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Covid 19 Strikes Close To Bloom

I traveled back to Florida at the beginning of June with my son David to take care of a few things at our house and to enjoy a little time away.  We had heard that Florida was beginning to spike again with their Covid 19 cases.

Shortly after we arrived in Clearwater, my son went out to the local sports bar two times,  about three days apart.  It was about six days later that he started with a dry cough and the following day he woke up with a really bad headache, body aches and a fever.  I made him go get tested because I was due to fly home that week and I did't want to bring the virus home to my husband or my other adult kids who still live at home with us.  His test result came back positive the day I was due to fly out.  I cancelled my flight (thank you Southwest Airlines!) and assumed the worst was going to happen, despite the fact that we both wore masks and stayed apart from each other while we waited for his results to come in.

I was about 3 days behind David when I started to get symptoms.  It began with the dry cough, and a bad sinus-y headache.  I assumed I had it and waited a few more days to get tested. More symptoms began.  It came back positive.

I stayed in Florida an extra two weeks and made sure I no longer had a fever and symptoms before I got the okay from my doctor to fly home.  I was sick for 10 days.

I was so blessed to not have any breathing problems - what so ever.  I am so grateful to God.  A lot of praying was going on and I know it helped so much.  I am 57 years old, a little over weight, but I have no other comorbidity, thank goodness.  I had the following symptoms:  dry cough (much less than my son, btw), fever not over 101.9, a one day headache, bad body aches, especially in my back across my ribs, malaise, fatigue and I lost my sense of smell for about 5 days.

Fortunately, about two weeks before I got sick, I began taking 3000 mg of Vitamin C (Ester C, which is the good stuff!) every day.  I have a hunch this helped me fight it.  I also ordered some Vitamin D off Amazon right after David got diagnosed and started giving both of us 5000 IU's of that, too.

If I said I wasn't scared, I would be lying.  I was terrified.  I knew that breathing distress usually kicked in between days 5-10 and I was keeping a daily journal  of my symptoms and how I was feeling.  As day 5 approached and beyond I was nervous as hell.  Besides fearing dying, I was thinking how I was so far from home, and I might never see the rest of my family, my dog, my studio, or my friends again.  But I prayed and asked everyone on social media, family and friends to pray for me, too.  All I asked for is to be able to breathe.  I can handle anything else.  I ended up with a mild case, as did David.  I continue to pray we will not see any residual damage to our bodies like they are saying some people are experiencing.  I asked my Doctor about that and she said it's mostly the severe cases that have other latent damage after the virus has run it's course.

Now that this is behind me, I survived, my son survived and I am well, feeling good.   I am relieved.  I am thankful to be alive, of course!  I am happy I won't have to fear catching this from my painters in the future (well, at least the near future!) and I can continue on without fear.  Fear is something I was full of when Illinois was set to reopen.  I just didn't know how I was going to deal with keeping people safe as well as myself and my family safe.  I suppose God had it in his hands to deal me the virus card.  I got through it and it is behind me and now I can carry on with Bloom with much less tension and nervousness.

I wish you all well.  Wear your masks, socially distance and if someone  in your family has a dry cough, run away!  Check with your doctor first, and if you get the okay, begin taking lots of vitamin C (Esther C, the good stuff), vitamin D and other immune system boosting vitamins.  It may just be what helps you get through a tough time, and helps you push past the weirdest virus you might ever experience.

I got sick on June 11th, and was well by June 22.  I have had consistent normal temps for 6 days now and no more symptoms.  I am ready to Bloom, and happy.

I can't wait to paint with you again.  Be well my friends and take good care of yourself and those you love.

---Emily

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