Tom, a Greece resident, became ill after flying home from a work trip on March 5th. On Sunday March 7th Tom started feeling like he was coming down with something. “I had an oscillating temperature from 97 to 99 degrees and felt fatigued,” Tom said. At the time Tom first developed his symptoms there were no known positive cases of Covid-19 in Monroe County, and the first case in New York State was just a few days prior. Tom did not feel he was at risk of having Covid-19, especially since he was not experiencing the typical symptoms that were on the news.
Tom did go to the doctor during his illness and was diagnosed with an ear infection. His initial symptoms began to subside the following week but then he said “the cough hit hard.” He went back to the doctor a second time to rule out bronchitis. Testing was not readily available, therefore he self-quarantined at home just to be on the safe side.
Meredith, Tom’s wife, was concerned that what her husband was experiencing could possibly be Covid-19. Meredith, who was diagnosed and treated for uterine cancer in August, was nervous at the thought that she might be exposed to Covid-19. “I remember saying I can’t get sick,” she said. She was extra vigilant with hand washing and taking immunity supplements such as zinc and black elderberry. The first 12 days that Tom was home from his work trip Meredith felt fine and continued working. On March 16th Meredith’s employer, a local university, announced they were closing due to the pandemic. That day she recalls that she began to feel achy. Meredith then began running a low-grade fever, had a headache, lost her sense of taste and smell and had a mild cough. More than a week after these symptoms started she began to present with gastrointestinal illness symptoms and could not keep fluids down. She also experienced light sensitivity. Out of concern that she might be dehydrated she went to her doctor on March 27th. The doctor tested Meredith for the various Influenza strains, all the tests came back negative, so they sent out for a Covid-19 test which came back positive.
Meredith and Tom self-quarantined. By the time Meredith’s test was confirmed positive there were already 200 positive cases of Covid-19 in Monroe County. Meredith notified her work and no one she worked with had contracted it. Two of Tom’s co-workers who flew home with him from the meeting also became ill after the trip and were both confirmed positive for Covid-19. “When I first heard the news that I was positive I was freaking out,” Meredith said. In hindsight Meredith now realizes, “It was not nearly as panic inducing as the news made it out to be. After experiencing the virus I feel it is appropriate to have concerns and cautions about Covid-19 but to also be educated with fact and not feed into the fear.”
The couple both agreed how different their symptoms were from each other’s and also from Tom’s coworkers’ symptoms. Tom did his own contract tracing and is confident he contracted the virus from his return flight from Colorado and then gave it to his wife.
Both Meredith and Tom made full recoveries within two weeks. Tom, who is an engineer, was working from home and was fortunate enough to have never missed a day of work through his Covid-19 illness. Meredith, who is also an engineer at a local university, did miss two days of work related to the gastrointestinal symptoms she had from the illness. Other than Tom’s two co-workers from the flight no one else they were in contact with contracted the virus from them, including their two college aged daughters. Both Tom and Meredith quarantined at home for the entire length of time recommended by the Health Department. Neither needed to visit the hospital or emergency room.
The time of isolation was challenging but supportive friends made it better. Friends and their church community reached out and checked on them. “Some friends from Lakeshore Community Church came out and chalked messages to us on our driveway as we watched from our windows,” Tom said. Meredith’s advice to others in this challenging time of fear is, “Get the facts from a reliable source. If you hear something on the news be sure to verify from the original source. If you do get COVID-19, or suspect you have COVID-19, do the right thing —Rest, Fluids, Time, and Isolation.”
If you have a Covid-19 recovery story you would like to share please contact Tami at tami.raco@westsidnewsny.com
