‘I WAS BEGGING FOR THE AFTERLIFE’

Gold Coasters who have caught and seen off Covid recount their experience with the virus which has plagued our lives for two years – ranging from ‘strange’ to leaving one ‘begging for the afterlife’.

IT was the moment Queensland health officials and politicians had long warned residents about – Covid had been unleased on the Sunshine State. The festive season had already kicked off and many unsuspecting workers logged off for the year to enjoy another stellar Gold Coast summer. Instead, plans to catch up with loved ones were thrown into turmoil, interstate travel was reconsidered or even sinking a few cold ones at the pub seemed off-putting.

Covid – the virus Queenslanders had all but been shielded from for two years – was making its way through the city like a tourist exploring Surfers Paradise for their first time.

The Bulletin spoke with some Gold Coasters – vaccinated and unvaccinated – struck down by the virus in that time, sharing in detail their sometimes frightening ordeal.

Here are their stories, as told by them.

You would walk to the kitchen – and you would feel tired MICHAEL GATENBY

TARA MUHLENBECK, COSMETIC NURSE

Dealing with Covid was an interesting time to say the least.

My symptoms started slow on day one, it was mostly coughing and fatigue that I struggled at first with – but that all escalated pretty quickly.

I’d previously heard of cases where people had struggled to breathe while battling the virus, but never did I think I would be one of those people.

I’m double vaxxed, young – just 30 years old – and live a relatively active and healthy lifestyle.

Without doubt, the scariest thing about my ordeal was the shortness of breath, which I experienced for about two to three days.

I couldn’t speak a whole sentence without gasping for air. Walking from the bed to the bathroom exhausted me. I couldn’t lay on my back because it felt like it crushed my chest.

Those first few days were my lowest and I was mainly laying on my side, doing nothing other than focusing on taking slow regular breaths. I’ve truly never experienced anything like it.

The entire ordeal was only made worse when, like so many others, I was turned away from multiple testing clinics across the Coast.

Luckily, I’m over the worst of it. The breathing issues lasted three days but overall my symptoms – much more bearable in comparison – remained for about 10.

It was the lingering flu-like symptoms like coughing, congestion, chills, sweating, body and headaches and major fatigue. I still get knocked over by the fatigue some days while performing even the most mundane task.

The persistent cough made sleeping difficult and I’d often wake up in a pool of sweat, dreaming of the time when I would feel like my old self again.

CAMPBELL MACCALLUM, MOLONEY MACCALLUM LAWYERS DIRECTOR

I’m fully vaccinated. I had first jab in July, the second one in August and then my booster on December 27.

But it was only a few days later, on December 30, that I started to cough and get a bit of a sore throat, so as per health advice I started isolating.

I took a rapid antigen test which I got from my sister and that came up positive.

About three days into it my throat was so sore that I couldn’t eat or drink and I was coughing that bad at night that I couldn’t sleep.

A concerned family member called an ambulance and it took them about 13 hours to get there – but when they did show I was told I’d just have to ride out the storm. I was begging for the afterlife for at least two days.

My symptoms were bad for about three days before they turned mild for the four days after.

I ended up isolating for about 10 days because I had two young nieces and nephews.

It took a good number of days to feel somewhat back to my old self, and that was being vaccinated and having the booster vax as well.

I passed the time by watching every available Netflix series – that’s all you can do.

The fatigue was the first thing I felt and just because we were all hyper-vigilant about getting it. You feel very lethargic during the day and then you find it difficult to sleep at night.

I just can’t imagine what it like would be without the vaccination.

KYLE WISNIEWSKI

Christmas night I was hit with hot flushes, cold shivers and aches along my body.

After hours of agony I finally got to sleep. I woke up on Boxing Day with a sore throat, headache and a rough cough.

I got tested the next day and I was notified I had tested positive for Covid.

In my week of isolation, the time I was required to separate from others went from 14 days to 10 if a Queensland Health practitioner said I was Covid-free, then seven days with a negative RAT test result and finally seven days with three days without symptoms.

All of these changes occurred without Queensland Health contacting me once.

If it wasn’t for me filling in the time between hallway cricket and table tennis against my roommate with constant checking of the Queensland government’s website and reading news articles I would be none the wiser of when I was allowed free.

I rang Gold Coast Health on December 28 to ask about my timeline but was told I’d be contacted when they got to my name on the list. That never happened.

I was able to treat myself with Panadol and extra vitamins, but having said that, if some older members of my family or some people I know who have health risks had what I had on day one, I’d be worried.

My symptoms cleared pretty early on luckily. I was eventually feeling fully recovered by the 29th of December.

So I walked free on day eight, still with no contact from Queensland Health or Gold Coast Health.

AMY SZEPANOWSKI

Her younger sister Chloe made headlines last year for flouting mandatory mask rules, while another sister Kate has previously claimed Covid vaccines were “poison”.

But earlier this month Amy revealed to her

Instagram followers that she had been suffering from “flu symptoms” and would be taking a rapid antigen test to confirm if she had coronavirus.

Her symptoms included fever, body aches, headache as well as ear and throat pain.

