Broomstick, I’m so sorry.
Inigo Montoya, wishing the best for both of you.
Thanks susan (where’s the ‘sincere’ smiley?). The horror of the situation really jumps at you when you watch your soul-mate’s eyes glaze over during a coughing fit, and she’s greyed out enough to where she can’t catch enough breath to even sob in terror anymore. I mean, yeah disease and death are always going to be troubling but they are natural and it’s healthy to anticipate going out that way on some level. There’s only a handful of ways off this planet and few are pleasant. But what made it unnaturally bad was the uncertainty of what would have happened if we’d gotten her to a hospital. Maybe she dies horribly in a hall filled with chaos and misery when the alternative would have been to die horribly in the relatively peaceful company of her fur babies and me. And the uncertainty doesn’t need to be so certain. Our nation’s response–one of the wealthiest and most technologically advanced nations in the history of humanity–has been intentionally hamstrung and mal-directed multiple times by the same small group of people who seem to be trying their hardest to get as many people as possible to croak this way, and there’s not even a clear motive apart from cruelty for its own sake–but that’s Evil, and I don’t believe in Evil. Sorry, I’m still a little fucked up by it. But she’s sleeping well at the moment.
Inigo Montoya, wishing you both health and recovery!
Here’s a recovery story that hopefully you’ll find helpful:
My next door neighbor is an ER nurse. I haven’t seen her in weeks, we’ve been keeping an eye out to ask her if she needs anything. Last night I could hear her coughing all night through the wall.
An ex-colleague of mine had it. He is recovering at home now after eight days in the hospital. His wife, a doctor who forced him to go to the emergency room when he didn’t think his symptoms were Covid-related and thus saved his life, has it now.
A colleague of mine died last week after weeks in the ICU. Her symptoms seemed very Corona-like, but we are told it was an unrelated respiratory infection and it was a recurrence if a prior illness. So I’m not counting her but I am kind of counting her because emotionally and mentally it just seems all tied up. We had an online memorial for her yesterday. I knew her only for a short time but she was well-loved in the office.
Same. {distant hugs}
Are there any intermediate options? Can you talk with her doctor about getting supplemental oxygen at your home, for instance? Or a CPAP machine? CPAP does similar stuff to a ventilator, except that it spews virus all around the patient. (so be REALLY careful yourself if you go that route.)
Oh, and my aunt is now hospitalized. 
(My uncle died about a week ago of covid.)
I have been in isolation for the past few weeks with girlfriend. She stays 4 days a week with me and she isolates at her home in between. We both have a dry cough with no fevers. Mine is becoming somewhat productive and I can hear a rattle in my chest. A very odd tightness in my chest that is relieved by my albuteral inhaler. Not really sure what to think or if I need to get tested. neither of our coughs seem to be getting any worse but I do seem to be increasingly short winded. My temp is lower than normal at 96.2. No other symptoms besides tightness in chest. Girl friend has no tightness, just the dry cough.
I’m on day 11 with it, though I too could not get tested to confirm. Nearly two weeks of the most intense headache I’ve ever experienced, and a persistent fever in the 100-103 range that’s just worn me out. I had some minor, intermittent breathing issues on nights 3-5, but I got lucky on that score. The symptoms have slowly started to ebb since the 8th day, but without Tylenol they roar back. I’ve been on lockdown from work since mid-March and only left the house 3 times for grocery runs. I assume I caught it during one of those times. I wouldn’t wish it on anyone. I caught chicken pox when I was about 22 years old that sent me to the hospital, and my current condition is second only to that in terms of sickness.
A guy I sorta knew died on Sunday from it. I worked with his wife from 2003-2013, I taught his kids, he was still a teacher in my district. The sort of person I would see somewhere and probably not say hi to, but I would know I knew him from somewhere. So I am not really sad, but it does make it feel more real. I was quite friendly with his wife, if not friends, and his daughter, in particular, was a great kid.
Check with your doc before relying on the inhaler very much. Our doc says her experience treating patients has been the nebulizer in the office, as well as personal corticosteroid inhalers, have had unpredictable results, more frequently exacerbating the breathing problems than fixing them. She doesn’t know what’s going on, but guesses opening up airways is like opening up the restaurant district for the virus–gives it more yummy tissue to glom onto. This is purely anecdotal, but it is an MD’s observation. Wouldn’t hurt to get your doctor’s blessing, even if they tell you “Whoever told you that is a crackpot!”
I just found out today that my father has been diagnosed with COVID-19, although that diagnosis has not been confirmed with a test.
He’s 86, he lives in a memory care facility where the virus has gotten in and there have already been deaths.
He’s isolated in his room now.
We’ll see how this goes, but there’s no reason to be optimistic. Hopefully the staff can keep him comfortable without having to send him to a hospital, because I’m sure that if he goes into a hospital, and especially if he has to be intubated, he’ll never come out.
I learned last night that a couple, with whom I’ve been friends for several decades, both developed COVID-19 last month.
They own a local insurance agency up in Wisconsin, and they had a booth at a pet-adoption fair at the beginning of March (since they and their agency support several pet-related charities), which was just before social distancing started being a thing. So, they were meeting a lot of people, shaking a lot of hands, etc.
Some days later, both of them started feeling quite sick, though neither of them ever wound up needing hospitalization. He’s recovered more-or-less fully now, though he was in bed 24/7 for about a week. She’s been slower to recover; she’s had MS for decades, and wonders if her MS is flaring up due to COVID-19.
Never mind, posted this yesterday.
I’m finally getting over it. I hope, because it likes to relapse on you. I’ve never been that sick in my life although luckily I didn’t have to go to the hospital.
Luckily one of my superstar kids is a healthcare worker and hooked us up with a (sterilized) vitals kit. Missus’ ox sat is consistently >95%. So that at least is not her problem at the moment. Mostly it’s the fevers, the body aches, inability to keep food down, and shortness of breath. Evidently what lung capacity she has is sufficient for reclining/sitting. Doing what we can to keep her hydrated and fed, but it’s more of a battle than one likes.
Over twenty cases reports at our workplace. More than half have recovered. The rest are still in quarantine. No deaths reported yet.
A total of 5 friends have reported testing positive; all seem to be on the way to recovery.
The worst report was “felt bad for a couple of days”; the others developed only mild symptoms.
Checked with some friends at dinner this evening.
Among this group of six was one reported death: relative of a friend, a 77-year-old man with end-stage pancreatic cancer. Also about a half-dozen reports of people with mild symptoms, looking like they’ll soon be better.
I’m inclining toward the view that mild cases are common.
I’m sorry for you and your father.