Who here has had a serious respiratory infection/issue?

I had pneumonia when I was a child. Too young to remember. It kills quite a few kids though so I'm sure my parents were a little worried. Not that I ever got hospitalized but I had a good bout of it.

My stepmom had a bad case of pneumonia for like a month starting in February. Never got tested for corona.

I had pneumonia last year for 2 weeks. Probably the most sick I've ever been. High fever. Sweating and chills. Bad Cough. Shortness of breath. Fever dreams that made me afraid to sleep.

Overall pretty bad, but didn't have to go to the hospital and was treated with a z pac and another antibiotic. Took me about a month for my lungs to feel back to normal

I've not had any issues, but my wife has had enough for the two of us. 1. She has asthma, usually mild, but about once every two or three years she has needed to go to the hospital for a breathing treatment, because neither of her medications was helping. 2. She has second-time-around Stage 4 breast cancer which metastacized to her lungs primarily, plus her hipbones and spine. Chemo infusions for four months and a year of a drug regime have apparently kicked it out of her bones and shrunk the tumors in her lungs by at least 2/3. Her cancer this time was discovered when she went to the ER thinking that she either needed a breathing treatment or might have walking pneumonia. Tests indicated she had about as much lung capacity at the time as a two-year-old. And she's a 6-foot amazon. 3. As a side effect of some of her drugs, she has struggled on occasion with pleural effusions, where liquid has built up not in the lungs but in the tissue surrounding the lungs, making it difficult for her to breathe except very shallowly. They tapped her once, like a maple tree, and drew off one full liter of fluid from one lung sac, and 3/4 of a liter from the other.

There have been times in the past 18 months where I was worried that I might not be able to drive fast enough to the hospital eleven miles away in time to save her if her condition grew any worse. But we only had to go once, in a blinding snowstorm in subzero temps, but we were able to drive at a reasonably safe speed because we had decided to not wait until it was a full on emergency even though she was coughing up some blood, and then we were blessed to be able to follow the flashing lights of a snow plow almost the whole way. But I've laid awake many nights next to her with my hand on her ribcage, listening to her and feeling her trying to get even a tiny breath in her sleep. That's fortunately in the past for us now, but the memories are still fresh.

We both are quite well aware that if she gets Covid-19, she's not likely to leave the hospital except toes up. She's been practicing social distancing for a year and a half. It's a lot harder for me, an extrovert who can't sit still very well, but she's been training me.

I had Pneumonia once as kid

cat allergies.... after sitting in the cabin of a Ford F150 with a bunch of kittens

next day I almost died walking home from school

I was diagnosed with a stage 4 laryngeal cancer in January.  I'm currently in my 5th week of chemorad. It's been a life changing experience, especially with the COVID19 pandemic happening simultaneously.

God speed. Good health. 

GO BLUE!

I think me and my neighbors have herd immunity.  I had a nagging cough for 4 weeks in Dec/Jan then my 5 yr old son missed 5 straight days of school with a fever and bad cough in early Feb. The neighbor friends I hang with a lot had similar stories in that timeframe with one guy having a business trip in Seattle.  I really think our group had it a few months ago and now we good.

I've only had bad flu and food poisoning, and it was so fucking terrible I wouldn't wish it on my enemies.

If all this quarantine means I don't have to go through that again, I'm great.

So I had respiratory issue starting in early February that I really can't decide whether was Covid-19 or not. I'm assuming it wasn't, for the safety of those around me, but I don't think I've ever had an experience like that.  Maybe I should just break the symptoms down for you all:

Pro-Covid-19:

1. It clearly started in the throat. Which is not uncommon for respiratory ailments, but consistent with what we know about the Coronovirus. (and FYI, I had a flu shot this year too)

2. Probably the worst cough I've ever had. Mostly dry and persistent. At one point I coughed so hard I vomited

3. I experienced prolonged shortness of breath. It never got really severe, I was even able to engage in moderate exercise, but it definitely sapped my strength. I have never experienced that outside of the worst days of the flu. 

4. I couldn't smell or taste for a prolonged period of time. Like at a certain point, it just seemed to shut off. It was weird. 

5. Symptoms started after the virus arrived in the United States. Michigan appears to have been a hotspot so it's not impossible I caught an early case of it.

Anti-Covid-19:

1. The early morning cough was very phlegmy. I spent a good half hour every morning hacking up green stuff

2. I never felt feverish or otherwise hot. Taking my temperature never came to my mind because I assumed I just had a cold or a sinus infection.

3. I had heavy nasal congestion for the last two-thirds of my sickness. That absolutely could have contributed to my lack of smell/taste. 

4. The virus appears to have been in very limited circulation in America when I started experiencing my symptoms. I easily could have had a cold or maybe a mild flu. 

