I had Covid-19 and survived – a mum’s story
CORONAVIRUS is continuing to spread across the UK – and many people have been wondering what it feels like to have Covid-19.
An NHS worker, who contracted the virus after her parents returned home from Italy in midFebruary, has spoken about its symptoms.
Laura Jacobs has opened up about what it is like living with the virus and how long she took to recover.
Laura, 31, said: “Since I am one of the first few ‘recovered’ Covid-19 patients in Wales, I feel like it’s important to share my story, especially with all of the current panic and unrest going on.
“My symptoms came from nowhere. I felt absolutely fine at work and then bang, all of the symptoms arrived at once.
“I had a high fever, shivers, intense aching pains in my back and neck, sore throat, painfully tight chest and fatigue.”
Laura and her husband, Matthew, were diagnosed with coronavirus after being tested at home on Monday, March 9.
Laura’s mother, Melissa Powell, was also diagnosed with Covid-19, but the couple’s two children, Ava, five, and Miles, 10 months, came back negative.
She told Wales Online: “I wanted people to see that you shouldn’t take it lightly but also that there’s so much negative stuff being reported in the media, I think people just want reassurance.
“My mum had been to Italy and went to an area that wasn’t infected at the time, there were no reported cases. They came back on Sunday, February 22, within three days my mum started showing symptoms and then I caught it off her.”
Laura has detailed her symptoms on Facebook, but she also spoke to WalesOnline a bit more about how she felt.
“I did feel really unwell, I’m healthy, I’ve never been really, really unwell to compare it.
“The worst was the fever for days, high temp shivers, horrible aching up my back and around my neck, you feel like you can’t move, exhausted.
“After the fever lifted, I started to feel a bit better in myself, it travelled down to my throat so I have a really sore throat and then I had a drier cough which I still have now. The fever is definitely the worst bit.”
However, husband Matthew was hit worse, as the 35-year-old has asthma and he developed viral pneumonia and was admitted to Morriston Hospital overnight.
“He is on the mend the past two days, he’s eating more,” she said, adding how the couple coped with having the family home in quarantine with two small children.
“The consultant advised us to isolate ourselves from the kids as much as possible, which is difficult as they are so young. But we just constantly wash hands before feeding and dressing them, antibaccing door handles, tables, remotes and avoiding hugs and kisses. Everything for Miles is sterilised anyway as he’s under one,” Laura said.
Laura said she has had lots of messages about children and hoped her post would show people the virus, for most people, wouldn’t leave them unwell for ever.
“I think people are just really frightened,” said Laura, who hopes she’ll be able to practically help those coming down with the virus when she is fully recovered.
“My consultant is quite confident that once you have had it once you won’t have it again,” said Laura. “I’m hoping I can help people now and we’re in quite a good position to help people out by dropping stuff off. And I work at Morriston Hospital. I don’t have face-to-face contact with patients, more of an admin role, but work as I know it is going to be suspended as of now.
“It might be nice for me to do more face-to-face contact as I can’t catch it off anyone,” she said.