my face touched the hot water and didn’t feel anything. It was that bad! That steam helped a lot.  I’ll leave the recipe here (thanks to my cousin for this recipe).

July 23rd: Still a massive headache and fever…..very high fever. That day, it went up to 40.16. At this point, I was just in bed, not able to move.

July 24th: No more fever, just a light headache. It took over a week and a half for the fever to leave my body. 

The following 2 days I was extremely exhausted. My body was coming out of a long fever. I needed rest and recovery, which I did. 

Road to recovery 

THE PROTOCOL! This is the most crucial step! There’s an important protocol to follow when you have COVID and live with other people to avoid infecting them. I had a tray with my own dinnerware set that I would keep in your room. The person bringing me my food would wear gloves and wash my dinnerware immediately. My dinnerware could not be washed with the same sponge used for the other dishes. When I left my room, or open the door to take my food, I had to wear my mask and the person bringing me the food as well. I had to change to my mask every day, open the windows to have fresh air coming into my room.

When I used the bathroom, I had to disinfect the toilet seat, doorknobs, and faucet every time. After brushing my teeth, I had to clean the sink and wash the bathtub or shower after every use. It was exhausting, as I was out of breath cleaning. Staying in the house was not easy, but I had to protect the people around me. I tried going for a walk but…..I had hallucinations – I was seeing a parked car reversing! Lol, at that moment, I just decided to go back to the house!

DO NOT DISTURB! I thank God for that option on my phone. People will reach out to you, friends and family. It’s appreciated and entertaining; however, you should set a time limit to reply and call back; otherwise, the exhaustion level will keep increasing. 

SLEEP WHEN YOU FEEL LIKE IT! There was NO SUCH thing as Netflix and chilling! It took me a week to finish a movie. I would fall asleep so hard, every single time. Same for Youtube videos. You might sleep in the middle of the day, and that’s ok. Listen to your body. Also, it is not the time to be productive. I was guilty of it. One day I wanted to do some work. I was in bed for most of the day. When I finally had a little more strength, I would run to the computer to complete what needed to be done. It lasted only 2 hours! My eyes were on fire, I’d be sweating, and I was getting weaker. I rapidly shut off the computer and went back to bed. If you have strong symptoms, as I did, you need to rest! This is the greatest remedy. It’s not the time to cross off your to-do list!

CHANGE YOUR SHEETS! As mentioned, at some point, sweating was excessive; therefore, I would suggest that you change your sheet every two days, depending on how your body reacts. 

WASH YOUR HAIR! You want to make sure to have clean and fresh hair, because of the sweating.

KEEP ON WASHING YOUR HANDS AND DISINFECT YOUR SPACE! This will prevent the virus from spreading. Make sure you disinfect your room, floors, computer, phone, everything you would often touch.

DETOX YOUR BODY! Your body just went through a big trauma; it needs to recover and heal. Drink a lot of water and tea. I would recommend green tea, lemon tea or even Organic Apple cider vinegar ‘‘with the mother’‘ (100% Organic). Avoid adding any type of sugar to your tea. Maybe a little bit of honey, as there are healing properties in honey. Hot drinks and soups will help the virus to go away.

Incorporate fruits and vegetables into your diet. We all know that smoothies are the fastest, simplest and best way to incorporate fruits and vegetables. During my recovery, I used Evive Smoothie. It’s a local, Montreal based company that offers frozen blender-free delicious smoothies. They are all-natural, plant-based protein, made with organic ingredients and superfoods. This will boost your immune system, and the best is that it requires no preparation time. Being in isolation, you cannot walk around the house, cooking, preparing your food, etc. with Evive, you only put everything in a bottle, add the liquid of your choice, let it melt for a few minutes and SHAKE IT UP! 

You can benefit from a 10$ discount on your first order using my code “GENIKA10”

SUPPLEMENTS

SUPPLEMENTS

Multivitamins: I struggled to take my multivitamins while being in isolation. I had no desire to take them, but I had to. They help with your nutrients, give you energy, boost your immune system and repair cellular damage.

