Afford Anything - PSA Thursday: I Tested Positive for Coronavirus. Here's What It Feels Like.

Episode Date: April 2, 2020

Paula describes the experience of having Covid-19, the illness caused by coronavirus. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Hi there, and welcome to PSA Thursday, my attempt at a weekly segment in which every Thursday I talk about COVID-19, but I missed last Thursday because of a very unexpected turn of events, which is I tested positive for COVID-19. I tested positive for coronavirus. And for the last week, I've been really, really sick, really sick. So in today's episode, I want to describe what that experience. has been like. What does it feel like to have COVID-19? First of all, I'll walk through the timeline. During the week of March 9th through 13th, that week I started binge reading a whole bunch of articles about coronavirus. And I am typically a person who's very skeptical of media fear-mongering. But the week of March 9 through 13, The more I read about coronavirus and flattening the curve and our hospitals very quickly becoming overwhelmed, the more I became convinced that, like, this is real and this is big, and this is maybe one of the biggest things that's going to impact us in our lifetimes, and this needs to be taken seriously. So the week of March 9 through 13th, I felt perfectly healthy. I felt perfectly fine.

But at the intellectual level, I was like, oh my goodness, this is serious. And I want to do everything in my power to do my part to help flatten the curve. So then the night of Friday, March 13th, I had a friend who was having a birthday celebration out at a bar. So a bunch of our friends were going out to the bars. I texted one of my friends and said, hey, I'm not going to go because I'm really worried about coronavirus. I don't think this is a good idea. So I'm staying in for the night. And my friend wrote me back and said, yeah, you know, I get that, but it's just going to be a small group of us and it's only people that we know.

And I remember looking at that text message and thinking, only people that we know, like, that doesn't make any sense. Only people that we know is helpful if my concern were getting murdered. But the fact that I know somebody or the fact that they know me has no bearing on whether or not one of us has a lot. virus. So anyway, so I replied like, hey, I'm, I'm just not going out tonight. I don't think that's a responsible thing to do. And so Friday, the evening of Friday, March 13th was the first first time I started changing my plans because of coronavirus. And then Saturday, March 14th, was the first day that I went in first full day of complete quarantine. So starting Saturday, March 14th, I did not leave my condo other than to go to two doctor's appointments, which I'll talk

about in a minute in more detail. So with Saturday, March 14th as that first full day of self-quarantine, I felt perfectly healthy. And I was just in my condo. And everyone was telling me that I was nuts, like that I was being paranoid for not leaving my condo and I felt perfectly normal. I had a dentist appointment and I rescheduled that. I was going to be a dentist appointment. I was going to go get a haircut and I rescheduled that. And I remember the stylist saying she was like surprised when I called to reschedule, you know, because not a lot of people were doing that. And I remember she asked me, okay, well, how long do you think your little quarantine thing is going to last? And I was like, as long as it takes. So yeah, during that week, people were very surprised and I could, I got the impression that what I was doing was unusual. And given the fact that I felt healthy, In many people's eyes, it seemed unnecessary. And in hindsight, I'm so freaking glad I did it because that single decision probably spared who knows how many people from being infected. So anyway, it was Saturday, March 14th that I, as a perfectly feeling healthy person, went into quarantine.

And then it was Sunday, March 22nd that I discovered that I had a fever. I mean, okay, so it was Friday, March 20, I felt pretty tired, and I took a nap in the middle of the day, which I normally don't do. But I didn't at that time think that I was sick. I just figured that I was stressed out or sleep deprived. You know, I didn't think, didn't connect it with, I certainly didn't connect it with coronavirus. And then that next day, Saturday, March 21st, again, I felt really tired. I felt really worn down. I remember having dinner, like eating dinner by myself at home and then just going to bed right immediately afterwards.

And then on Sunday, that's when I discovered I had a fever of 102.4 degrees. And then it got worse from there. It got way worse really fast. Basically, my fever climbed up to 103.3 and then it went up to 103.7. and every six hours I was taking a thousand milligrams of acetaminophen, and my fever was staying in the 103, north of 103 degrees zone. And it was hell. I mean, it was just, like, the amount of energy that I needed just to be able to sit up in bed and take my temperature was more than I could muster.

And the worst would be like if I took my temperature and it would be like 103.5 again. And then I'd realize that the acetaminophen was in the other room. And that meant I'd have to like get up out of bed and walk into the other room in order to pick up the bottle. That was like excruciating. And I'd have to give myself pep talks. I'd have to be like, all right, Paula, you're going to. to sit up now. You're going to sit up.

