Hi Everybody,

I hope you’re hanging in there! This is such a challenging time for all of us, in so many different ways. 

I went back and forth about sharing my own COVID-19 story, because I know many of you are going through or have gone through worse things. But ultimately I decided that I should, just in case there’s something in it that might be useful to you.

Even though we’re out of the woods now, I’m still kind of shocked that my husband Jake and I got COVID. We’re healthy and we were so, so careful. We washed our hands. We disinfected surfaces and packages. We social distanced extra early. We walked before sunrise in isolated areas, where we often never saw another person, even from a distance. The whole nine yards. 

And then it happened anyway. I was really sick, but Jake was really, really sick. I spiked a fever right away. Jake had severe gastrointestinal symptoms and his fever kicked in later. He also had terrifying episodes of delirium three nights in a row. I’ll spare you the rest of the gory details, but basically we had symptoms for 21 days. It was pretty awful—just when we thought we were getting better, another wave would hit. 

A few nuggets, in case they’re helpful :

– As soon as we knew we were going down, we had a conversation about whether, if things got bad, we wanted to go to the hospital or to stay home and fight. We both felt strongly that we wanted to stay home, for lots of reasons that made sense to us personally. Jake got so sick that I honestly wasn’t sure if this was the right decision at several points, but I knew it was his decision. In hindsight, it was a good conversation to have.

– I was glad I’d ordered a basic thermometer (like this one) early enough to actually get it delivered in time to use it if we needed it. The last time we owned a thermometer was decades ago when our kids were little. Knowing how high our fevers were reassured us that our bodies were fighting hard and helped us chronicle the trajectory. (Days 7, 8 and 9 were the worst.) 

– We’d been hearing so much about respiratory issues that we were blindsided by Jake’s severe gastrointestinal symptoms, which we now know happen for 25-35% of people with COVID. He’s thin and still lost 19 pounds, mostly from vomiting. Pedialyte, which again we haven’t had in the house since the kids were babies, saved him from a trip to the hospital for IV fluids. (Jake sincerely hopes he will never have to drink that stuff again!)

– Finally, I think one of our rescue cats might have had the virus, too. We may never know for sure, but Sunshine got sick during the same time period we did and had similar symptoms. The good news was it didn’t last long, and from everything I’ve read, humans can give it to their pets, but pets can’t give it to their humans.

I hope you don’t get this, and if you do, I hope that you have a happy ending to your COVID-19 story like we did. For me, the lessons of this pandemic have been to go with the flow (not my strong suit!), to live each day with gratitude, not to try to press my opinions on others, to remember to be kind because we’re all doing the best we can, and that sometimes the most helpful thing you can say is I’m thinking of you.

I’m thinking of you!

Claire Cook wrote her first novel in her minivan when she was 45. At 50, she walked the red carpet at the Hollywood premiere of the adaptation of her second novel, Must Love Dogs, starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, which is now a 7-book series. Claire is the New York Times, USA Today, and #1 Amazon bestselling author of 19 books as well as a sought-after reinvention speaker. Read excerpts and find out more at ClaireCook.com/read.

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