Hello, I am Eduardo and I had to suffer from this disease of the bug, of the coronavirus 2019, or simply Covid-19 (“Coronavirus desease 2019”); although its technical name is less friendly to remember: SARS-CoV-2 according to the International Committee on Virus Taxonomy.
My convalescence was technically classified as “mild symptoms” because I simply did not need to enter the hospital for oxygen assistance, either utilizing a mask or tubing to a respirator
However, the symptoms I had far were mild, in terms of body pain and risk. It was not a “simple flu”, as some have dared to say. Indeed, I never had such intense pains to this extent. There was a certain point during this disease where I began to think about how fragile and helpless I was as a human being before this tiny enemy.
I live in Salamanca, Spain, heart of the outbreak after Italy in Europe. To date, according to the Ministry of Health (data retrieved from this site, on April 17, 2020), Salamanca presented 2,437 cases of infection tested in the hospital. For those like me, about 8,223 positive cases had to stay at home in quarantine without being checked. To this date, we have also suffered the loss of 273 lives due to coronavirus.
My thermometer, for fever measurements: here 38.1 ºC (100.8ºF)
The symptoms
My viral journey began on March 24. There was a noticeable increase in body temperature, 99.5ºF, without developing into a fever, and severe headaches. Throughout that first day, the pain got worse and spread to my entire body. By evening, I already had a fever, 100.8ºF, and thermal values were always oscillating between 99.5ºF and 100.8ºF. This fluctuation in body temperature continued up until April 5, when the disease remitted.
On that first day, I called the helpline that Junta de Castilla y León made available to the public for coronavirus cases. They immediately answered my call, listened to me, took note of my symptoms and told me that they would call me thenext day, which they did.
The following night, the second day of my illness, they called me and asked about my symptoms, which had become more severe. By now, I felt an intense pain behind my neck, along with my fever and headache. They listed me as a “suspect” of COVID-19 and instructed me to keep my fever at bay with acetaminophen (which I was already using) and to stay locked in my room 24 hours a day without leaving.
Staying in quarantine in my room was something I was able to do since I live in a community in residence with fifteen other Carmelite brothers who took care of me with food, medicine and fresh clothes. Those of the Castilla y León Board told me that they were passing my case to the Health Centre in my area, so that my family doctor, Dr A., would take charge. They told me that in 48 hours she would contact me. It was then that they gave me their resounding warning: “Please, if the symptoms worsen, and you have difficulty breathing, call us immediately.” Dr A. would repeat the same words every day after her first contact.
Breakfast, prepared by my community brothers.
On the third day, another symptom was added, which at the time was strange. I lost my sense of smell and taste, which became absent from that day until the end of my illness. I also had fainting spells, general weakness, severe body aches, and an unfailing fever. Something which did not appear in my case was a dry cough (which I always thought would be a key symptom). I also did not have a sore throat or a cold.
On the fourth day, already under telephone custody of Dr A., I began a soft and hydrating diet, since another symptom which lasted for several days was diarrhea along with nausea and, sometimes, vomiting.
From that moment on, the journey became an ordeal: fever, severe headache and pain behind the neck, weakness, diarrhoea, nausea, and no sense of smell and taste. I could only get out of bed to use the bathroom and eat, something simple which I did not have the strength to do. The nights were endless suffering. I was sweating sweat buckets which forced me to get up three or four times just to change my shirt and spread out my bedsheets to dry.
The night
I particularly remember the night of my seventh day. The intensity of my symptoms worsened. My fever got worse, and I was even more exhausted. The pain behind my neck spread to my back. It went down my spine and from my shoulder blades to my lower back. I felt as though I were being squeezed from the inside. I had never felt such intense pain and thought I would never recover from this. I confess that many times in the middle of my endless nights, I would try and entrust my unpleasant illness into the hands of the Father. I tried to accept the way things were and the reason why I had to go through this.
Amaryllis flower, from the garden of Sr. Blaise and Sr. Jane, Carmelites.
The next morning, a pain seized my chest, and every time I tried to eat something a sharp pain developed at the level of the diaphragm and the pit of my stomach, preventing me from swallowing a bite. Dr A. indicated that these new symptoms were compatible with pneumonia.
Gradually, breathing was becoming more difficult due to chest and stomach pain, nausea, general weakness, lack of appetite, lack of taste and smell, fever, and back pain. Dr. Amparo prescribed medicine to help me clear the mucus that was forming and accumulating in my lungs, hence making it difficult for me to breathe, especially at night.
The last day
Little by little, the chest pain subsided, breathing became more relaxed, and in the last two days of the disease my fever disappeared. The pain also went away, and my sense of taste and smell returned, bringing all texture and consistency to my meals; the day seemed to be full of light. The final anecdote of this journey, after the disease had remitted as quickly as it came, I had lost ten pounds of body weight, which was well below the recommended weight for my age, height and physical build.
I want to highlight the diligence and close guidance of Dr A. from the Health Center, who at the time was a support to me when I was in despair. In all this time, her attention was vital and her words were always correct. She never stopped making her morning calls, and she only left me definitively eight days after my symptoms had disappeared. She then discharged me and congratulated me on how well I had done, and that I was now, above all, immune! We’ll see about that…
Easter Lily Flower and my little altar in the room, during the Easter Night.
What have I learned from this time?
Through my own flesh, I have confirmed once again the fragility of our human condition, the vulnerability of our forces, which we sometimes think they are infinite.
At this time, the technology of communication by video calls has been my ally to contact not only the specialists, but between us, my loved ones and my dear friends, who with their affection, closeness and prayer have sustained me at a distance. They tucked me up with words of encouragement, songs, multi-colored flowers and fun videos.
Throughout this experience, I learned as I never had before in my life, that my great support and strength has been my faith, often stammered in a broken prayer , because as Saint John of the Cross once taught me, “God is always,” “although it is night, ” my night.
“The Risen Lord is also the Crucified One, not someone else. In his glorious body he bears indelible wounds: wounds that have become windows of hope.
Let us turn our gaze to him that he may heal the wounds of an afflicted humanity.”
Pope Francis, Easter 2020
