I recovered from Covid after 3 weeks. Here’s what helped.

[Turin]

I hope I can help in some ways as I recovered from the awful virus. I had it for three weeks and believe I caught it from colleagues/students at school who presented mild symptoms. The virus attacked me very slowly (headaches and fatigue very normal with teachers) and the aggressively- coughing and flu like symptoms. I was in bed for weeks after.

It was so bad at one point I gave my DS (single parent) the “if Mummy dies” talk. Breaks my heart that he had to hear those words.

So I just want to share what helped me in case anything can alleviate your pain:

1. Plenty of fluids despite making me vomit. The emptying of my stomachs helped clear mucus in my lungs/throat and helped me breathe. The only food I could graze on was flat breads or fruit.

1. Antibiotics- the GP said this was to treat a secondary bacterial infection on my lungs in the second week which helped me breath. It did.

1. Paracetamol x2 every four hours. Some days I was so weak it would take me two hours at 4am to take these. During the day DS was trying to nurse me the best he could.

1. Lucozade. I could not eat and my sugar levels were desperately low. Some days/hours I had no idea where DS was (big garden) as I was so lethargic and fatigued. The lucozade gave me the sugar rush I needed to gradually get up and try and be a parent to him. He is 9.

1. Steaming. My friend recommended doing this with whole cloves as this is used for colds in her culture. Again helped massively when I had the energy to boil the water and place in a bowl.

1. Turn of sky news if you have it! The sight of the giant red virus cell as their background was nauseating! Turn off the news in general. It doesn’t help morale hearing about death rates.

1. Have a heated pad or hot water bottle on stand by if you do get the chills. I had a microwaveable heat pad used for pets.

1. Don’t be afraid to call nhs for advice if you think you are getting worse. At one point, my son called 999 and said “my mum can’t breath”. He was told “unless her lips are blue and her head has gone floppy we won’t be coming out we are too busy”. My poor love having to listen to that.

However, It helped me focus on getting better massively as I understood the nhs was on its knees and my recovery was going to be better at home even though I was gasping for breath.

1. As my course of antibiotics finished and the steaming was helping, I started to do things like clean up and wash clothes. Don’t. Stop. They will exhaust you. Baby steps for at least a week as you will get a false sense of confidence thinking you are better and then relapse. This happened to me 3 times.

Hope this helps someone who needed hope that the chances of you getting better are higher than if you don’t.

Feel free to ask me any questions.

X

Some very cruel posters here, sorry to see a thread which is aimed at being helpful turn nasty

Sorry OP that you and your son went through this and thanks for sharing your experience

I will
I think the op has been horrible to her son, really
Read my last post
Who doesn’t go to hospital when they are a single parent of one child because they don’t want to “put others at risk”

Awful that you were so close to catastrophe to be told to wait.

I do wonder what someone would do re children if they were very young, feeling like this.

I'm on the 'my lungs threads' with Covid symptoms and secondary pneumonia. During the worst nights I was told by two different doctors at 111 to only dial 999 if my lips turned blue or I was gasping for breath. People are being abandoned by medical services - the threshold is too high, particularly as we are learning there is Hospital capacity. I became ill a day after Boris Johnson - his recovery seems to be a lot better than mine. Level of medical intervention perhaps?

At one point, my son called 999 and said “my mum can’t breath”. He was told “unless her lips are blue and her head has gone floppy we won’t be coming out we are too busy”.

My DH was told the same when I was gasping for breath and had crushing chest pains one night.

I had no test either as they're not testing unless you go into hospital but I have never ever been so ill. Like flu but with crushing chest pain and struggling for every breath. I thought I was dying. I'm still not right nearly 4 weeks later.

What 9 year old talks like this?! Does he exclusively read Enid Blyton?
I am not sure this thread is very helpful. At all.

With such deeply unpleasant comments as this on it, I have to agree. Wind your neck in.

@CaryStoppins

Telling a child you might die is inappropriate. It’s different to have a painful discussion when a parent is sadly terminally ill. Even if you feel so unwell, you feel like you’re dying, it’s not the sort of thing a single parent should say to a child. What’s done is done now though. Fortunately, OP is on the mend. Even more fortunately, healthy young people are not dying at home except in exceptionally rare and unusual circumstances.

I’m so sorry you’ve both had to go through that with no adult help. Your son might find it helpful to ring Childline to talk to someone about how he’s feeling now. Their number is 0800 1111.
I hope you have a swift recovery

@starray yes sats machine is the same as pulse oximetry. To the poster who asked sats should be in The late 90s for people who don’t have lung conditions like COPD. In hospital I generally give Oxygen at 93% or below (again assuming no COPD) so that’s the point I would say someone needs medical attention. Don’t know if there are any medics/nurses on this thread who would agree?

Oh FFS. Sometimes parents die. It's horrible for a child, but it does happen. What sort of world are we living in that we have to pretend to children that parents are immortal.