Like you're going to go from laying down to sitting up. I'd like have to give myself a pep talk for half an hour before I was able to actually like muster the energy to sit. And then from there muster the energy to get the thermometer. It was painful to do any of it. And then there were times that the fever would break and it would come down to about a 101 degrees, and I'd be just sweating, like sweating buckets. And so I tried to change my clothes once a day because I didn't want to be in sweaty clothes. But that was really hard. That was like my big event for the day was changing my clothes. And then at other times I would get chills.

I'd get super, super, super cold, usually right before the fever would spike again. And I'd be so cold that I couldn't move. I would just be like, you know, just shivering, just shaking in bed, like under piles and piles and piles of blankets, feeling insanely cold. And on top of all of that, I was coughing so much that there were moments when I was seriously afraid I was going to fracture a rib because I was just coughing constantly and really hard. And so in the middle of all of that, I was trying to get myself seen by a doctor, but I didn't want to leave the condo, A, because I knew I probably had COVID-19 and I was going to be highly infectious. B, because there was no, I felt like there was no way I could drive, and yet it wasn't serious enough to merit an ambulance, but I couldn't drive.

And I certainly wouldn't want to ask anybody to drive me because I wouldn't want to expose anybody else to what I was. I have. So I was trying to get like a teleconference with the doctor. And so on Monday, Monday, March 23rd, I threw United Health Care, which is my health insurance, I put in a request for a teledoc doctor. And so they sent me a confirmation email. It says, you're all set. A teledoc doctor licensed in your state will contact you shortly. For two days, I didn't hear anything. and then on the afternoon of March 24th, I got an email saying, Dear Paula, your visit has been canceled. We are sorry that your visit request was canceled,

and we recognized that your wait time was longer than usual. So no explanation, nothing. I just couldn't get an appointment with the doctor through my health insurance. Now, concurrently, I'd also, I'd googled how to get a COVID-19 test in Las Vegas, and I found out that there was one particular urgent care clinic, that, according to this news article, had the test. And so I sent them an email and said, hey, you know, I have a fever of 103.7 degrees.

I'm coughing like crazy. I would like for somebody from urgent care to call me, and I'd also like to take this test. Again, didn't hear from them for two days, and then I got a text message from them saying, hello, thank you so much for your patients. I want to reach out to you and inform you that the lab has informed us,

that specimens are being backed up because of transportation issues that they're having with the airport, and the specimen may become unstable and will not be able to be ran for the COVID-19 test. They have currently requested that we stop collecting specimen until further notice. We apologize for the inconveniences may have caused you. So again, my second attempt at just getting a phone call with the doctor fell flat. And then one of my friends who lives in my building sent me a text message saying, that UNLV, the University, the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, had some testing facility set up in conjunction with some urgent care places. And he sent me the number for that,

it's the phone number for that. So then I was able to finally book a time which was supposed to be last Wednesday to go in and take the COVID-19 test. But then half an hour before I was supposed to go take the test, they called me and they rescheduled it for the next day. And then when I went there the next day, they couldn't find any of my documents, said that they didn't have any of my paperwork. Turned out it had been filed for the previous day. So I ended up waiting there for about an hour, a little over an hour, like just in the car with a fever, coughing, like crazy.

And then they finally gave me the test. And the test, they stick these swabs up your nose. When I say up your nose, I'm talking way. further up your nose than I knew the nose ever go. Like, I have a new understanding of my face now. Imagine someone sticking a cotton swab as far up your nose as it could possibly go, and then imagine even further than that. It's really awkward. It's like an incredibly, incredibly awkward test. But I was happy to have finally gotten it because it was so hard trying to get tested. and so hard trying to just get a doctor to call me.

It was finally on that Thursday a week ago, Thursday the 26th, was when A, I finally got the test, and B, I finally got a phone call with a doctor. Someone from urgent care called me and they asked me about my symptoms, and they told me to keep taking acetaminopin, and to, they prescribed me an albuterol inhaler and some cough syrup. So it was four days in between when I tried to get a phone call with the doctor and when I finally got one. So then fortunately, I had friends who, I have a friend who picked up my prescription for me so that I didn't have to go to the pharmacy. And I just went home and I've been home ever since.

