Surviving COVID-19 :: Inside the Journey

“I woke up from my nap on the plane and had a fever and chills. I thought to myself, ‘Something is wrong.’” Sixteen days later, Ian received his COVID-19 test results. He had tested positive.

As I type these words in an effort to recount and share Ian’s story, I feel a weight on my shoulders. A weight of responsibility and of truth. Ian agreed to share his story in an effort to hopefully help others. Sharing a personal journey is powerful. Sharing it through the media can exponentially increase its power.

Ian is an old college buddy of mine. We met sophomore year at Texas A&M as members of a student organization. Our team spent countless hours together in an effort to build rapport, share memories and prepare future Aggies for the best four years of their lives. We were a tight-knit bunch.

As most college friendships do, we walked (or back-flipped) our way across the graduation stage and into the next chapter of our lives, cheering one another on via social media and reminiscing on old memories at the occasional wedding get-together.

Fast forward five years and the world has been thrust into a global pandemic. Half of the population deemed COVID-19 no more serious than the flu, while others heeded social distancing guidelines like their lives depended on it. Personally, I followed the news of the pandemic as a cautionary optimist. Nobody expects for the pandemic to invade their circle of family and friends. Until it does.

“Let’s start at the beginning.” I was on a phone call with Ian late one afternoon after I had seen his announcement on social media - the doctor had called - his COVID-19 test had returned positive. Despite the absolute ringer Ian had just been put through, he was decidedly cheery and very happy to chat. He still reminded me of his old college self.

Ian is a consultant and, as a hazard of the job, travels frequently. His most recent client just happened to be based in Seattle, so he had traveled back and forth from Seattle to Houston (his hometown) regularly. Per the normal rigors of the job, Ian and his team had flown to Seattle in early March (prior to any serious social distancing guidelines and subsequent media-fueled hysteria). “When I left Seattle, I flew to Miami for a cruise my friends and I had planned months in advance and then straight back to Seattle for work.” The cruise ship left the dock on March 5th.

March 6th: President Trump signs an $8.3 billion emergency spending package to combat the outbreak. Austin’s SXSW conference is canceled.

March 9th: Ian steps off of his cruise ship.

After docking back in Miami, Ian (and the rest of America) started to feel the weight of the gravity of the pandemic. “I tried my hardest not to fly back to Seattle.” Work didn’t budge. He had to go.

March 10th: Italy announces a country-wide lockdown to quarantine its people.

March 11th: The World Health Organization officially declares COVID-19 a pandemic. Tom Hanks and his wife, Rita Wilson, test positive for the virus in Australia.

March 12th: Ian catches a flight back to Houston from Seattle.

After waking up from a nap on the plane, Ian could tell he had a fever. Upon arriving home and a full night’s rest, he checked his temperature the next morning. “It was weird. My temperature had gone down.” That night, Ian’s fever shot back up to 101. “And from there, it kept progressively getting worse.” Plying his fever with Tylenol didn’t seem to help, so Ian immediately quarantined himself to his room. Since his girlfriend, Asha, had spent a significant amount of time with him, they decided to quarantine together.

“My temperature was consistently over 101 degrees. My cough was so bad that if I said three words … I would cough for 15 minutes at a time. And then I started having diarrhea ... my shortness of breath wasn’t super bad - only a little bit.” Shortly after starting to battle his fever, Ian received word that someone in his Seattle office had passed away due to COVID-19 complications.

“At that point, I was pretty sure I had it.”

Ian immediately contacted the Houston Health Department to notify them and ask about finding a test. They gave him a website with a list of care centers. “I called every number on that list and nobody could really give me an answer or they just passed me to the next person.” His calls were transferred, dropped, ignored and/or met by a slew of confusion.

“You could tell the system was broken.”

Ian eventually set up an appointment with a tele-doc. “After paying the co-pay, the doctor spent less than a minute on the call and told me to go to the ER.” At this point, Ian had been searching for a test (or even sound advice on what to do) for five days.

“I was pretty worried and getting worse at a fairly rapid rate before I went to the hospital.”

March 16th: President Trump advises Americans to avoid meeting in groups of 10 or more people.

March 18th: Canada and the United States agree to close their border to all non-essential traffic. Ian walks into the ER.

