Sketchbook: My Coronavirus Diary (April, 2020)

Spoiler alert: Sophie caught it right after me, and it didn't go well!

Click to read the article. It’s a lot. Sorry.

Preface:

In early 2020, when we knew very little about the new ‘coronavirus’, I was one of the unfortunate few who contracted “the bug”, and proceeded to get very, very sick.

I thought it was the end for me, so I started drawing up my symptoms each day in the hopes that it might be useful to people as an anecdotal reference. Then, thankfully, I recovered. But my wife got it.

I compared the onset of her symptoms to mine; they were almost identical to the hour. I refined my diary from when I was sick and drew it up to share with the world at a time when we were all scared, locked down, and in desperate need of any reliable information we could get our eyes on.*

*The word “Might” in the title of the piece was doing a lot of heavy lifting.

The following diary ended up getting published in the Washington Post and shared widely on social and traditional media as a (caveated) guide as to what one might expect as the onset of symptoms from the Alpha version of the SARS-COV-2 virus ravaged their immune system. It was later published in a book by Penn State University Press.

I’m sad to say, my agent and friend, Sandy, died from the virus just days before he was eligible to receive the vaccine. I lost a lot of other friends, and fellow New Yorkers during what is without a doubt the darkest year of our collective memories.

Important note: This is not professional medical advice. Call your doctor if you are experiencing symptoms.

First published: April 4th, 2020:

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We made a full recovery after 18 months of Long-COVID symptoms. We went into full isolation in an empty AirBnB for a month once we were diagnosed. The “going outside” part meant walking out on an outdoor deck in a home, alone.