My Journey with Covid-19
If there was a t-shirt that said: “I made it through 4 years of the pandemic without getting Covid, only to get it in 2024 from my MOTHER,” I would buy that shirt because that is exactly what happened.
Photo Credit: Stephanie Mohan of Creative Portraiture, March 15, 2024
Photo Credit: Stephanie Mohan of Creative Portraiture, March 15, 2024
Photo Credit: Stephanie Mohan of Creative Portraiture, March 15, 2024
It’s strange how life and archetype work.
Unbeknownst to me on Friday, March 15, the day that I had this beautiful photoshoot with a few of my favorite wings in a burned down laundromat in Fairfax, I became contagious with Covid-19. It was also the day that my cousin died of a heart attack in his sleep. This triptych created by Stephanie Mohan, the incredible photographer, is emblematic of not only my journey with wing dancing and the healing arts, but of life, death and transformation.
Two days later, the disease began to form in my body with a horrible sore throat. I immediately took an at home antigen test that was negative, so I assumed I had RSV or the flu when a fever started by Monday afternoon and continued until the following Saturday, March 23rd when I went to Kaiser and got some medications for my allergic reaction to the coconut coating on Tylonel and took the PCR test, which came back with abnormal results and a positive Covid-19 ranking. My mom had postponed her visit to come see me by four days because she and my dad have been fighting different flus, and her antigen tests were also negative, so she assumed she didn’t have Covid too. When she got the PCR test a couple of days after my results came back, she was also positive for Covid. Since we’re both high risk, we had thought it would be the end of us if we got Covid. Thankfully, we were wrong! She’s been getting boosted, so she had no symptoms other than a cough, which is normal for her anyway.
I got many of the symptoms: sore throat for a week, body aches and pains all over, fever for 6 days of around 99-100 degrees, loss of taste and smell completely for 2 days, and coughing/runny nose/groaning/sneezing throughout. I was only able to get the 2 doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine because coconut is in PEGs, and they wouldn’t give me the other vaccines or boosters. Novavax came once to this area when I was moving into Serenity, and I missed the window to get that booster, so I’ve had a rougher time of it than others.
Still, I’m healing quickly and with more ease and comfort than you’d expect in large part because of my amazing community of fellow healers, coaches and intuitives who helped me come up with an impressive regime that’s getting me through it without it staying in my lungs. When I was younger through my early 30’s, I had chronic asthma and would get sick regularly with bronchitis that only the strongest steroid inhalers and shots of cortisone could cure. Since integrating my trauma and learning to hold my grief, I haven’t been sick with a cold/flu or had an asthma attack since before 2019. It’s been 5 years of good lung health, and I’m hoping to keep it that way.
*NOTE: Keep in mind, this is just what’s been working for me, and I’m not a doctor or healthcare professional. As a Transformative Coach, I urge my clients to trust their own intuition and ask questions of anyone who tries to tell them how to heal, so I’m doing just that: sharing what my intuition guided me to, and what I’ve been doing to heal effectively and relatively smoothly.
The first thing I did was ask my Tamalpa colleagues on our continuous thread what their home remedies are for lung stuff, as well as a few of my friends and colleagues who texted me about other matters. Here’s what we came up with:
Shannon Knorr, a Body & Soul Centered Somatic Movement Therapist, and Elsa Ng, a LMFT and crisis specialist, suggested Mullein extract, which I’ve been taking 1 mg 3x a day every day
Shannon also suggested 2-3 Oil of Oregano drops in water (which I already had on hand and use for other infections I have), and I have to say, I believe this is what is doing the most to battle the Covid for me. I instantly feel better when I take it, and I notice the difference when I don’t. I’ve been doing it every few days on the worse days, and it gives me an immediate boost. WARNING: Others don’t recommend it, but Shannon and I both like it. It is very strong, and it doesn’t work for every system. Mine responds to it well, and it’s good for fighting infections. When my system is acting up (i.e. violent coughing that won’t calm down), this settles it within minutes!
