We have Covid

 Our family has officially had Covid. Two weeks ago Hunter came home from school on Friday and took a nap. Something he's never done. Friday night he said he wasn't feeling good, felt cold and went to bed early. Saturday he went to hang out with friends but came home much earlier than expected. He said he was just tired. Again he was cold and went to bed early. On Sunday Grandma Heaton was throwing a Sunday lunch in Losee Canyon, near Bryce Canyon. After he ate he went and sat in the van and fell asleep. He said he just didn't feel good. That night he complained to be cold again and went to bed early. I no longer have a thermometer but feeling his forehead he felt pretty warm.  Monday morning he woke up feeling almost normal and went to school. During the day he realized he had lost his smell and taste. Did he tell anyone this? Of course not. And so Hunter continued to go to school. He no longer had a fever, he sniffled a little here and there but no real symptoms of being sick. Hunter said his lack of smell and taste lasted about a week. Loosing your smell/taste is a sign of having Covid-19. By the time he told me about this symptom it was too late to have him tested, not that I would have had him tested anyways. But I would have kept home and quarantined him to be safe. 

Three weeks later......It's a Wednesday and the kids and I spend our afternoon outside pulling weeds, raking leaves and re planting my flowers that the wind literally blew up and out of the dirt. After being outside for an hour working we ALL start to sneeze, have watery eyes and feel itchy. It's how we typically feel working outside during "allergy season". That night we were all struggling a little bit but by Thursday morning we all felt better. I still had the sniffles and was tired but I hadn't slept the best because my nose was running the whole night. The kids symptoms were pretty much gone. Friday we participated in a park day with other home schooling families. While at the park my allergies and Brayden's started to flare up again. By the time we get home from the park I have a headache. By bed time my allergies are out of control but Brayden feels better. I feel overly tired, is it because I'm getting sick or the allergy pill I took? I go to bed feeling a little cold. During the night I wake up feeling absolutely awful! I am so, so cold, Kory says I'm burning up and my headache is awful. I struggle staying asleep during the night. By morning my head ache is barely there, I have still have a fever, I'm super cold and my whole body aches. It's conference weekend so I stay in our lazy boy chair with the intention of watching conference. I'm not sure I was even awake by the first speaker. I was out! I slept through the entire 1st session. Kory fixed lunched between sessions. I ate and went and took a nap thinking this would allow me to stay awake during the 2nd session Nope! I took my nap and then slept through the session in my lazy boy chair. After the session I was feeling better. Walked around the block with the family. My fever had broken and I was feeling better. Went to bed thinking all was well. About 2am I woke up super cold again a horrible headache and body aches. Sunday morning my headache was almost gone but I still had the other symptoms. I did the same dang thing I did the day before. Slept through almost all of Conference. It was during the 2nd session, near the end when my fever broke. I started feeling better almost immediately. Thankfully the headache, body aches and chills didn't come back. I slept peacefully that night. Monday I felt good but was just tired. Tuesday I still felt good but overly tired. Maddie and I decided to make cookies. After I put the 1st batch in the oven I sat at the table helping her with a project. We totally forgot about the cookies! By the time I remembered they were charcoal black. I couldn't believe I had forgotten about them. Why the heck did I not smell them burning? I was in the kitchen the whole time! And that is when I realized I couldn't smell them! That night before going to bed I put my nightly OnGuard on my chest. Guess what? I couldn't smell it. My smell remained lost for the following 5 days. My other symptoms never came back. Each day my energy was gaining and my tiredness weaning. 

I refused to be tested. I do NOT want to add to the paranoia some are feeling about our pandemic. I don't know why it effects everyone so differently. I don't know why some have lost their lives from this. I don't know why no one else in our family "caught" it. Part of me feels relieved that we have now had this new strain of the flu and we can move on! I am grateful that Hunter and I have fully recovered with no long term side effects.