Life at home with COVID

I truthfully never thought I would be writing to you about my at-home experience with covid. I secretly hoped I would be able to get a natural immunity. But I never actually thought it would happen. But here we are. I yet am not covid positive. But I am caring for my husband who has it.

I wanted to share with you our journey and how we dealt with it. I will probably make this a two-parter and share the second week of the journey next week.

CAUTION:  This is not a recommendation for you to follow but rather just our journey to date. I am writing about how we have managed to stay sane and look after our health.

 

 

The story started a week ago. My husband caught up with a friend for a takeaway coffee over the weekend sitting in the fresh air. It was a 30-45 minute catch-up. Little did either of them know what was to come…

The following day his friend noticed symptoms and went off to get tested. The test came back positive three days later. Then another day later we were contacted by DHHS and the friend to share the news that Hubster was a close contact with a positive case of covid. It was 5:30 on Thursday afternoon when we raced off to get tested, we were the last car through the site! We both got tested.

During that day Hubster started to get a tickling sore throat. You know the same one that you can get when a cold starts like it is grated in a cheese grater. Hubster had also recently had tooth surgery with a titanium rod put in, ready for a tooth implant. He was on medications post-surgery that weakened his natural immunity. (He had a bone graft, so these medications were taken to avoid rejection of the foreign bone cells used and to prevent infection) He was not in his fittest state when he was exposed to the virus.

When we got home, we separated and set the house up the best we could for our isolation from each other. He stays in the bedroom. I live in the rest of the house. We only have one bathroom so that is regularly cleaned after he has used it. I have washed my hands a lot! And we use eucalyptus spray, glen-20 spray and I have essentials oils cleansing the air all around the house all the time. All the windows are open to keep fresh air moving through the building.

The wait following the testing was torturous. Mostly because we were thinking of the places we had been and the people we had seen whilst we didn’t know whether we were positive or not. We are both not afraid of the virus and trust our body’s immune system. But we know not everyone is as fit and healthy as we are and that the virus could be very harmful to them. So, we waited, and waited. It was nearly 48 hours before my test result came back negative. By this stage, I had missed two workdays. (My last two days at Physimed Healthcare. I missed saying goodbye to a few of my clients 🙁 And that was very sad for me. But better than potentially exposing the business and clients to covid).

By this stage, we guessed Hubster was positive. He had general joint aches and pain with stabbing pains in his legs. He had a mild fever with mild sweats, and his sore throat had turned into a niggling cough. He had one bad sweaty night with poor sleep. It looked like the genuine flu. I couldn’t even blame man flu. The pains came in waves as the fever rose and subsided during the day and night.

The positive test came back on day 3 after getting tested.

Before this covid attack, we were both taking immune-boosting supplements and foods. As I am sure you know as a nutritionist and a chiropractor, I am all about supporting our body with nutritious foods and lifestyle habits that enhance our natural ability to fight back a cold and flu. But during the actual course of covid, we are boosting some of those natural supplements and adding a few traditional western medicines to help Hubster recover fast and fully.

Hubster hasn’t been too hungry, but he has been craving more carbohydrate foods like fruits and bread and porridge. So I have taken advantage of that and turning his porridge into a superfood!

 

 SUPERFOOD POWER PORRIDGE:

• 1/3 cup Organic Oats
• 2/3 cup Water

Cooked together until soft and ready

Then I add these supplements:

• Vitamin C powder (pure ascorbic acid with no flavours etc added)
• Zinc Picolinate (pure zinc nothing else added)
• Vitamin D (in a pure olive oil, as a dropper version)
• Omega 3 (pure fish oil in liquid form)
• Probiotics (presently on a broad spectrum to help recover after being on antibiotics)
• Pea Protein (he has the vanilla flavour of this, and it is a very clean brand)
• Pure Collagen Powder (again pure hydrolysed collagen)

Then I also add these whole real foods:

• Pure raw honey (from his father bees)
• Greek Yoghurt
• Fresh berries
• A sprinkle of some organic maca powder
• A sprinkle of crushed nuts and seeds (pepitas, sunflower, almonds, pecans, macadamias, sesame)

You probably read that list and think, that must taste disgusting. But truly it tastes quite nice. Hubster asks for porridge nearly every morning even when not fighting off covid. But whilst there are extra demands on his immune system we have just upped to dosages of the supplements VitD, VitC and Zinc.

He hasn’t been very hungry. So, over the last few days the only other foods he has eaten are:

• pumpkin soup made with real bone broth
• fresh fruit salad
• liver pate on fresh bread (Yes, he loves bread, and I cannot change this despite my avoidance of gluten, he just loves it!).

 

Keeping ourselves entertained and moving has been a little more challenging when limited to our house and yard, but we are fortunate to have some outdoor space. Our activities to date have included:

• Pottered in the garden, there is a lot of weeding to be done! The movement and fresh air are great for our body and mind
• Hubster has played with his toys in the man cave of a garage
• Read books
• Watched a lot of TV
• I have baked/cooked some experiments including a chocolate cake made with cauliflower, a dairy-free cashew cheese, and a gluten-free pizza base. If you are interested in the sound of those recipes, I will endeavour to perfect them for upcoming recipes!

We have another 10 days of quarantine to go… so I am sure we will have to come up with more activities to keep us entertained. You might just hear a lot more from me as I write blog posts purely to make sure I have something to do.

If you have any questions, please reach out. I would love to answer them for you if I can. But please also remember, if you want medical advice it is better to speak to your individual healthcare provider.