When my mom was in the hospital with a brain tumor, when I was still a child, nothing infuratiate me more than having people tell me "it will all be okay." There is no way for anyone in advance to know if things are going to be okay. You can't see the GD future. Get a grip.

The whole "be okay" speech made things worse, because it was basically people telling me that I was not allowed to worry or be scared.

@Spudina

Interestingly, many hospitals were saying they would admit covid/COVID suspected patients unless sats remain below 90%!

What 9 year old talks like this?! Does he exclusively read Enid Blyton?
I am not sure this thread is very helpful. At all.

What a horrible comment.

@JackJackIncredible if you were at home with your child and thought you might die, you wouldn’t prepare them for that at all
You have an odd idea of inappropriate.

Kayla Williams, a mum of 3, died at home, even after calling 999.
Donald Suelto, a nurse, died alone at home after being unable to get through to 111.
It’s not like it never happens.

Some of the comments on here are just so unpleasant.

I just want to reiterate, my intellectual capacity and levels of rational thinking were not at their best when this happened. In the same way the paramedics comments were out of order, maybe mine to my son were too. I felt he needed to know the worst case scenario so I could prepare him. You know in the way sometimes parents write to their children before they pass? I did what I thought was best as I have always had an honest and open relationship with him when he asks me questions. He is very bright for his age so yes he may talk like he reads Enid Blyton, but why the disparaging comment?

People behave in diverse ways when put under extreme pressure. Maybe those of you commenting so unpleasantly have been the personification of grace and decorum when in a crisis situation. At the time I was being realistic. I really thought I wouldn’t make it.

I have to reconcile with what has happened and it will take time far beyond the finger pointing from this thread. My only intention to come here was that it could help someone. Not to be labelled a drama queen or have my parenting questioned.

Thank you to everyone for their kind words and best wishes. I’ve learned not to take my health for granted, I’m eating better and getting fitter. My son is loving our time together and we plan our days jointly. He is very resilient but once the opportunity arises I’m going to see if school can offer him some counselling support. So far he has said he doesn’t want it as I’m better now so I’ll judge it again in a few weeks.

OP - you don’t need to apologise to strangers on a board for trying to prepare your son when you thought you might be passing: you were doing your best in a really scary situation

I’m glad you are recovering, and think this was an amazingly helpful thread: I think some of the nastiness is people not wanting to believe this could happen to them. Thank goodness you’ve pulled through

I’ve had my own mum tell me she might die: she survived, but I’d rather she told me than put a brave face on it. Hoping your son will take positives from the experience x

Totally agree, people attacking you and your child are scared and don’t want to believe it could happen.
It's about them, not you.

OP you did nothing wrong. A single parent who thinks they may die has to prepare their child. Of course they do. Far better that than to die with no warning.

Thank you OP. This was really useful. Please ignore the strange people on the thread. Glad to see most of us aren't engaging with them.
So glad that you are feeling better 💐

When I was in my 20s my then boyfriends much younger sister asked me if her dad was going to die ( he had cancer and was going to die but her family had decided to keep it from her , she was 11)! I told her that her dad was very very ill and although noone knew for certain that I.couldn't promise he would be ok.

My boyfriend's mother was upset with me as her DD cried and was very upset after talking to me.

Later on at the funeral my boyfriend's sister asked me to sit next to her in the funeral car. She said I was the only one who had not lied to her so I was the one she trusted just then . Her mother was upset with me then too. I felt bad for the mother but I knew even in my 20s with no children that I had some the right thing and the child agreed.

Op you did NOTHiNG wrong and everything right given the awful situation you were in
You and your son were very brave and I think he sounds wonderful and resilient .

Thank you OP. It gives an idea of what might come for any of us.

I too would have had that conversation with my DDs. I would want them to be prepared. They'd know I'd fight as hard as I could, but that it might turn out to be too great a battle.

I hope you regain your strength and recover well.

Sorry but also think it's odd thinking you're going to die and telling your young son as much, but not caring enough to go to the hospital? It's just weird. Id do anything to keep myself alive for the sake of my son and that's speaking as a single parent.

Also incredibly shocked at what 999 said to a child too.

@Turin, pleased to hear you on the mend. How traumatic for you and your son. When I clap those front line workers, I shall also clap your son.

You have done nothing wrong and have no need to explain your actions. Children are resilient and adaptable. You must be very proud of him.

@Kittykat93 I understand what you are saying but I had this immense and perhaps irrational fear that if I went to hospital I would die. I know, it doesn’t make sense. I just felt I would have far more exposure to the illness and I was better at home. I just want a kick start to my breathing again.

@bumblingbovine49 that’s incredibly brave. I’m glad you went with your instinct. Your choice of words were really honest and kind too.

@catnidge thank you so much. I’ll let him know. He’ll love that