Local Update…8 More Breakthrough Cases

Two days ago I went to FastMed because I finally found a place that would give me an x-ray. Although one had been ordered by my doctor, I couldn’t find any facility that would perform one for a COVID-positive patient. ARA Imaging in Austin did have one location that would, but they closed that in February…you know, because the pandemic was over, right?

Back to the story. While I was at Fastmed, I was told by a nurse practitioner that she had already seen eight other breakthrough cases of COVID in the past two weeks. “Breakthrough cases” are those in vaccinated patients.

This is a small practice in a suburb of Lakeway, Texas. Not the whole city of Austin. According to the news, they are saying that these breakthrough cases are extremely rare. Based on the percentage of patients they see and the numbers of breakthrough cases she’s seen, I think they’re vastly undercounting. And nobody knows if these are the more contagious delta variant, because they’re not testing for it.

Day 11: Worrying for Two

I woke up feeling sort of okay. My cough has diminished, although it may pick up this afternoon. I coughed up some sticky white stuff, but weirdly, I’m thankful that I at least got something out of my chest. I slept on my stomach, which seems to help my breathing at night.

But something crossed my mind a few days ago that puts me in uncharted territory. I think this is because I never had kids, and never married until I was older…I’ve never been in a position where I’ve had to really worry about the health of a spouse.

I feel terrible that I most likely infected Bobby with COVID. Mine’s been bad, but his coughing is worse, and each cough hurts to the very core of my being.

But I think the most disconcerting thought for me is on the rare occasion I’ve left the house that I leave our outer gate unlocked…just in case an ambulance needs to get access to the house while I’m gone.

There’s a lot of guilt, here. It is something about COVID that makes it worse, which is the fact that you can be asymptomatic and still pass it to others. Before you know you have it, you could have put everyone else around you at risk. Here are some near-misses for me:

• I visited my dad five times in the hospital, and hugged him each time I left. I wore my mask, but he was maskless. My dad has tested negative with both PCR and rapid tests.

• On July 4th, I stopped by a neighbor’s Fourth of July party, attended by about a dozen people I don’t know. As it was winding down, I hung out in the kitchen with my neighbor, and a couple other guests. Everyone was maskless, including me. My neighbor and I sat outside on her patio and drank wine for an hour or so, and I hugged her when I left, even remarking how “normal” it felt. My neighbor has tested negative with a rapid test, and we’re monitoring for any symptoms.

• I went to an ear/nose/throat doctor’s appointment; three people in that office were maskless, including one of the doctors and an elderly man, but I wore mine. The doctor I worked directly with wore a mask.

• I went to a second doctor’s appointment later that afternoon with my husband. The doctor’s single office is housed within in a busy allergy practice. About twelve people in the waiting room—including three staff members—were not wearing masks. The sign on the door says if you’re vaccinated you don’t have to wear one, but where we live in Lakeway, I’d guess at least half of those people were not vaccinated. Bobby and I wore our masks to protect ourselves against THEM. I could have infected at least several in the room.

• I canceled several appointments the first week. I almost went to a hair appointment. I had started to feel sick, but thought it was a sinus infection. I mentioned it to my hairdresser, and he said he was comfortable if we were both wearing masks. I volunteered to double-mask. I ended up canceling about an hour before the appointment because I wasn’t feeling up to it. I’m so glad I did. I also canceled a massage appointment and physical therapy that same day.

I have not gotten any calls from a health department or the CDC about contact tracing, but I have called everyone and each place of business to notify them that they may have been exposed. I’m guessing not everyone does this.

I guess it underscores something for me. I don’t like wearing a mask, but the fact that I wore a mask last week probably saved others from getting COVID. I’ve had a couple of friends tell me that “masks don’t work.” But there was a meme early in this pandemic that showed two people wearing various combinations of masks…one or the other wearing a mask helped some. Both wearing a mask was the best.

And another thing I saw a couple of days ago said it was most important for someone sick with COVID to be wearing a mask. If there were two people in a room, one was sick with COVID, it was most important that that person be wearing the mask. Unfortunately, you can’t control others. So at this point, the best thing you can do is protect yourself and hope for the best.

DAY 10: Going for a New PCR Test

First of all, I’m still alive. I’m blessed that I’ve gotten a lot of messages of support, and because I was feeling pretty horrible, I haven’t had a chance to respond to them all. Thank you!

We are currently operating under the assumption that I have the “delta variant,” which is reportedly more contagious and possibly more severe. One medical professional I spoke with says that they believe it “it hits harder and faster” and your body doesn’t have a chance to make the antibodies you need to fight it off as well as if you were dealing with the “standard” version.

On the bright side, since I am vaccinated, all doctors have agreed that I am somewhat protected and if I weren’t vaccinated I might be hospitalized. I was vaccinated on February 25 and March 25, 2021 with the Moderna vaccine.

My better half, Bobby, has all the symptoms that I do, and in some ways he’s worse. He’s about three or four days behind me, which seems to indicate that he caught it from me after I returned from Croatia. However, there’s an interesting problem. After I was diagnosed with a PCR test “positive,” Bobby took a PCR test with the same lab.

Bobby was negative.

There is a possibility with COVID that if you test too early, it may not show up. But as Bobby’s symptoms got worse, he was “presumed positive” because of his exposure to a known positive case and the onset of the following symptoms:

• Shortness of breath

• Slightly elevated fever

• Hacking cough

• Fluid in his lungs

• Body aches

• Loss of taste and smell

• Sore throat

• Severe congestion with green crud

My symptoms have been essentially the same. I’ll write more a little later about the progression as I fill in this blog-style report that will hopefully understand what’s happened.

The CDC recommends that if you test positive, there’s really no reason to keep testing. I had heard early on that you’re supposed to test again towards the end, and that you’re considered “over” the infection when you test negative two more times. I’ve since learned that you can test positive up to 90 days after the onset of symptoms, even if you are considered recovered. I’ll add the references this afternoon, but your body will shed virus early in the infection that can replicate itself, and that’s why it can be passed to others. It depends on the severity of your infection, and whether you are immunocompromised. If you have a mild to moderate case, you are shedding virus that can replicate and infect others up until about ten days after your first symptoms. If you are immunocompromised, and your body is not able to fight the infection, it can be two to three weeks.

However, after that point, your body switches to shedding virus particles that are essentially dead, and they most likely cannot replicate themselves and infect others. It’s apparently very rare. But these virus particles are detectable with some COVID tests, but I’m guessing not the super-crappy Abbott BinaxNOW rapid test because it can’t detect ANYTHING.

Anyway, that’s why when we had to sign up to enter Croatia (or the EU), there were three criteria:

1. Negative COVID test within 72 hours of flight

2. Proof of recovery from COVID from a doctor

3. COVID vaccination

I’m heading out for a new PCR now…and today, I’m on Day 10, which means that I should be close to being over this. I probably don’t need another PCR test, but I just want to know if my original results were a fluke because Bobby tested negative.

So much unknown.