So...yeah. My default assumption is that I had a nasty upper respiratory tract infection, but the symptoms I experienced were strange.  I was basically sick for a full month, which is longer than I have ever been sick from a cold or flu.  Three years ago, I caught a flu bug that knocked me on my ass, but the whole thing was over, beginning to end, in 10 days.

One of my daughters was hospitalized for a week with breathing trouble from a respiratory infection several years ago.  I'm especially wary of SARS-2.

Grew up with asthma so its always been a concern but it wasn't until a few years ago when I got pneumonia that I realised just how terrifying breathing issues can be. It started with just a few days of a dry cough that I assumed with asthma/allergy related. But it got worse and worse and then it became hard to breathe. When the paramedics came and took my vitals I could tell they were concerned..which only added to mine. 

Only the second time in my life I was transported in an ambulance and that only added to the seriousness and fear.

It took me several days in the hospital to get well enough to go home. 

There is nothing comparable to gasping for air to sustain your own life. Nothing. So I share your feeling when I hear people downplay the likelihood of death for Covid. Its not JUST the death its the inching closer to it one short and painful breath at a time that is the real concern for me. That and the idea of not being able to take visits from anyone close to me during the fight. Fighting for your life whilst surrounded by strangers, chaos and dying/death. That has to be horrific. 

I grew up in Michigan but live in London. I was damn fortunate to have had that experience here as it did not cost me a dime. No co-pay, no out of pocket. Nothing. Not even for the ambulance. My one other ambulance ride to a hospital was in San Francisco a number of years prior and it along with the hospital stay and treatment nearly bankrupted me. 

So, I also feel for all those people going through that fight to survive in the U.S. only to come out of it with a massive medical bill on top of it. 

I had pneumonia as an infant, but obviously no memory of that. Had whooping cough sophomore year of college. It was debilitating but not hospitalization-worthy for six weeks. It sucked.

I have bad asthma, five or so years ago I had to teach myself to belly breathe just to be able to get a satiating breath. It was and to a lesser extent still is pretty darn uncomfortable. If I get COVID I'm probably fucked.

Whooping cough. That was 100 days of hell

In November my shop of 500 almost shut down in Beighton because 22 % were out with serious respiratory infection for two weeks . Cough wouldn’t go away 

It will be interesting to see what the consequences are long-term for survivors of COVID. TBD but initial returns are discouraging:

https://www.latimes.com/science/story/2020-04-10/coronavirus-infection-can-do-lasting-damage-to-the-heart-liver

I have said this on various threads recently, so I apologize for repeating myself, but it seems relevant.

I have a son, now 7, who was born very prematurely (25 weeks).  He has a variety of "special needs" and his primary physical challenges are respiratory.   He spent the first 310 days of his life in the NICU (neonatal intensive care for those of you fortunate to not know this thing exists).   He had other hospitalizations, but until this winter, the last one was over his 5th birthday, more than 2 years ago.

Then, this winter arrived.   December 11, he crashed hard and spent 6 days in the pediatric ICU.  He made a sharp recovery though, which was a nice surprise.  We were terrified for a couple days.  All respiratory, pneumonia diagnosis.   This is where I point out that his regular regimen of medications includes some of the drugs currently used to treat Covid-19.  

January 2, on a trip to Chicago, the kid crashes hard again and spends 18 hours in Lurie Children's Hospital.   Respiratory, of course.   He recovers and we hightail it for home (GR).

Feb 1, the morning we are supposed to fly out to Disney, he goes in to HDVCH with the same.  2 day recovery, and he ends up at Disney a couple days later.   He has 6 cousins with him at Disney, all healthy normal kids, and in the following weeks most of them go down with respiratory illnesses and recover.   But they are normal healthy kids, so nobody bats an eye.

Our belief:  my kid had Covid in December.   It weakened him for a couple months, explaining the other brief hospitalizations.  

Tuesday morning, less than 48 hours from now, my family of four gets the antibody test.   Should be interesting. 

16 years ago new years day walked into Spectrum in GR and my pulse Ox reading was 50. Nurse accused me of messing with the little finger thing and the next one read 50. She said I didint walk in then my wife came in said I did. Pneumonia and they put me in a coma where I also got staph, sepsis, blood clot and they put on the papers as outcome  death. Month later woke me up and off to rehab. Couldn't move, talk etc. Came home a month later in a wheel chair. Ruined my lungs, 2 years ago spent time in  Blodgett hospital with pneumonia and got out day before xmas. Just came home 3 weeks ago after a month in the hospital and again breathing problems then I got a hematoma with compartment syndrome and after begging for 2 days for them just to cut my arm off I crashed in bed. Couldn't answer the Docs questions, blood pressure went over 200 Ox dropped to 70. Cut my arm all up and I cheated death again. Lung problems never seem to end, about every year I get a hospital stay. Don't mess with this covet, or pneumonia, its a tough road. I wish anyone the best that gets sick and don't ever quit. Happy Easter, Big Weenie