I Survived COVID 19 Virus---March 23 to April 10, 2020

As I got off the Light Rail from the airport at the Westlake Plaza stop around 8pm, I began walking to our Seattle Condo and noticed that all of the stores were closed and there were few cars traveling the streets.

On March 24th, the following day, I picked up my computer and mail at our Woodinville place and then loaded up groceries at the Trader Joe’s for my mandatory 2-week quarantine in our downtown Seattle Condo.

On March 25th, I had a Zoom video conference with my Orthopedic Dr. O’Kane who watched my knee movements and concluded that he would refer me to an Orthopedic surgeon since my knee still has not recovered, and I continue to experience pain when walking and limited range of motion.  He also offered to give me a cortisone shot after my quarantine ends on April 7th.

That evening, I began to get symptoms that were typical of when I get a cold:  watery and reddish right eye and a runny nose along with slight coughing, but no phlegm.

On March 27th, I emailed my UW Medicine family Dr. Pamela Yung and within 4 minutes the office responded by asking if I wanted to have a telemedicine appointment.  I said yes, and within an hour from when I first contacted them, I was in a 25-minute telemedicine conference discussing my symptoms.  Since I had no other signs of COVID 19 like diarrhea, nausea, vomiting, lung congestion, or coughing, we agreed that we wait until I developed other symptoms.

On March 30th, after urging from my wife, daughter, and brother, I recontacted UW Medicine and indicated that I now had temperatures between 99.4 and 101.4, a dry cough and no lung congestion, some body aches around my waist and back, very tired, no appetite and no taste, lots of laying down.  I requested that they do a COVID 19 nasal test.

Within 15 minutes they called me and told me to drive to the UW Medicine Factoria Clinic and once there call them when I was in the parking lot. Within 1/2 hour I was in the parking lot and Dr. Majd came out all garbed out in his PPE along with two swabs.  One swab tested for two types of flu and the other for COVID 19.

Those two swabs really hurt and I thought he was taking a swab of my brain matter.  On the second nostril, I ended up getting a bloody nose.  He did warn me that it would be painful.

Within 1 1/2 hours, I was sent the results of the flu test which came back negative for both types of flu.

On the morning of March 31st, —at 8 am— I received the COVID-19 test results that showed I had tested positive with an “Urgent Significant Risk Result” 

By 10:30 am I had a telemedicine conference with Dr. Majd.  I told him I had no shortness of breath, congested lungs, or major coughing.  I told him that I was very lethargic, tired, had body aches, and fever ranging from 99.4 to 101.4. I had no appetite but had oatmeal with raisins twice a day, and drank volumes of Gatorade, water, and green tea.  He told me I was in the “Urgent Significant Risk” category because of my age.  

Because of my normal good health, he advised me to continue to stay at home, rest and drink fluids and try to get some protein like eggs or nuts in addition to my oatmeal.  He asked if I wanted to try some drugs like hydroxychloroquine and I told him not at this time.  He also had me tell him what vitamin supplements I was taking and he then told me to stop taking Vitamin D3 since it had the potential to create a cytokine crisis—the body starts attacking its own cells.  He told me if I had any concerns to call back or go to the ER.

After describing my condition to my wife, she urged me to get the prescription  AT 4:40 PM, I requested the drugs, and by 6:30 I took the first dose which I would take for 4 days. 

From March 27th until April 6th when I recovered from COVID- 19, all I can remember how tired I was, and found myself alternating between laying down and sleeping in my bed and sitting in my easy chair with a blanket and bottle of Gatorade.  I will leave it up to the researchers to determine whether the hydroxychloroquine helped me.  If nothing more, it made me feel like I was doing all I could do to heal. 

During the night, I only slept about 2 hours at a time and found myself getting up and having to pee.  I figured since I had no appetite, I should drink as many fluids as I could with Gatorade my go-to drink.  I had some strange dreams like frequently getting hit by cars while crossing the street or feel like I needed to stay in the same position to get enough to breathe, and finally walking along the streets trying to find some places open.

For three days in a row, I had no energy to shave or shower.  My temperatures continued to hover around 101.2—I had to use my watch as a thermometer since none of the pharmacies had them.  I was able to get an oxygen reader and on most days my oxygen readings were around 93 to 96 and my pulse was higher than normal at between 88 and 68.  My wife and daughter resupplied me with groceries and Gatorade during my illness.

On April 1st I got a call to see if I would participate in a UW Medicine research project which would have me do a self-administered nose swab, and at the end of the month, a series of blood draws.  I agreed and that afternoon, I met a fellow in the lobby to do the self-administered nose swab.  Fortunately, this swab was made of foam and I only had to put it in the lower portion of my nose and twirl it 5 times and then put it back into a vial containing some fluid.  I did this and put everything back in the box.  He then put it inside a plastic bag and left.

On April 2nd I received a call from a WA state Department of Health representative.  She was responsible for the contact tracing of COVID-19.   She asked me where I had been and who had I come in contact with since my return.  I told her about my two flights on Korean Air from Bangkok to Incheon with a transfer to Korean Air to LAX.  I told her I must have gotten the COVID-19 on one of the planes since I had gone to several of the bathrooms during the 6-hour and 11-hour flights.  On the flight to LAX, I was given the CDC card that required me to do a self-quarantine for 14 days.

I told her I went through the Global Entry, Customs, and Immigration and they did not temperature check, unlike Bangkok and Incheon Airports.  The Customs official asked me if I had been to China, Iran, or South Korea, and I told him I had just transferred through South Korea. He let me pass.  I then took the Airport shuttle to the Delta terminal.  That plane to Seattle was virtually empty and I did not go to the plane bathroom.  

Once in Seattle, I told her I took the light rail to the Westlake Station, wore my face mask and few people were on the light rail.  I then walked to my Seattle Condo. 

I told her that the following morning, I went to our Woodinville apartment where I picked up my computer and mail from my wife while maintaining social distance.  From there, I went to Trader Joe’s in Redmond to buy 2 weeks' worth of groceries for my two weeks quarantine.  

She then sent me information on how long I should be quarantined after I have recovered—3 days.  She also told me to send this information to my wife since I had come in contact with her.

On April 6th, I woke up and felt hungry for the first time so I had an egg omelet with onions, mushrooms, tomatoes, orange juice, and coffee for the first time in 2 weeks.  My daughter and grandson knew I liked Peeps so I added them to my breakfast.  My temperature was 98.6F, oxygen 97 and pulse 86—still high.  Now I don't even want to drink any Gatorade.

This was the worst illness I have ever had because it made me so very tired, lack of appetite, and made me feel like I was in a twilight zone between sleep and non-sleep.  I was so fortunate that it did not attack my lungs.  I have asked about where I could donate my blood serum that may help COVID-19 patients.

Life is good.  I am now back to doing my daily 3-mile walks and looking forward to my consultation on my knee surgery with Dr. Hagen on May 20th when UW Medicine resumes elective surgery. I am also looking forward to the barbershops and mani-pedi shops opening.

I have recently uploaded all of my travel videos to YouTube now that they allow longer uploads and you may want to see my travel adventures there.  That link is

 https://www.youtube.com/c/huntforgold.  

If you do go there, please subscribe to my video channel since it will help me eventually get some income there and help with my future travels. Fewer people are using DVDs so I am transitioning to streaming my travels on my YouTube channel.