She did share her tips for getting over the “sickness”, which included “staying positive”, drinking teas and soups with “lots of garlic and spices”, “taking vitamins” and “changing my pillow case each day”.

Amy initially predicted she would get over the illness quickly as she remembered “feeling this way in primary school and it would go away in a day or two”.

But the influencer later shared she was “feeling worse” by day three of her illness, which prompted her to take the rapid antigen test.

KEITH WOODS

It’s my peculiar lot in life to put experiences into words.

But I’m not sure the correct terms exist to describe some of the symptoms I experienced with Covid.

They weren’t overly alarming. There was no sense of panic or distress. But, for me, they were, well, just weird.

On Monday, no sooner had I finished writing a column about my nine-year-old daughter catching Covid, I started feeling deeply unwell myself. I had no cough or headache, but a fogginess in my head. That fogginess had lingered in the background all day. Now it became overwhelming. It travelled through my body. I made my way to bed and conked out.

The next day I wasn’t right at all. Covid robbed me of a proud boast – I called in sick to work for the first time in my 25-year career.

When I stood up out of bed, I felt weak. I had the weirdest sensation in the legs below my knees, such that I felt I might buckle over if I stood for too long. My chest felt a little sore and tight and a cough finally developed.

As I mentioned, I never usually get sick. I don’t have a good frame of reference. But this was not how I understand the flu to be, having seen it in other family members.

I had pneumonia as a child. The memories have dimmed, but it reminded me of that time.

But, ultimately, so many of my Covid symptoms seemed unique. They didn’t all come at once – more one after the other – except for the fogginess that even now slightly lingers.

It was a strange, unsettling experience. But by Wednesday I felt a million times better.

How would I describe the main symptoms I felt? I’m not sure the words exist that properly describe them.

A concerned family member called an ambulance. It took 13 hours CAMPBELL MACCALLUM

I was hit with hot flushes, cold shivers and aches along my body KYLE WISNIEWSKI

I couldn’t speak a whole sentence without gasping for air. Felt like it crushed my chest TARA MUHLENBECK

Prayed a few times. I thought there was a chance I was going to die in my sleep

JOHN WAYNE PARR

JOHN WAYNE PARR

Professional fighter John Wayne Parr was unvaccinated against Covid-19 when he was struck down with the virus last month, admitting he thought the virus would kill him.

The Muay Thai legend took to social media last Friday in what was intended to be an “educational” post that ultimately divided his 387,000 followers.

Mr Parr – who has faced off against some of the world’s toughest – said he believed the virus would kill him after suffering severe heart inflammation.

He suffered typical symptoms – cough, fever, and body aches – that started in the days leading up to New Year’s Eve, likening the “insane pain” to being “hit by a car”.

“But what got me worried was the heart pain,” he said.

By the third day most symptoms had disappeared but the pain in his chest remained.

“I seriously prayed a few times as I thought there was a chance I was going to die in my sleep,” Mr Parr recalled.

“Decided better go hospital day three because if something went wrong, I didn’t want family wouldn’t find my body.

“After testing positive at one hospital, I had to be transported by ambulance to our bigger hospital that has a Covid ward.

“My heart rate was still only sitting 45-50 beats per minute, so it wasn’t jumping out of my chest. But it felt more like it was cramping and I couldn’t rub it out.

“After four days in hospital I still had heart pain, but all my tests come back perfect.

“Doctors allowed me to go home with ibuprofen to help settle the heart inflammation.”

He did not say whether he was still opposed to the vaccine or if he would reconsider getting the jab in light of his scary experience.

“I know people messed up from the vaccine also, so I have no opinion. Whole thing sucks,” Mr Parr told one follower.“Damned if you do, damned if you don’t.”

Early I recalled feeling this way in primary school and it’d go away in a day or two AMY SZEPANOWSKI

The virus travelled through my body. I made my way to bed and conked out

KEITH WOODS

MICHAEL GATENBY, GATENBY CRIMINAL LAWYERS DIRECTOR

I became ill after a New Year’s party. I had that shortness of breath. I went to put some clothes in my drawer and I was breathless after that.

It was really, I don’t know what the word is, I did seem quite serious. I was really fatigued. I slept most of the time. I had the tickly cough. But it was that shortness of breath and the fatigue that was pretty concerning. I have never experienced breathlessness like that before.

You’re really, really tired. Some mornings you would sort of wake up and think, ‘I’m not bad this morning’, and an hour later you would fall asleep just feeling dreadful.

You’d walk to the kitchen and you would feel tired. I had that night sweats sort of thing. It was quite strange, I’ve got to say. The flip side is my wife was fairly asymptomatic – she had the cough but none of the other symptoms.

I was due for my booster but I hadn’t had it. You can’t do anything. That was the thing. I thought, ‘I’m isolating, I’ll be able to do something’.

Yesterday was the first day I’ve done any work. You are so tired. You don’t read books, you don’t do those things you would normally do. I didn’t play on the phone. I was just so tired.

The bizarre thing is sometimes you would wake up and you wouldn’t feel too bad and it wouldn’t take long and you would be s--- again.