On Wednesday March 25, 2020 I was supposed to have dinner with First Lady Melania Trump and a number of fellow women fundraisers, at Mar-a-Lago, Palm Beach, Florida. On that morning I awoke in Washington, DC with flu symptoms. This is the story of that journey – and I promise you – a truthful report of what is really going on out there with this pandemic and how politics is responsible for the damage to the U.S. economy and for the unnecessary deaths of Americans.
Day 2: Woke up with a temperature of 102°, sore throat, unimaginable body aches, profound weakness and a blinding headache. As a licensed medical professional, I took steps to manage these symptoms: anti-pyretics, forced fluids, rest.
Day 3: Again woke up with a high fever and same symptoms. Called primary physician office and was initially told to slot it out, no test. An hour later, due to my age (but no pre-existing medical conditions) I received call back directing me to go to a drive through swab test in Arlington, Virginia, which I did. The experience was surreal – An outdoor parking lot with hundreds of cones creating a pathway and check points overseen by Arlington County Sheriff cars, police officers 2-3 of them standing outside each car, no protective gear, no masks, no gloves. I’m not sure what purpose they served except to prevent a “mad” patient from losing control and jumping out of their car? Large lighted signs directed us to “KEEP YOUR WINDOWS UP.” At the first checkpoint I had to hold up my ID and insurance card onto the inside of my driver’s side window for the hazmat suited nurse to snapshot them. The second check point was to get swabbed by another hazmat-suited person, who asked me to roll the window down “when told, and then roll it back up as fast as you can.” This was tricky since you had to turn your car off at each checkpoint, presumably to prevent any air kick up from the engine.
Day 4: I lost all sense of taste and smell. If you don’t think this is a serious symptom, consider this: My heat/smoke alarms went off on this morning and I didn’t realize it until later that it was because I had forgotten a pan on the stove and could not smell the early smell of butter burning. When you lose your sense of taste, you rapidly lose weight because after 2-3 bites, there is no incentive to eat. Another danger related to loss of taste and smell is you are vulnerable to eating spoiled or rotten food and getting other serious illnesses. Think about how your ability to taste and smell actually protect you.
Days 5-12: Unrelenting fevers of 101-102°, profound weakness, loss of appetite, severe body aches and a cough that would not stop. I called my primary physician office and was given azithromycin, a macrolide antiobiotic (not anti-viral) for community-acquired respiratory infections, took it religiously and had no effect on the persistent fevers and cough.
https://politichicks.com/2020/04/i-survived-china-wuhan-virus-a-covid-19-nightmare-insiders-report/
end of part 1