What I Learned When My Husband Got
Sick With Coronavirus
New York Times,
by
Jessica Lustig
Original Article
Posted By: earlybird,
3/25/2020 11:39:24 AM
“How are you doing, love?” I call to my husband from the living-room floor, where I now sleep each night on a roll-up foam sleeping pad that my daughter has used on camping trips, topped with a couple of thin blankets. (Snip)My husband, a tall, robust 56-year-old who regularly goes — who regularly went — on five-hour bike rides from our Brooklyn neighborhood to Jamaica Bay in Queens and back, has been lying on his back, staring at the ceiling, or curled on his side, wearing the same pajama bottoms for days because it is too hard to change out of them, too hard to stay that long
Reply 1 - Posted by:
voxpopuli 3/25/2020 12:02:13 PM (No. 357543)
i can't relate to an nyt writer or a husband who goes..
"..on five-hour bike rides from our Brooklyn neighborhood to Jamaica Bay in Queens and back,"
for some reason i think she and her communist rag and her communist mayor
and the communists she's voted for for 40 years are
responsible for a lot of this..
hopefully, another reader will tell me she's a devout Amish Republican voter..
then i would be more sympathetic..
27 people like this.
Reply 2 - Posted by:
JackBurton 3/25/2020 12:04:50 PM (No. 357547)
It is true that no subscription is required, but they do want your email and I, for one, will not give them that.
Laura Inghram (sp) had a man on who was cured with azithro/chloro (that name is too doggone long). But he was sick for over a week by the time the regimen was started, and it was ONLY started because he demanded it and jumped thru SEVERAL hoops to get it. But cured he was.
I can imagine a time, soon, when one is diagnosed at the first runny nose or headache or cough and is sent home with the drugs. One week sequestration.
I remember a time about three decades back when an acquaintance was woe-is-me complaining about getting a shot, having to take a course of drugs, and having to stay home a week for pneumonia. Pneumonia, I thought, and it's being cured? And with so little drama (aside from the friend). What marvellous times these are.
And soon will be.
22 people like this.
Reply 3 - Posted by:
LadyHen 3/25/2020 12:32:16 PM (No. 357583)
It sounds horrible for this poor family. I do wonder though.... if they had been breathing the same air touching the same surfaces, kissing, hugging, etc... they have ALL been exposed. Horse is out of the barn. This social distancing to this degree INSIDE a household under quarantine serves no other purpose than stressing an already stressed family.
14 people like this.
Reply 4 - Posted by:
MissGrits 3/25/2020 12:40:21 PM (No. 357601)
I imagine it is awful. But last time
I had the flu, I missed 5 days of work and thought I would have to die to get better. There were no stories. I stayed home til I got well!
25 people like this.
Reply 5 - Posted by:
DCGIRL 3/25/2020 12:53:04 PM (No. 357633)
Can't believe anyone is as stupid as Jessica. This is overkill. This woman is acting is as if her husband has ebola not a virus.
14 people like this.
Reply 6 - Posted by:
chillijilli 3/25/2020 1:00:21 PM (No. 357644)
A powerful, poignant piece. I don't care where it's from. Thanks, OP.
8 people like this.
Reply 7 - Posted by:
jimincalif 3/25/2020 1:09:40 PM (No. 357657)
Yes a sobering view into the illness. What we don't know - how representative is this is? Just like people poo-pooing the efficacy of anti-malarial drugs because the only known results are anecdotal, so too is this a single anecdote. If everyone who contracts this will get as sick as "T", then these extreme measures may be warranted. But there are also anecdotes of people feeling like they just had a cold. We need good data.
8 people like this.
Reply 8 - Posted by:
cold porridge 3/25/2020 1:25:43 PM (No. 357677)
I've known people, my father for one, that act as if they are going to die when they get a cold. I think this is a NYT article to scare more people. If not, then demand to take the hydrochloroquine treatment.
13 people like this.
Reply 9 - Posted by:
NorthernDog 3/25/2020 1:45:59 PM (No. 357704)
For some reason the virus hits men more than women. And he is asthmatic, which apparently contributes to his misery.
8 people like this.
Reply 10 - Posted by:
Maggie2u 3/25/2020 2:24:39 PM (No. 357760)
Poster #8, my husband is like that also. He has never had just a cold. It's always the worst cold in the history of the world. I call it the cancer cold.
After reading this article though, I'm going to go clean my bedroom. Sweep, dust, maybe mop the floor.
4 people like this.
Reply 11 - Posted by:
DynomiteThings 3/25/2020 2:34:01 PM (No. 357773)
After reading the article, my first thought (as someone with severe asthma who been hospitalized for pneumonia in the past), was...why was this man not put on antibiotics sooner?!
It's a heart-wrenching article and frankly, was a bit difficult to read due to what the kids might refer to as "triggers" for me personally. I know what it's like to struggle for breath. I know what it's like to be reduced to panting when trying to change your pajamas. Or get up to go to the bathroom. Forget trying to shower or even bathe, that's just not possible.
