Lo-Ann and husband, Jay, have been living in the UK for 17 years. Wishing to return home, they planned to arrive back on African soil on 21st April, but Covid-19 had other plans for them. They ‘got scuppered by the virus’.
Lo-Ann’s Covid-19 Diary
Friday, 10 April
It is Good Friday, and I am not feeling very good. I awoke with a cold today. I think it might have been a repercussion from my virtual farewell event last night. I took some painkillers and have had a restful day.
Sunday, 12 April
This weekend has remained the same, feeling like I have a heavy cold. I have a constant stuffy head and a horrid headache.
Monday, 13 April
It is Easter Monday and I still do not feel very well, but I am not too concerned. I do not feel that I have the typical Covid-19 symptoms that I see listed on the media. I also know that I have not been in contact with anyone prior to becoming unwell, as I work from home, so it cannot be the Covid-19 virus, surely?
Tuesday, 14 April
This morning I could not go into work. I am feeling really poorly, and have spent the day lying down, trying to drown out my ‘banging headache’. My entire body aches, especially my legs. Right in my bones. It feels like a vice is gripping my legs. It is so unpleasant.
Wednesday, 15 April
I woke up this morning, feeling so much better! With much relief, I jumped on to the tube to go to work. By this afternoon however, I knew I had made a mistake coming into the office. I am feeling awful again. I think it is a heavy cold, or possibly a mild flu virus.
Sunday, 19 April
I stayed home for the rest of last week, and it has only worsened this weekend. A dry and pressured cough has started in my chest. I also have a mild temperature.
Monday, 20 April
My body is experiencing an inordinate amount of pain. I am taking Paracetamol.
Wednesday, 22 April
My coughing was particularly bad last night, I coughed throughout the night. I am so tired. I am monitoring my temperature, which is mildly high. I am battling with nausea, and have not been able to eat anything today. My taste sensations seem to have changed overnight too. I cannot drink coffee today, nor stomach eating coleslaw, a favourite food of mine.
Thursday, 23 April
I cannot eat anything except dry toast.
Friday, 24 April
Hubby got me some rooibos tea this morning, for which I am grateful. It is the only drink I can stomach. I managed to eat some bland food today. I have been battling with nausea and dizziness, and cannot do anything except lie in bed. I am feeling so despondent.
Saturday, 25 April
Today we considered calling for medical help. My chest is incredibly tight and my cough is ever persistent. When will this stop?
Monday, 27 April
By the end of this weekend I started feeling better. The aching in my legs, my nausea and dizziness have subsided.
Like a trooper she had stuck it out.
All-in-all Lo-Ann was very unwell for about 10 days. Her taste sensations started getting better about 2 weeks later. She started drinking coffee again, and eating her favourite foods. Her taste buds are still not what they once were, and she wonders if this will be permanent. ‘It’s almost like the virus has changed my taste buds permanently’, she says. One of her favourite foods is coleslaw, and she is still unable to eat it.
Lo-Ann’s thoughts on Covid-19
Thinking back on how she might have contracted Covid-19, Lo-Ann realises she must have contracted it when she went to the supermarket for food, or from her husband, who works at the local hospital.
Lo-Ann works in the Health and Social sector, and has a front row seat in what the virus has done in England. She says it affects the most vulnerable. Generally, healthier people will get sick, but will not become so unwell that they need to be hospitalised, or even have a doctor monitor them. They might not need any medical intervention at all, just drink lots of fluids, manage the pain with Paracetamol, and rest.
‘If you contract Covid-19, the chances are you will be okay. I’m 41, I’m healthy, and I’m relatively fit,’ says Lo-Ann. ‘You will get through it. It will feel like a really bad flu. The acute body pain is not something much talked about in relation with Covid-19 symptoms, but happens a lot. And if you are lucky you will be like my husband who had no symptoms at all.’
Lo-Ann had a test done for antibodies, and it came back with a positive result. This confirms that she did have the Covid-19 virus. She is grateful that she now has the antibodies.
Where to now?
Lo-Ann and Jay currently sit in temporary accommodation in London, with all their worldly belongings waiting for them in Cape Town.
‘We decided to throw caution to the wind for a more outdoors, relaxed lifestyle in South Africa. We have been drawn back by family and the open, friendly and giving people of our land. It really doesn’t matter where you go in the world and how great your adoptive country is, in our bones we will always be Saffas, and there is no place like home.
We are waiting and praying for the borders to open so that we can get back to South Africa and start our new life, with our beloved Boxer, Amber. We are hoping for a September homecoming’ she says, with a smile.
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