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A brush with Corona

Introduction

In April 2024, Cara invited us to spend a five day week at her "in-laws" cottage in Marloth Park in the eastern part of Mpumulanga Province. She has been pestering us to go with for a while to see the setup in Marloth Park as well as being able to have visits to the nearby Kruger National Park.

We had very pleasant outings on the first two days with sightings of lion and cheetah on both days. There were plenty of animals to be seen with many antelope species as well as hyena. The highlight of the second day for me was seeing a pair of Painted Snipe.

With the longish distances travelled, I decided to sit out the third day in order to be able to explore the bush in the vicinity of the house in Marloth Park. It would also ease the discomfort caused by the pissiness from radiation cystitis while travelling.

Unfortunately, that night, what I now know to be corona, knocked me for a six, so I didn't really get a chance to do the exploration that I wanted.

Timeline

Wed 17 April: I spent the whole day in bed with a sore throat and severe chills. I was able to have a beer or two with supper, so was not too worried at this stage.

Thur 18 April: The plan was to do a longish trip to Tshokwane, north of Skukuza, but here I again had to skip the excursion as I felt worse than the day before. In the evening, I was once again able to have a beer with Brendon at the fireside. I still did not feel that the what I had was anything other than an early winter cold.

Fri 19 April: This was the day we had to return to Pretoria, and I felt worse than on the previous days. My throat was so sore that I could hardly talk. Cara managed to find some Strepsils at the local Spar while I was filling up, but these didn't really help. In spite of the sore throat and chills, I managed to drive the 200km to our halfway point at Milly's. After a quick pit stop, Brendon drove the rest of the way to Pretoria.

Sat 20 April: In spite of showing her first symptoms (sore throat), Pat did some grocery shopping and housework. I was unable to help with anything as I was hit with another symptom of the new corona: diarrhea. This was rather severe, so I took an Imodium Melt, which helped almost immediately.

Mon 22 April: I did an early morning consultation with my GP, and he felt that from what he could see that the disease might be corona. One of his main concerns was a lowish oxygen level count (89% - it should be around 95%). He gave a prescription for meds for pneumonia, and tried to get me out of the consulting rooms as quickly as possible (I don't blame him). As I was rather weak, Pat got the meds for me in spite of taking strain herself.

Tues 23 April: Pat got a Pulse Oximeter from Dischem so we could check oxygen levels. My readings were on the low side (<89%) as expected, Pat's readings were over 90%.

Wed 24 April: Pat was now taking strain with the disease leaving her bedridden. I decided I needed to know whether corona was the source of our problems, and found that our local Clicks had Corona lateral flow antigen test kits (mask on for the first time since 2022). Unfortunately, the test was positive.

Thu 25 Apr to Mon 29 Apr Pat has been recovering well, with good oxygen levels (above 92%). She has managed to do some housework as well as some shopping (it does feel strange to wear a mask again).

Tue 30 Apr It is now day 14 since I showed the first symptoms and day 11 for Pat. Apart from the tiredness from the low oxygen levels (still persistently under 90%), I don't have any symptoms other than some occasional phlegm. Pat is still battling with a hacking cough during the day. My O₂ levels hit 86% in the evening, which is worryingly low.

Wed 1 May After yesterday's 86%, my O₂ levels reached 93% today. Pat had a tea outing with her former colleagues. I filled the bakkie with diesel and had a quick beer with Francois (I did wear a mask where possible). I hope we haven't started a new epidemic.

Thur 2 May: In spite of her cough, Pat has decided she is no longer wearing a mask on excursions outside the house. I will still wear mine in public for a few more days.

Sat 4 May: Day 18 for me and day 15 for Pat. Pat still has a cough and my oxygen is still low but hopefully on the mend (91%).

Sat 11 May Day 25 just when I thought I was getting over it, my oxygen level dropped to 84%. I have no idea what brought this on, but this disease just does not want to let go.

Mon 13 May Oxygen level has been hovering around 90% since Sunday morning. Maybe something good is happening?