Elsa also suggested BetterLungs detox tea, which I bought and have not actually tried yet as it just came in the mail, and brought me fresh organic ginger to make garlic and ginger tea, which is a personal favorite of mine! And Samantha Williams-Gray, an indigenous artist and expressive arts facilitator, also suggested garlic, ginger, onion and lemon tea.
Kiersten Morgan, of Dancing Leaf Yoga & Body Work, suggested putting fresh garlic in my ears and ginger in my nose with a paper towel wrapped around them, which I did try in the first couple of days. It was refreshing and did open up my nostrils, but so does sniffing eucalyptus essential oil, a sinus blend of eucalyptus, rosemary, pine & peppermint, and Green Goo’s Free to Breathe salve blend of lavender, rosemary and eucalyptus specifically for coughing/congestion and flu/colds! I do some mixture of the oils and salve a few times every day.
Allison Fitzmaurice, a RN, suggested Vitamin D, which I’ve been taking daily as well!
Andrea Devaux, a film director, author and speaking coach, suggested all of these wonderful tips, and provided a lot of moral support and check-ins throughout!
Tylonel was the only way I could get through the 6 fever days, and the 2 days I had to spend without it were the roughest and worst of my entire journey through Covid. The first was early on because I don’t use it, so I didn’t have any. The second was after I got a rash in my belly button and down through my lower belly, as well as some sporadic hives on my chest because they don’t make it easy to find the inactive ingredients, 3 of which are coconut-based. It was too painful without it, so I did more research and found that they make adult dissolvable powder packs and ordered some. The stores had the kid dissolvables, and I managed to get through the last day of my fever with those!
Kaiser gave me a prescription for hydroxyzine, which has been what helps me through my allergic reactions in the past, and it’s also a histamine, so taking that at night and Claritin during the day has also been helping to keep my congestion manageable. I also have clobetasol cream for the rash, and also use lavender essential oil when it’s particularly acting up, but by now it’s finally beginning to fade and clear up altogether.
Christina Gerber, an intuitive and medium Crystalline Channel, suggested this binaural beat to regain my taste and smell, which I did for a few hours and could feel exactly where the infection was being worked through at different points throughout it. I did regain faint taste and smell the next day and within a few days have regained these senses pretty much completely!
My mother, new friends Mary O’Brien, a Restorative and Transformational Health Coach, Danielle Hougard, a Sensuality Coach, Suzanna Gratz, a publicist and website expert, and the entire BNI Network Central chapter have offered me lots of emotional support and check-ins during the last two weeks. Many others have also sent messages wishing me well and asking how I am, which I so appreciate!
Diane Seuss, my first poetry mentor, teacher and friend, sent me Stanley Plum’s article “Autobiography and Archetype” from After Confession: Poetry as Autobiography as well as fed my soul in her City Light Books’ Zoom reading of her new book Modern Poetry with Gail Wronsky!
And I’ve been popping Ricola’s caramel & honey throat balms like candy — and they were the only thing I could consistently taste when I lost my tasting sense!!! They’re that strong. . .and tasty.
I’ve also returned to Pressed juices, which were a daily staple for me when I lived in Walnut Creek, but I hadn’t been to the one in the Marin Country Mart yet. I started ordering from DoorDash again because it was too cumbersome and tiring to juice myself, and I don’t have enough different fruits to get the tastes I like anyway. I have to say, I enjoy them just as much as I used to and will be making them a regular staple again! I did do an OJ with an old orange from Elsa, oil of oregano and some sparkling lemonade that was decent though with my juicer.
I have learned that healing really does take a village! Even though I have been quarantining for the full 2 weeks since my first symptoms (and will continue to do so through this coming Sunday), I haven’t felt alone or isolated aside from the 2 days I felt the worst and did not want to talk to people and mostly slept through them anyway. But even on those days, my little Kiki cat was there giving me comfort, cuddling into the nooks and crannies of my body, and sticking her face in my face to check on me.
My journey through Covid has reminded me that when I started to deeply immerse myself in inner healing work in 2016, my life was like that triptych at the beginning of this post—lived in black and white because I hadn’t learned to create community and connect to people, my body, or myself in real ways. Slowly, the color crept back in—faintly and lightly at first, but then in true bold colors!
