I Got Breakthrough COVID-19 and This is What Happened
Exactly a week ago yesterday, I received my PCR test results back from the COVID-19 test I’d had administered the day before via a mobile testing unit in Times Square (probably the only reason I’ll intentionally go to Times Square). Positive.
Let’s rewind a bit. I left my boyfriend’s apartment early Monday morning and fell back into bed to sleep a little more before I had to be up for work. I woke up to my alarm and snoozed it, texted my boss that I would be in late, and went back to sleep from exhaustion that had suddenly set in. An hour later I still felt as tired and I called out of work sick. My head was congested, I was tired, a little achy, and had a sinus headache. I chalked it up to a sinus infection and rested. I did much of the same on Tuesday but called out of work again because I had a fever over 100 degrees even with the sinus and cold medicine I was taking. Being that we’re still in the thick of a global pandemic, I looked up somewhere that I could be tested for COVID-19. Test results still come back around 24 hours after being tested and my boyfriend and I have a standing midweek date night on Wednesdays. I wanted to be certain all I had was a sinus infection before seeing him, so I dragged myself down to Times Square and had someone swab inside my nose from the side of a van in the middle of the plaza. Cute. I got my rapid test results that evening and they were negative. It seemed like a good sign, because if in the midst of all of my symptoms the test hadn’t found anything, then certainly I must be in the clear? On Wednesday, I started feeling somewhat better, but my temperature was still a bit high. It was just after my boyfriend started planning to come over to my apartment that I received my positive PCR results. I notified anyone that I’d seen recently (literally two people aside from my boyfriend) and hunkered down. On Wednesday night, my fever broke and on Thursday morning I woke up feeling improved. I gradually continued to improve and on Monday morning I felt only the slightest bit congested and returned back to work (from home, per usual). Below is a breakdown of my symptoms, how I treated it, and where I think I caught it.
Symptoms
Nausea (This was the first symptom I had 4 days before the Monday I actually felt sick. However, I’m no stranger to random bouts of nausea and I chalked it up to motion sickness on the PATH train while I was looking at my phone.)
Congestion
Very infrequent dry cough
Infrequent sneezing
Feeling of a lump in my throat (persisted for most of Friday night and part of Saturday)
Fever over 100 degrees (This was the biggest red flag for me as I do get sinus infections, but I rarely have a fever.)
Headache (Not severe and felt mostly like sinus pressure.)
Fatigue (I slept about 14 hours each night from Monday-Wednesday where I experienced the worst of my symptoms)
My at-home treatment
Mucinex-D (12 hour)
Benadryl (Right before bed)
Zinc (I was a bit lazy with this, as I only had the gummies and they taste gross)
Hot water with lemon, lime & honey
Sleep (a lot of sleep)
Water (a lot of water)
I had been taking a sinus cold medicine Monday through Wednesday, but I stopped taking it once I confirmed that I had COVID-19. I researched online medicine that experts recommended and decided to just try the Mucinex-D and vitamins consistently. This would allow me to know when I actually stopped having a fever versus the medicine suppressing the fever. I recommend reaching out to a medical professional and NOT using any of my at-home treatment plan as your prescribed plan without consulting a medical professional. I am not a medical professional, just a chick with Google.
The big question of “where?”
Long story short? I have no idea. If the nausea was indeed the first symptom and I worked my way back, then the only places I had been previously were to go hiking by myself one day and then dinner with one vaccinated friend outside another. The friend tested negative. I work from home. I was fully vaccinated as of the spring. I wear my mask on the subway and in all stores. I don’t stand close to people (and I move if people stand too close to me, too. I’m looking at you, Trader Joe’s check-out line). I don’t even leave my apartment every day, some weeks. I haven’t been to the movies, a concert, music festival, sports arena, or anything else with crowds of people aside from the subway. I haven’t been to the bar or the club. I wipe down my phone regularly and use it on speaker or with a headset so that it doesn’t sit too close to my face during phone calls. I wipe down doorknobs and light switches and faucets with Clorox wipes regularly. I don’t even allow outside clothes on my couch, let alone my bed. This was the most frustrating part. I had been cautious, very cautious for a vaccinated person, and still found myself sitting at home on my couch instead of in D.C seeing Harry Styles on stage last Saturday like I’d been planning since 2019. I realized that trying to figure out the “where” in this case is a fruitless endeavor. I’ll likely never know.
I’m glad that I was vaccinated and that I was able to take off from work to recover. I’m grateful that my partner has thus far been asymptomatic and that no one else I had seen tested positive. I’m grateful that my experience was relatively mild and if you find yourself in the same position, I hope that yours is, too.
in wellness,
