Hi, I’m Large Dave and I Have COVID-19

I tested positive for COVID-19 (SARS-CoV-2) last Monday, December 28, 2020. I had been feeling mild symptoms for a couple of days prior. I've read so many things about the virus, and had been so careful trying to avoid it, that I was, to put it mildly, shocked.

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I still can't wrap my head around the fact that something is in my body that is widely believed to have originated on the other side of the world, from a person that consumed a bat, or, the latest theory that emerged over the weekend, that it escaped from a Chinese laboratory. It doesn't matter to me now, I have it. What matters is that I beat this virus that is running rampant.

I do feel better as the days go by, but it has been a struggle at times. I wanted to describe how I feel, and hopefully answer a question or two from the average person's point of view.

From the beginning: I started feeling a bit of pressure in my sinuses on Christmas Eve, Thursday the 24. My nose ran a bit, and I had some burning in my eyes. It smelled like I had just sprayed my shower down with bleach, that kind of clean burn in your sinuses, that's the best way that I can describe it. I also had a gastro issue - which I'll refer to as soupy poopy from now on, because it's cute in name, not in nature. What I didn't have was a temperature, or a cough. The second day, Christmas Day the 25, fatigue joined the picture, I was very tired, no energy. My nose didn't completely block, and I could still taste and smell everything, so, I tried to sleep it off. I felt a deep chill a couple of times, so we turned up the thermostat, and that helped. I felt the same Saturday, fatigued, slightly nasally, had a symphony playing in my guts, but not horrible. On Sunday, right before dinner, I lost my taste and smell. That's when I knew I had the virus.

Every time that I've ever lost my taste and smell from a cold or flu, my nose was completely blocked. Not so with COVID-19. My nose was clear, and yet, I couldn't taste or smell a thing. Let me reiterate, up to this point, I'd believed that I might have had a sinus infection, but when I lost the taste and smell, I knew I had it.

Monday morning, I felt the fatigue very badly, and without taste or smell, I was miserable. I called my primary doctor, who told me to get in line at the Brass Mill Center Mall in Waterbury. St. Mary's Hospital was hosting their drive-thru testing there. I waited in my car for an hour, and got swabbed for the first time ever. It honestly tickled, and they didn't go knuckle-deep as I had feared. 24 hours later, I got the news that 20,000,000 other American citizens have received since March, I had tested positive for COVID-19. I now had to isolate from others for a minimum of 10 days, and start praying that my symptoms weren't going to get worse.

Finding out that you have one of the deadliest virus known to mankind does wonders for your psyche. Every little noise that your body makes raises an alarm. Every ache and pain is amplified in your head, as you (or me) imagine it's the beginning of a stroke, or a heart attack, or a violent coughing fit that will take you out like the poor people we've seen in viral videos. Positive messages from your friends, family, and co-workers do help, they keep your mind from going that way, so, in this moment, I'd like to thank everyone that knew what I was going through, I love you.

After my Tuesday diagnosis, I started feeling a bit more lethargic, the virus makes you want to sleep all day. I woke up from a 7 hour sleep, go make more soupy poopy, drink some tasteless Gatorade, and felt like I needed a 4 hour nap. I also had trouble concentrating, and it was tough to pay attention when I was being spoken to.

Finally, on Thursday, 7 days after I felt the initial symptoms, I started feeling a bit more energetic. My nose started running a bit less, and my head started to feel a bit clearer. My sense of taste and smell started coming back on Friday, first with strong scents, and then taste at times. I still had soupy poopy until Saturday, but thankfully, that also dried up. I feel some fatigue at times, mostly when I wake up, and that sense of trouble concentrating has eased up a bit. I feel very dehydrated, and I drank a ton of water along the way, so, that is one piece of advice that I can give you, drink a ton of water during your recovery.

I can't explain why I didn't get any fever or cough, those were the two symptoms that I feared the most. I also have three chronic underlying health conditions that are mentioned every time red flags are brought up. Case in point, my relatives in Oklahoma caught it around the same time as I did, and my Aunt is currently hospitalized with low blood oxygen.

I'm waiting for the symptoms to disappear completely. I need to stop reading the side effect lists, and long term sufferer posts, and concentrate on how I'm feeling now. If I go by that, seriously, I would have though that this was a mild cold. I don't mean to downplay this virus in the least, because I have felt pretty crappy over the past couple of weeks, but honestly, I expected worse?

It's a very strange feeling to be a walking biological weapon. I had such feelings of fear of this crap. I don't want to be near anybody at all, not even myself, I'm constantly washing my hands, showering, and using sanitizer. I hope at this point that I am on the right side of recovery, and that it's not going to turn and get any worse. Also in my head now, should I go and donate my blood? I know that the antibodies that I am producing could help save someone not as lucky as me? When should I go get retested? Should I get the vaccine? Is it going to do anything different now that I've had the real deal?

I hope that you stay safe, and you don't have to go through the mental anguish and physical pain that I've been through the past couple of weeks. Please hit me up through the chat feature of our station's app if there are any questions that I can answer for you, as you can read, I'm an open book, and I'm ready to help.