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theRTRP

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I am a licensed respiratory therapist. I have been fighting Covid19 for a year. From the frontline to contracting it and recovering.

On January 25th, I was called to a patient's room. She was in the non Covid wing. She was breathing hard and they needed me to do a blood gas sample to check her oxygen levels. When I got the result her doctors decided to intubate her right away. We did everything, unprotected, that wouldn't normally be done in a Covid patient room to limit viral aerosolization. She was then transferred to the ICU. After a couple of days in the ICU, there was no improvement but she was declining fast. Her doctors decided to test her for Covid, she was positive. 

On January 30th I was tested as a precaution. I was asymptomatic. I was negative.

On February 2nd I woke up with a tickle in my throat, by lunch time I was febrile. I brought myself to the hospital I work at so I wouldn't expose anyone. I got tested, it was positive. I was in the hospital for 15 days before I was good enough to be discharged. 

After about 4 days at home, I developed digestive problems. My attending physician gave me instructions how to manage at home. I was still short of breath at this time, still coughing non-stop. The digestive problems resolved after a week. My appetite, sense of smell and taste are slowly coming back. My asthma has been triggered by the infection. I have been absent from work for a month, my doctors cannot clear me to return to the hospital because of my asthma.

Today I'm afraid I am experiencing yet another symptom post Covid, even when I have already tested negative. I awoke at 6am to do my meds. Around 8 am, I felt low back pain. Not too painful, just noticeable. As the day progresses, I noticed so does the pain. And it was creeping. It's 9pm as I am writing this, the back and sides of my neck have grown painful too, so are my arms. My ribs and the sides of my abdomen are a bit sore too. It feels like after a long workout and someone pokes your murscle. I can't lie down on my back because it hurts.

I am sharing my experience in the hopes that someone finds it helpful. I have been searching but I haven't found an article that matches how I feel. It kinda makes me think that I could just be over thinkinking this and this might not be at all related to my recovery. I haven't even told anyone, I'm afraid they'll think that I'm just dragging this for too long. Even those who tested positive with me, who were exposed to the same patient, they are all back to work now. I am afraid to talk to them, what would they say? What would they think of me? 

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Wow. I'm sorry, wish I had some great advice. It is good you tested negative, so maybe there's something else going on here? 

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