Surviving Covid, Part 2

Today marks a month since I became ill. The first week was spent at home in bed, expecting my symptoms would act like the flu and go away in a few days. I think I was too ill to realize how ill I was. The second two weeks were spent in the hospital. And this last week has been spent recovering at home. I have been so blessed with friends and neighbors checking on me, bringing me food, and running some important errands.

I received some feedback from my first article about my experience with the virus. It was meant to let people know that this is real and how important it is to take precautions. Several people said it was terrifying. I would like to share some reasons why I suspect I might have caught it and had such a bad bout in hopes to alleviate some of that fear I caused.

My age of 75 is one factor. The majority of us who become ill are in my age bracket. I have A type blood, which has been shown to be one of the blood types that increases susceptibility. Another factor is my health history. I was born a red head who inherited allergies from my red-headed grandmother. I was a sickly baby, child, and young adult. I had eczema as an infant. I was allergic to cow’s milk and was given goat’s milk after mother stopped nursing. I had asthma until I was in my teens. Then I had hay fever as a young adult. I had Shingles when I was about 13 years old. In my 40’s I contracted Epstein Barr Virus which became Chronic Fatigue for 2 years. During this time I was hospitalized with pneumonia.

In recent years I discovered that I have a genetic predisposition to chronic illness called MTHFR. About 40% of our population has this. We have a problem with methylation and don’t detoxify like most other people. We need to take folate instead of folic acid and methylated B12 plus some other supplements that help us detoxify normally.

I tend to be a workaholic (at least up until now.) From what I have studied, this tendency is related to my childhood. I grew up in an alcoholic home ( both parents. ) We didn’t receive a lot of emotional nourishment. I became an over-achiever.

While all of these factors have made me a good healer, they have not encouraged me to take as good care of myself as others. Over the years I have become much better at self-care. I do watch my diet and take my supplements. The doctors at the hospital were impressed that I am was not taking any regular medications. They said that they attributed my survival of Covid to my good health in general.

But obviously this is a turning point in my life. I am listening. When I return to the office, it will be with a much lighter schedule. There is a lot I want to share, and I will be moving more into the direction of education. None of this is going to happen until my body/mind tells me I am ready.

I had read somewhere that throughout history viruses have contributed to our human evolution. It will be interesting to see how our collective experience with this one unfolds.