Electrolytes: When you sweat, your body loses electrolytes. Therefore, it’s important to take electrolytes to keep your body hydrated. My favourite is the one from Vega.

Calcium+Magnesium+Zinc: It’s crucial for the human body. It improves immune function and fights inflammation. 
Please consult your physician before using it. https://amzn.to/3fLSNP6

Irish Sea Moss: This is a good supplement. It has 92 of 102 minerals our bodies need. It helps to fight cold and flu; it’s good bones, supports a healthy immune system, improves metabolism, is a natural decongestant, soothes the digestive tract, improves nutrient absorption, and much more.

*Note: You need to have 2 consecutive negative tests to be considered Covid free. Especially if you’ve had a lot of symptoms like I did. I took 3 tests after the first one.

SHUT OFF EXTERNAL VOICES! So, what about Faith?? 

Christian people will crucify me, but…oh well! I had to stop listening to false teaching! Yup, I said it! Someone told me I didn’t have Faith, insulting me and not wanting to hear me when I advised that particular person to go and get tested. Mind you, not a prayer of even 30 seconds was done over the phone to “calm me down.”  Yet the individual got tested positive a few days later…sipping my tea! It’s easy to dictate to people what to do when you are not living or dealing with a situation. 

It’s ok to have faith and be careful!
It’s ok to have faith and NOT want to continue to spread the virus!
It’s ok to have faith and get tested!
It’s ok to have faith and BE SMART!
I came up with the hashtag: #Imsmartandhavefaith

I totally agree that there’s a spiritual aspect to this pandemic, virus, disease; I won’t deny it. However, we have to be even more aware and awake as children of God!

In all transparency, I started questioning the reasoning of church folks! Let me clarify; my faith was NOT shaken.

I had to focus on me, MY FAITH, MY relationship with God and having my spirit to pray and worship when all my strength was gone. 

Friendly reminder, this is what MY BIBLE says: “Because of the privilege and authority God has given me, I give each of you this warning: Don’t think you are better than you really are. Be honest in your evaluation of yourselves, measuring yourselves by the faith God has given us.” Romains 12:3 NLT version.

PRODUCTS I USED DURING THIS TIME!
* Dr. Bronner’s Organic Liquid Soaps Peppermint 18-in-1 – I would use it to shower, brush my teeth, face cleanser. – https://amzn.to/334GXww
* Dr. Bronner’s Organic Hand Sanitizer Lavender – https://well.ca/products/dr-bronners-organic-hand-sanitizer_95518.html
* Attitude Nature + All-Purpose Cleaner Disinfectant Spray Thyme & Citrus – Buy here

My advice to you

The isolation part was not the most difficult thing. I actually liked it, lol. Following the protocols was the hardest thing. You have to rely on other people to take care of you. You may be carrying the virus without having any bit of the symptoms, and it’s ignorant for people to say that they won’t get tested because they feel no sort of symptoms….(May the Lord save you). If you have symptoms, get tested for other people’s safety! There’s no shame! It doesn’t mean that you don’t have Faith (again…I’ve heard it all….). There are too many people with the virus walking around the streets of Montreal! THIS NEEDS TO STOP! This is about others! If you’re not feeling well. Your entire house should be in lockdown! This is no joke!! Whatever activity you need to do can wait because their “de-confinement” doesn’t mean that the cases are decreasing!

Remember, you can’t force people to do anything. So, guard your heart, mind, spirit and health.❤

“The righteous person faces many troubles, but the Lord comes to the rescue each time.” Psalm 34:19

This my truth, this my way to freedom! I want to thank everyone who supported me and prayed for me during this difficult time. I love you!

Songs that helped me through the journey:
Tremble https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJ6B0gTiflk
The story I’ll tell https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zjY26wzFm2U
Promises https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q5m09rqOoxE
Victory belongs to Jesus https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OqMN5UhRoY

Xoxo
Love
Génika Jo