That's why this particular virus scares me. It seems to have a very sudden onset even for those who are not compromised health-wise.
Please be safe out there, my fellow L-Dotters. I enjoy reading your posts here, I enjoy reading your opinions and insight and would hate for any of you to fall ill. I'll be praying for us all
17 people like this.
Reply 12 - Posted by:
Michaelus 3/25/2020 3:32:06 PM (No. 357834)
So what exactly did she learn? I cannot read stuff like this so I scanned it for useable information. Is she infected? Has she or the daughter been tested? How did "T" get the virus? Isn't ibuprofen not advised for Covid 19? Is "T" on anything else? Does she have a pulse oximeter to monitor his lung function? So much weird, self absorbed, pseudo-literate musing, so little information.
4 people like this.
Reply 13 - Posted by:
earlybird 3/25/2020 5:00:55 PM (No. 357925)
I don’t understand the hostility toward this woman. She is a wife and mother. Forget about her employment.
One poster mentions antibiotic, questioning why he was not put on it sooner. Coronavirus is a virus. Antibiotics are antibacterials. The antibiotic Azithromycin has been given WITH chloroquine. The Azithromycin would take care of any bacterial infection accompanying the virus, prevent pneumonia or treat it if present.
Another talked about what they thought was the futility of limiting her and her teenaged daughter’s exposure to Dad’s serious infection. That is just plain common sense. Best not to wipe out the caregivers with a concentration of viral exposusre.
Someone else asked about a pulse oximeter - it measures the oxygen level in the blood. They have one, brought to them from the drugstore by a friend. This man’s doctor has told them that as long as he is registering OK on that and not having difficulty breathing, he’ll stay home. Always a better idea. If his breathing becomes labored, he will be admitted to hospital.
All of this was in the article.
We don’t have any idea what this woman’s politics are. The vitriol is misplaced, in my opinion. I would prefer to take care of my karma by tamping down any desire to throw stones at this difficult time...
8 people like this.
Reply 14 - Posted by:
earlybird 3/25/2020 5:09:34 PM (No. 357928)
Re one more question on the thread, about COVID-19 and ibuprofen:
Dr. Otto O. Yang, a professor of medicine in the infectious diseases division at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA, told Healthline there’s no evidence that ibuprofen causes worsening of COVID-19, “although there is circulating misinformation to that effect.”
https://www.healthline.com/health-news/what-to-know-about-ibuprofen-and-covid-19
It is very important to knock down a high fever, especially one that is spiking in an adult. Important to get them down and pronto. Ibuprofen and Tylenol can be taken together. That is what this man’s doctor told him to do.
4 people like this.
Reply 15 - Posted by:
YorkieMom 3/25/2020 6:17:51 PM (No. 358000)
My goodness, this is the scariest thing I’ve read about someone having this horrible virus. There was an article in our paper today about the first death in NV from this terrible virus. He was a single 69 year old man who also was diabetic. He suffered terribly before he died. I would not wish this on anyone. Thanks for posting OP.
2 people like this.
Reply 16 - Posted by:
Lucky5 3/25/2020 9:10:15 PM (No. 358077)
So he is actively sick and they walk three blocks to the clinic and people are all around them? Then people are in the clinic waiting and going in and out.
Have all those people have been exposed to an active case? I guess they do not consider it an airborne illness? I truly feel for them. I am just asking. I am confused as to how to avoid any exposure by people who are actively sick like this. Also apparently symptoms do not show up for 5 days right?
2 people like this.
Reply 17 - Posted by:
earlybird 3/25/2020 9:27:27 PM (No. 358084)
Doctors don’t make house calls. They apparently had to walk 3 blocks to their clinic. He wore a mask. Although she is not ill,and there is no mention of her having had a positive test, she was given a mask upon arrival at the clinic.
2 people like this.
Reply 18 - Posted by:
earlybird 3/25/2020 9:30:13 PM (No. 358087)
(hit submit too soon)
It is now believed that it takes more than brief, incidental contact or propinquity to spread the disease. Rather, they believe that longer, close contact is much more likely. They have also pulled back on any notion that it is airborne or hangs in the air, although a sneeze or juicy cough at close range might do...
1 person likes this.
I would not wish this on anyone. Thank goodness he has a wife to take care of him. You have to wonder if living in apartments and condos with a combined AC system if it gets into the air conditioning.
1 person likes this.
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Comments:
Lustig is deputy editor of the NYT Magazine. This is quite a report. A first person report on what it is like to have the virus and what it is like for the family that lives with a COVID-19 patient, who must be kept tightly quarantined. My opinion? I’m afraid that most would not maintain - are not maintaining - the strict protocol as this woman and her family are doing. I can see some letting it slip... The NYT is making some coronavirus articles free. No subscription required