The roller coaster that is Covid

It has been a very stressful couple of weeks, and to those on all my social media outlets who have been praying for my hubby, I say a big thank you, and I apologise that I have not been on more to update on his situation. To be honest, I couldn't face Facebook or Twitter with all the political fighting going on, and I really wasn't up to dealing with questions about how Mark was doing, when - a lot of the time - I was trying not to allow the worry to make me ill as well. I had to stay calm for my own health, and it has not been easy.

His glucose level remains higher than what they like. Apparently, when they are in hospital, they take them off their usual diabetes meds and then just put them on insulin. Then, when they return home, they go back to their usual drug regimen. Despite my worrying over it, none of the doctors see that as a major issue right now.

The coughing is the major issue. His O2 levels go down when he coughs ... and trying to talk makes him cough so I am limiting attempting to talk to him. I text him a lot, but he is so weak right now that he barely looks at his phone through the day, so his responses to me are few and far between. That's fine though, he needs his rest, and as long as he doesn't feel abandoned by ME, that's all I care about on that score.

He had been sick for a week when they admitted him, and the first few results of labs were extremely scary. One issue they don't understand is that his white blood cells remain high. I had originally thought this was a good thing, your white blood cells are the ones that work to fight infection after all, but it's been explained to me that in most people with Covid, the white blood cell count drops really low. His have not gone down and remain high even though they are now in the process of moving him from Hillcrest Hospital to Greer Rehab for a week or so.

Earlier this week, I was terrified I might lose him. His heart rate was 170 and apparently, his blood pressure went up to almost 300 over almost 200. As a BP sufferer, that terrified me as I knew how dangerous it was, and to tell the truth, I had never know that BP could go that high and someone be ok. I prayed so hard. I just wanted him to be ok, to feel better, not to be afraid (since he has seen me deal with mine, I knew he'd understand the significance of how bad his numbers were).

Overnight of the 12th/13th, his BP returned to his long time usual 118/73 and his heart rate dropped in increments, 130 for a while, and then to 105. The doctors were satisfied with that.

Today he is being moved to rehab so that he can continue to get medical care (he still has O2 when he gets coughing spasms), physiotherapy to get his leg muscles capable of doing their job after almost 2 weeks of very little use, and to allow him to rest and rebuild his strength as he is only now beginning to eat even semi-normally. He doesn't have much of an appetite so is not being a good 1960s kid and clearing his plate yet, that is still to come.

For now, it's just a matter of time and for the rehab to get him back to a semblance of normality - at least being able to breathe without coughing at all, eat normal size meals so's he can build his energy, and work on the physiotherapy to get his muscles back up to par.

His big thing is weakness and that's what's going to be the longer term issue. The doctors have said that he will need short term disability after he is released from rehab, and possibly long term after that, as there is no telling how long the weakness will be a factor, and how long it will take for him to recuperate.

I tested positive after he did but am thankful that my only real issue has been loss of taste and smell, which are slowly returning although in weird ways. I had an orange and could "taste" the citric acidity as a slight sourness but couldn't discern an orange flavour. last night, I had a hot chocolate, and although I didn't taste the chocolate, I could taste sweet and creamy. 

As long as I don't get any kind of fever between now and the 16th, I will be good to go on that date, and once ok myself, am hoping to go visit my hubby at that point.

I appreciate all the prayers. Please continue to keep him in them for his healing and recovery. I have seen some miracles through prayer and I honestly believe that it has been the force behind him coming through this thus far.

Bless you all and stay safe.