It was February 4th when our oldest son, Tucker, came down with something. This isn’t uncommon for him, especially during winter months in Michigan. He’s just 3.5 years old but goes to preschool three mornings a week and Kaitlin has been taking him and Ryder (1.5 years old) to indoor play infestations places somewhat regularly.
Two days into this new illness we noticed he had a very difficult time sleeping largely due to a chronic cough. He also seemed to be struggling to breath.
Kaitlin took him in to see our pediatrician the next morning.
They took his temperature (we’d also done this at home, obviously). Nothing.
They tested him for the flu. Also nothing.
But they found his blood oxygen saturation level was at 92%. They were pretty considered about this. They prescribed him albuterol to open up his airways and we coaxed him into using the inhaler later that day. They wanted to see him back within 24 hours.
The next day, Tucker’s oxygen saturation was back up to 97%. Much better. We continued him on the albuterol treatments until his cough went away and he seemed better.
But of course, that didn’t stop the rest of us (Ryder included) from coming down with whatever Tucker had. We all had varying degrees of it, but none as bad as Tucker’s.
Looking back, both Kaitlin and I have considered it could have been the Corona virus. I’ve of the belief that it’s been circulating the US for at least a month. We just haven’t been aware of it or testing for it.
Take a look at this Twitter thread and the corresponding comments:
We learned last night from @trvrb that COVID-19 may have been circulating in the Seattle area for several weeks. This thread details some possible implications if that finding is confirmed. 1/
— Caitlin Rivers, PhD (@cmyeaton) March 1, 2020
Healthcare workers have been reporting cases they haven’t been able to explain for awhile now. I still remember asking Kaitlin, “Well, did they figure out what it was?”, and being baffled when she replied, “no”.
Personally, this gives me some relief. I wrote about what could go right the other day, and this certainly falls in that category. If COVID-19 has been here far longer than we expected, the hope is that it won’t be as damaging as it has been in other parts of the world.
I guess we’ll find out soon enough. In the meantime, I’m enjoying convincing my mother in-law that I DEFINITELY had COVID-19 and I’m certainly still contagious.