And so I took the COVID-19 test on Thursday and they said it would take three to five days to get the results. And I finally, they called me on Monday. Monday, March 30th, to inform me that I had tested positive. So it took a total of eight days. My fever started on March 22nd, and it wasn't until March 30th that I was able to get the positive test result. When I got the positive test result, I mean, by that point, the worst of it was behind me. Saturday, my fever had been 100.9. That was a big improvement.

and then the rest of the day, Saturday, and Sunday and Monday and Tuesday and Wednesday, and today, I've had a normal body temperature. So by the time I got my diagnosis, the worst of it had already been behind me. And by the time I finally got to talk to a doctor on the phone, again, the worst of it was already behind me. So the people at urgent care told me not to go to the hospital unless I have shortness of breath. They said as long as my symptoms were a fever and a cough, then I should avoid going to the hospital. and just stay at home. So that's what I've done. I haven't, I haven't physically been to a clinic to see anybody about this. So based on that experience, a few lessons stand out. Number one, it's really, really difficult to get an appointment. Like, I'm talking just a phone call. Yeah,

I had a fever north of 103 degrees for, what, four or five days before I was even able to just get a phone call. And trying to coordinate, I guess lesson number two is closely related to that. Like, trying to coordinate care for myself when I'm really sick is really tough. because with every email that comes in that says, sorry, we can't get somebody on the phone with you, great, now I have to go try to figure out who else to talk to. And now I have to go try to figure out, like, who to see. And that's all happening in the context of having a fever that's super, super high

and being so weak that sitting up is difficult. My parents were encouraging me to just, they were like, call an ambulance. Get yourself to the ER, but I didn't want to do that. I didn't think that what I had was serious enough to merit an ambulance or an ER visit, and I certainly didn't want to infect other people or use up resources that could be better allocated towards somebody else. Number three, getting a COVID-19 test was so tough. And I went down so many false leads and false roads. attempts to get a test that ended up not working out, that there's no doubt in my mind that

there are way, way more people with COVID-19 than what the official numbers are indicating, just given how hard it was to be able to get that test. Lesson number, what, four or five, less than number I've lost count, is when you're coughing a lot, like when you're just nonstop coughing, it's hard to remember. a time in which you're not coughing constantly. And then vice versa. Like if I go for an hour without going into a coughing fit, then it's hard to remember what that was like.

And then another, like, you know, the evening will come around and a huge coughing fit will start again. And like no matter, I guess no matter how I'm feeling at the moment, it's hard to remember feeling any other way. And then finally, the thing that surprises me, well, I don't know if surprise is the right word or not, but I mean, fundamentally what I've just described is a fever and a cough. Those are mild or moderate symptoms. Like, I'm not severe or critical, right? I didn't have to go to the ER. I didn't have to have any assistance in breathing. like I was able to just stay at home and ride this out at home. And so it's a mild or moderate experience, and yet it's the sickest I've ever been by far.

Like the so-called young people who will only experience moderate symptoms, holy, moderate symptoms are hell. They are hell. Like if this is what a not severe case or a not critical case looks like, oh my goodness, I can't even imagine. Because like when I'm at the point where just small things like brushing my teeth require this Herculean amount of effort, like yesterday I had to wash the dishes because, you know, I live alone. I was running out of dishes. And so I did that, and then I had to take like a four-hour nap. That's how much this has weakened me. And this is what a moderate case looks like.

By the way, as a backstage note, as I'm recording this, I keep hitting pause and then going into coughing fits and then hitting the unpause button so I can keep recording. So yeah, this recording, you're not going to hear the coughing, but that's just because I'm – that doesn't mean it's not there. Oh, and then finally, in terms of where or how I picked it up, because a lot of people have asked, like, oh, were you outside of the country recently or anything like that? No, no. This thing is right here. It's in our communities. Like I said, I went into quarantine on Saturday, March 14th. And from that point until March 22nd, which is when I got a known, which is when I can confirm that I had a fever, the only one. two times that I ever left my condo were to go to a particular doctor's clinic. And so a lot of people have asked, like, do you think you picked it up there? No, I firmly believe that that is not where I picked it up for the following reasons. Number one, the doctor's office that I had to go to during that time is a specialist, and it's a particular type of specialist that you would never go to if you had a cold or a flu or some type of virus or bacterial infection.

