It's been one week, and a couple of days, since I (Sarah) was released from the hospital. I have been trying to adjust to my new normal and I won't lie. It's been a struggle. Sometimes I feel almost like I did before I got sick. And others, I feel like I was hit by a semi truck. 

I am currently being followed by in home nursing and physical therapy. I have to take my vitals and check in on a tablet twice daily. I have a nurse come to the house once a week (twice this past week) and physical therapy once a week. This week, my "homework" from physical therapy was to get up and walk to another room once per hour. She didn't want me to overdo it by trying to do too much. Of course, that's not easy for me. I have that Protestant work ethic instilled in me that all activities must be productive and it is unaccounted to be idle. Well, I have a lot of idling to do and I am not enjoying it. 

Health-wise, I think I am getting better in some ways. I am still easily exhausted and feel fatigued almost all the time. My ribs hurt. A lot. I feel like I bruised them. And I have skin irritation, almost like a rash, where my ribs ache. Most of the pain is in my sternum and the lower right side. I also have skin irritation on my back and legs, but that may be from laying in bed with no ability to properly bathe for 2 weeks. 

I still get shortness of breath and my oxygen saturation is still low sometimes. Not below 90%, which would necessitate a return to the hospital, but it should be above 95% and it will drop below that if I have been trying to do too much or if I haven't used my rescue inhaler in too long. I have been using it prophylacticly to keep my airways open. 

I am on day 6 of 10 of prednisone. Every 2 days the dose is reduced and I have noticed more lung inflammation and pain in my ribs as the dosing has gone down. Today was harder than yesterday and yesterday was harder than Tuesday though Friday. I am hoping that the inflammation doesn't return to where I was last weekend, because that was rough. 

In the meantime, I am trying to find ways to stay busy without having to move around too much. I have some things to do, which were kindly sent to me by friends who saw my Amazon wishlist. I really want to go to the craft store, but my physical limitations are preventing that and our need to be financially cautious prevents me from sending someone else. 

The truly frustrating thing is that I was planning on spending November and December working on home improvement projects. Building and organizing and remodeling. The stark contrast between those plans and my current abilities is significant and discouraging.

I am used to being able to figure out how to do things and just doing them. I am used to being the stable one who has the answers and who other people look to for help. I'm not used to needing others or having others to rely on. I am used to being expected to do everything myself. It's been a huge adjustment to have no choice but to ask for help. 

I am thankful for the help I have received. I can't express my gratitude enough to those who have offered support and encouragement and financial help and sent things to help keep me from going insane from boredom. It has truly shown me that I am not alone in this, as isolated as I have been. 

Starting tomorrow, I plan to publish a series of posts that detail my experience from exposure to discharge from the hospital. I will put warnings on any posts that may be graphic or have uncomfortable content, but I don't want to exclude anything. I think it is important to share everything I experienced in the hopes that people realize how serious this virus is. 

Thank you again to everyone who continues to follow and share my experiences and offer encouragement and support. It helps to know that I am not going through this alone.