Ian barely walked through the first set of sliding doors and was met by a nurse who took his temperature. After describing his symptoms, they had reasonable suspicion that Ian had the virus. He was then walked to a separate room (operating off of its own HVAC system) for a round of tests.

“I was the second person [Greater Heights Memorial Hermann] was allowed to give a test. At the point I got tested, there were only 40 documented cases in Houston.” He was told the results would take five days to return and was escorted out the back entrance of the hospital (in order to minimize his contact with others). Ian was incredibly complimentary of the hospital doctors, nurses and staff. They kept in close (emotional) contact while Ian eagerly awaited his results. “The hospital told me I was going to be ok and that finally made me feel better.”

“Then [my fear] became...” Ian paused to cough. “…I didn’t want to put anyone else at risk. Especially the ones I loved.”

The photo Ian used to update his friend / family on his status

Ian began to notify every person, space, organization he had been in contact with. “I called every place I had traveled to: airlines, the cruise line, my team … I notified them all.”

Ian and Asha (who has remained a-symptomatic through this entire journey) quarantined in Ian’s bedroom. “I basically had to tough it out. Being sick SUCKED. I wouldn’t wish [COVID-19] on anybody.” The road to recovery was long, but in sight.

March 19: The U.S. State Department issues a Level 4 Travel Advisory, warning Americans not to travel internationally and to return home immediately if abroad. California issues a state-wide stay at home order.

Ian shared his hospital experience and subsequent updates via social media channels.

“My journey really began with awareness. At the time, I didn’t think people were taking the social distancing guidelines seriously. I hoped my story and list of symptoms would help people know more about it. I wanted people take self-quarantine very seriously.”

After Ian’s announcement, family members and friends immediately started reaching out. His post was shared to four different continents.

“Something that was comforting to me was all the people reaching out and asking for help. The amount of people there for me was awesome. I had people cook meals for me and leave them at my door. People would grocery shop for me. Those small gestures really meant a lot.” Family members, roommates, friends, neighbors all stepped up. Throughout our conversation, Ian peppered in positive notes about how his parents, siblings, friends and other members of his social circle reached out to help. You could hear the gratitude in his voice. “That was definitely the silver lining in all of this.”

“It was nice to see what a big support system he had,” Asha said.

Ian’s health eventually started to improve. Confined to one room, Ian and Asha reflected on their time together in such a tight space.

“This has made us realize how we communicate and how we need to communicate moving forward. You pick up on a lot of things when you’re with someone all the time,” Ian said. I was glad the couple couldn’t see my eyes bulging at the thought of spending 16 straight days in the same room with my significant other.

“We’ve been watching a lot of Netflix and movies!” Ian laughed as he told me the series, Containment, held a lot of parallels to his journey with COVID-19.

Coming out on the other side of his three-week fight with the virus, Ian finally feels closer to normal. “Actually,” he commented, “I was cleared by the Houston Department of Health two hours ago to end my self-quarantine.” You could hear the relief in his voice. There was the light he had been waiting for at the end of the tunnel.

“It makes you realize all of the things you took for granted,” Asha commented. Being able to sit in the sunshine, order a drink from your favorite restaurant, have friends over for community.

“The first thing I’ll do when we all get out of this,” Ian said eagerly, “is head to HEB and then Specs. I’m going to buy myself a huge brisket, make margaritas and have friends over to grill out at the house. Just hang out, OUTSIDE.”

My extroverted friend, showing his social butterfly. Ian and Asha (have and still) remain positive in all of this. It has been a journey in discovery, perseverance and gratitude.

Our conversation had multiple twists and turns: ethical business practices, current healthcare + local government functionality, physical / emotional / mental exhaustion, and societal repercussions (and benefits?) of the disease. However, I think it’s important right now to focus on the day-by-day of surviving. All of us. Ian was the first person in my circle of friends to have been affected by the virus. I think there is a lot of fear circulating in the media largely due to the fear of the unknown. Coverage of the virus has had an effect on us all, we’re only hearing horror stories on the news, and nobody really knows what life after COVID-19 looks like. I hope that Ian sharing his story will help shed some light and offer a glimmer of hope.

“There’s a lot of fear in the media,” Ian said, “There needs to be some good news. I feel like we need more of that.”

Ian and Asha

Ian and I at the 2017 Kentucky Derby.