Fri 14 Jun As my oxygen levels were still hovering around 90% after 60 days, I decided to pop in to see my GP to check on the accuracy of my pulse oximeter against his more fancy medical grade oximeter. I was really impressed with how well it compared with his. AND, both devices showed O₂ levels hovering between 93% and 94%. This was something I had not seen since February. What he did say was that I should make sure my hand was warm before taking a reading. This does seem to have made a difference.

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Hindsight

In this section I cannot draw any conclusions or even make any inferences, but I will try to connect some dots to try and show what a strange disease this is.

Travelling companions Cara did have a cough when she came up from the Cape during the week prior to our departure. She probably passed this on to Cindy, who was the only person in the group who showed any signs of illness with a persistent cough. Apart from the cough, Cindy was not sick during our stay in Marloth Park.

Incubation period The incubation period of the current corona variant seems to be around three days. This means I most probably picked it up while travelling down to Marloth Park. Pat then picked it up from me, in a consistent time frame, as she started showing symptoms in the three day incubation period window. What is especially interesting is that none of our travelling companions have shown any symptoms whatsoever, in spite having been in close proximity, in a closed vehicle, for more than five hours on the way home (that is in addition to the time spent together in Marloth Park). This would suggest they already had immunity from the disease, possibly from having previously contracted it.

Treatment and measurements Cara made sure that I drank vitamin C supplements while we were in Marloth Park, but this did not seem to help me at all. The meds my GP gave for pneumonia did seem to help with the reduction of phlegm. I also gargled with Andolex C each evening to further help with the removal of phlegm (½ measure Andolex C to 3 measures water). Pat didn't gargle as she felt that the Andolex C hurt her throat more than any relief gained. Blood pressure and pulse rate remained more or less normal throughout the illness. My O₂ has remained consistently low between 86 and 90% (normal is 95%). Pat's O₂ has not been below 90% throughout the illness. My cough cleared up after about nine days, whereas Pat is still battling with a persistent cough after 11 days.

Remember, Corona is still alive and well and living in a body near you. It is still an unpleasant disease, so if you suspect you have it, do wear a mask in public. Corona antigen test kits are available, cheap and easy to use.

(16 June 2024)

Addendum

I thought I would share some things that have helped me in trying to get over this disease. I often hear the comment (often from fairly learned people) "Oh, it's just flu". To some people it maybe just that (Pat got over it very quickly), but to others, it takes an absolute age to get over it (if ever).

Belly breathing One of the big problems with this disease is a shortage of oxygen. This leads to all kinds of issues such as lethargy, headaches and loss of memory. As an athlete, when I was very much younger, we were taught to use thoracic breathing while exercising, to increase the capacity of the chest - using the belly to breathe was an absolute no-no. This method of thoracic breathing has stayed with me all through my life, until I found that with this disease I was not getting enough oxygen. Pat said I should try belly breathing as she had seen a reference to it somewhere during her wanderings on the web.

The idea behind belly breathing is that you use the abdominal muscles to expand the abdominal cavity while inhaling. This forces the diaphragm into the abdominal cavity, and in so doing, expands the lung capacity. When inhaling using this method breathe through your nose and not your mouth - you want the air in your lungs and not your stomach.

A couple of days after starting this type of breathing, my SpO₂ level moved above 90%, after weeks hovering around 88%.

Exercise Pat and I recently started doing, where possible, daily walks of at least 1km. We try and walk as briskly as possible to force heavy breathing. This has also helped with improving oxygen intake. After a walk, my SpO₂ levels are around 93%.

A fitness tracker shows that I am definitely getting fitter as walks that were once at aerobic levels are now regarded as light exercise.

Humidifier A gadget which has helped is a humidifier in the bedroom at night. The air on the Highveld is very dry during winter (the humidity is often below 30%) and a humidifier definitely helps getting the value up. This helps with breathing and sinusitus. I got a nebulizing humidifier from Dischem for R500. I prefer this type of humidifier as it uses far less power than a steam humidifier, and there is no risk of injury from hot steam. This particular humidifier is very quiet.

I have found that a comfortable humidity level is around 50%. I use a maximum/minimum thermometer, which has a hygrometer, from Takealot to measure the humidity. When the humidity is very low, I increase the fan speed on the humidifier.

(8 July 2024)