It's not a podiatrist, but it would be similar to a podiatrist insofar as if you have a fever or a cough, you're not going to go see a podiatrist. You might go see a patiatrist if you have a sprained ankle, but a sprained ankle is not contagious. And so the particular doctor's clinic that I went to was that type of specialist. the type of specialist that you would only see if you were healthy and the type of specialist that does not attract contagious people. So that's reason number one. Reason number two is that they were super careful. So they locked their doors.

They would not let anybody inside without taking their temperature first. So you couldn't even walk into the clinic unless you had your temperature taken. And they limited the waiting room to no more than two to three people maximum. So they very, very early on started executing these safeguards. Now, contrast that with something like going to the grocery store, right, where you go to the grocery store, they don't lock the doors of the grocery store and take your temperature before they allow you inside, right? Anybody can walk in without having their fever, without having their temperature checked

first. And they don't limit the number of people in a grocery store to only two or three at a time, right? There are potentially like dozens or maybe even more than 100 people inside the same grocery store at the same time. So I think it's much, much more likely that I picked this up between 10 to 14 days prior to when my symptoms started showing. Most likely at a grocery store or at the gym or at a gas station touching a fuel pump. I think that is, by far the most likely place that I picked this up. And it was just a very fortunate coincidence that I decided to self-isolate for what ended up being the majority of my asymptomatic time,

you know, the time in between when I picked it up and when my symptoms began. But yeah, I think it is by far more likely that I pick this up between 10 to 14 days before the fever started. So I've gone back. I've traced all of my contacts. I've very meticulously traced every single person who I saw in person in the 14 days prior to when it started. Nobody is sick, not a single one. And I've even inquired about second-degree contacts, like contacts of contacts, and I still can't find anyone who's sick. So there's absolutely nobody. When I go back and trace contacts, there's no one that I've been able to find who has coronavirus. So, yeah, I think the most likely explanation is that I got it from touching a grocery

store cart or from touching a fuel pump at a gas station or from being in the elevator in my condo building, although I am the only person. I've been in contact with the building management. I'm the only person in the building who's tested positive. So, in fact, they had to hire someone to disinfect my hallway once they found out. And I've been talking to my building management on the phone almost every other day. So yeah, so I'm the only one in the building. I'm the only one among my friends or contacts.

And I think that all just goes to show how easily this can spread. Big thank you to everybody. People have been amazing at, like, all of my messages have been blowing up. ever since I've started talking about how I'm sick and then, and then in particular, once I received confirmation that I tested positive for coronavirus. So even though, like, I haven't been able to, I've gotten more messages than I could reasonably reply to. Like, right now, I think I've got like 47 unread text messages on my phone and literally hundreds on Facebook and Instagram. And so I want to say thank you to everybody who's reached out and expressed support

and who's, yeah, just to everybody who's been so supportive and so encouraging throughout this. Oh, there was a rumor on Reddit that I died, which that was totally surreal. Like, I have a Google news alert set up for my name so that if my name gets published somewhere, I'll get an alert about it. And usually that takes the form of like there might be a writer for MarketWatch or Forbes who might quote something that I've said. And so when that happens, I get this Google News alert that, you know, informs me that I've been mentioned somewhere online.

And so I got this alert. I was checking my email and I got this alert that said RIP Paul of Hand. And it came from a Reddit thread that. someone had set up in which they basically said that I died and they were eulogizing me. And that is the world's most surreal thing to read about yourself. So I then had to go issue a statement on Instagram being like, hey, guys, I just want to clarify, I'm still alive. So anyway, so that's been my week.

I'm going to try to keep this podcast. I know, of course, obviously, the publishing schedule has been completely thrown out of whack, given the fact that I'm battling COVID-19. So I'm going to try to get this back on a normal schedule, even if that just means re-releasing older episodes. So the next few episodes that I release will just rerun some of the older stuff so that that way we can kind of, you know, still maintain the same publishing schedule, but also. I'm going to continue sleeping between 12 to, no, not even 12, more than 12 hours a day. I think I sleep probably somewhere between 15 to 18 hours a day right now. So I'm going to go do some more of that and I will keep updating you from time to time as my strength, as I regain my strength. there is so much to talk about right now with regard to the markets and how to deal with

unemployment and what does the bear market mean for the fire movement. So I do hope to continue airing more episodes. But, you know, right now I'm taking it day by day. We'll see how I feel. Like right now, I'm weak, but I'm getting better. And so everything is one day at a time. All right. Thank you for being part of this community. community. My name is Paula Pan. This is the Afford Anything podcast. I'll catch you in the next episode.