Rough Start Back at Work

My first week back at work was a little rough. I was exhausted at the end of each night and went to bed at pretty much the same time as Elliott did. After that first week things started to get a little easier and we began to find a routine. Supper wasn’t as much of a problem as I thought it was going to be, but we have been eating takeout a lot more than before.

Elliott didn’t have any problems adjusting to the Day Home. I think he enjoys going. There are always kids there to play with since the owner has a son of her own, just a little bit older than mine. But he did catch a cold after his first day there. And then he gave his cold to me and his dad.

So on my second or third week back at work I had a cough and hot/cold flashes (which was probably actually a fever). I was coughing so much that my back and sides were sore and it made it hard to sleep. After about two weeks of that I finally started to feel better on a Saturday. I started cleaning and disinfecting the house and was feeling happy that I was getting better.

Then the next day on Sunday I woke up feeling like death. This is T.M.I. but, I had diarrhea and was throwing up. I threw up at 5:30 am which of course is when Elliott decided to wake up. I started making breakfast for us around 7 am and could barely stand without feeling like I was going to be sick. I had to throw up again in the sink.

I spent most of the day sitting in my chair with my eyes closed because I was exhausted. Thankfully Elliott was happy to entertain himself for most of the day. When he went down for his nap, so did I. When we woke up from our nap around 11 am, I got sick again.

Thankfully my boyfriend was able to come home at 2 pm instead of 6:30 pm. As soon as he was home I went to bed and pretty much stayed there for the rest of the night, getting up once to throw up for a fourth time. This was so unusual for me because I never throw up.

My coughing and my sore body made it pretty hard to sleep so I tossed and turned most of the night. I spent much of Monday sleeping as well. Tuesday morning I felt so terrible that I decided to go to the doctor to see if he could help me. My sides and back were in so much pain that I was hoping he could recommend something to help.

The doctor told me there were two viruses going around and it sounded like I had caught one after the other. He said there wasn’t really anything he could do for the cough but did give me a prescription for cough medicine to help me sleep (which didn’t help at all). He also said I had a low fever, which my home thermometer didn’t pick up. He told me I should be taking Advil or Tylenol so I went out and bought both, as well as cough drops, honey tea, and anything else I thought might help.

I started taking Advil and was surprised that it actually helped calm my cough. I lived off Advil for the next two or more weeks. At night I was up blowing my nose every few hours and I couldn’t lay on my back without having a coughing fit. This was the worst cold I remember ever having, and in hindsight wonder if it could have been the Coronavirus which was just starting to enter Canada (I don’t think it was).

My family and I were finally better around the first week of March and I was happy to get back to working without feeling terrible and actually getting some stuff done.

At this point, Coronavirus had started taking it’s hold on the world. At the store we started slowing down and we were unsure about what was going to happen next. We were waiting to see if we were going to close to the public. But then we got some bad news from head office (more on that in the coming months).

As things progressed, the store was slowly closed to the public and sales were dying. They decided to temporarily layoff everyone in my store except for the manager. I’ve now been home for a week taking care of my son while we wait to see when things settle down.