July 4th was a tough day at work, and with all the hormones, I had been a basket case the entire week. Honestly, I could have done nothing for the holiday, and I told Dallin that he was welcome to catch a flight to Arizona so he could go home a little earlier than planned and celebrate with family.
"Katie, if I leave you alone on a holiday, then you'll spend the entire night in bed depressed."
True.
So Dallin called his pilot stepdad Jim to get him a standby reservation, and I used my voucher from my cancelled Europe trip to buy a somewhat expensive ticket for the very next day to Arizona. We had procrastinated buying tickets for a month because we wanted to make sure I could get work off, and because Coronavirus had flared up across the country. We were originally supposed to go to California with family, but it had cracked down hard with regulations.
As I was driving home from work, I called Rachel and her new fiancé Dick to finalize July 4th plans. I started coughing. They came over to barbecue and try my homemade macaroons, we watched a gory Tarantino film (never again!), and we loaded up an air mattress with blankets and pillows in the bed of the truck. Dallin teased me for always running into a different room to cough, but I joked, "What if it's corona?" We drove around for an hour trying to find any place that wasn't squished like sardines in a can, and finally we found an ice rink parking lot with just a few families and some college kids who were making out. Then we snuggled up and watched the fireworks.
Honestly, I had a raging headache, and I had to cuddle really deep into Dallin's chest to make sure nobody saw the silent tears rolling uncontrollably down my cheeks. Stupid hormones! Or was it that my antidepressant dosage was too low? Why do I always get sad on holidays? The kids I work with have been through hell and back, and I on the other hand REALLY have NO reason to be crying. But it was way past my bedtime anyway, and I had picked up a shift at work before my flight tomorrow.
At 3:30 in the morning, I woke up with the headache and coughing even worse, among other symptoms. I took my temperature and started bawling once again. 101.5. I sent a picture of the thermometer to my manager apologizing that I couldn't come into work in the morning, and then I shook Dallin awake.
"I can't go home! I tried to get work off for a month and now I can't fly home!" That's another thing about living during a pandemic. Airlines are taking every precaution. Flights are only 50% capacity, passengers must wear masks at all times, and they won't admit sickies.
"Katie, Katie! You're panicking! You need to breathe!" Dallin said. "This is out of your control, so take some ibuprofen and go back to sleep!"
Contrary to Dallin's wishes, I was up for the next two hours panicking/feeling sick. Finally at 5:30 I fell asleep, and then my cat jumped in bed and started to attack my feet. Arlo, I swear.
In the morning I called around to try to figure out about getting tested. A nurse on one hotline told me to go to the ER because of the chest pain and somewhat abnormal breathing, though I wondered if I had unintentionally exaggerated my symptoms to her, so I decided not to go. My symptoms were feeling like something was sitting on/stuck in my chest without having the ability to cough anything up, aches, alternating chills and sweating, nausea, and tired breathing. I drove myself to a drive through testing center, had a rod shoved up my nose while I remained in my car (OUCH!), and then I couldn't even make it out of the parking lot. I had to lay down in the back seat. I tried to get back in the front seat, but I had to lay down in the back again before I could even get out of park. I tried a third time, this time making it to the first stop light before I began to feel super light headed. I said some bad words as I begged the longest red light of my life to turn green. I was worried I would lose consciousness before I could make it to a parking lot! At last it turned green, and I turned crookedly into a parking spot at a gas station and laid down so the blood could come back to my head. In the mirror, I was pale, and I was super dehydrated but knew I should not enter the store to buy water if I possibly had corona. I called Dallin and our roommate Reed to come pick me up and bring water. As we returned home, I kept having to sit down in the driveway because I was lightheaded. Dallin carried me to the couch and made me noodle soup. I had a 104 fever, though I'm not entirely certain my thermometer isn't broken.
Oh, fun fact about the pandemic of 2020. There is no cure. So even if I did go to the emergency room, all they could do is assist with any breathing difficulties and try to reduce the fever. Worst of the worst case scenario, they would use a ventilator.
Dallin and I watched the 2.5 hour
Hamilton musical on Disney+, and I took more ibuprofen and downed 72oz of fluids. My fever reduced, the pain finally eased, and I started feeling much better. We will be stuck at home until my test results come back. We cancelled our AZ trip (thank goodness we got a full refund on my ticket). If I test positive, it will be 14-day self isolation.
