I work in healthcare as a hand therapist and see patients directly across me. I was exposed from patients initially on 3/3/20 and again on 3/4/20, and again on 3/12/20. The patient on 3/12/20 had just come from the hospital because their spouse was hospitalized. They never tested for COVID-19. Just sent the couple home to quarantine for 2 weeks.
I stopped work on 3/13/20 and canceled all of my patients. I started to get sick on Tuesday 3/17/20 with flu-like feelings, light cough, malaise, GI issues, loss of appetite, and brain fog. I also felt like the area under my fingernails got cold easily-sort of a burning. I was told by my doctor’s office to go to their drive-through for testing. They only took a throat culture to rule out influenza A and B, which were negative. The office note said that I had suspected COVID-19 but no test was offered. I was told to quarantine for 14 days which I did.
My symptoms were mostly mild with cough, waves of fatigue especially in the afternoon, brain fog, and odd vertigo/balance issues. I woke up one Saturday and had a mild form of vertigo for 4 hours, none since. I still have a chronic sore throat, runny nose, metallic taste in my mouth, and limited energy levels. I have not returned to work because I am 62 and in the high-risk category and cannot equip myself to prevent the spread of COVID-19 without N95 masks, gowns, shields, etc, and want to be symptom-free when I return to seeing patients. I don’t feel well.
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