By Tim Fargo
First of all, if you do not already know, Nancy and I are both COVID positive, which means that we have both acquired the infection- lucky us. The good news is that we are both doing well and are resting at home in quarantine. I am the one who probably started this whole thing. I was in Colorado skiing and, upon my return, was informed by the Colorado Department of Health that there was a severe coronavirus outbreak in area at which I had been skiing. I was instructed, as a precautionary measure, to quarantine for 14 days. I was slated to go back to work the next day, but did not do so. Dr. Evenson and Dr. Kailey saw my patients and theirs on that Monday. We had a conference call the next day and decided that the situation was changing too rapidly for us to be able to ensure the safety of our staff and our patients. As a consequence, we decided to close the clinic and have remained closed, except for emergency patients.
By the next day, two days after my return from Colorado, I spiked a fever. I had already had cold symptoms even before I went to Colorado; I did not associate those symptoms with coronavirus. As required, I went into isolation in our house and was basically in bed and locked in a bedroom for 18 days; I had a fever for 13 of those days. Though I was uncomfortable, had a serious cough and extreme fatigue, I never reached a point where I was not able to breathe. I was monitoring my blood oxygen and temperature throughout this time. After my fever disappeared, I waited another 3 days before I came out of my little room.
Shortly after ending my incarceration, Nancy, who had been dutifully providing meals and support, spiked a fever. That was 15 days ago. While I was never actually tested for coronavirus, we did manage to get a test for Nancy. Her test came back positive for the virus, which confirmed the disease in both of us. She is doing well and is able to move around the house. Since I presumably had the infection, I also, presumably, have developed some immunity to it. We will confirm that when corona antibody tests become available. The good news in all of this is that, even though we are in our 60’s, we have come through the worst of it and will have immunity to the disease. What this means for me as a chiropractor is that I will be in a good position to care for our patients on the other side of this. I will not be able to acquire the infection again and pass it on to our patients, and the same will be true for Nancy. At this point, we are waiting the necessary interval for Nancy to get through it and then we will be able to consider reopening the office, on at least a limited basis. The rest of the family and Dr. Evenson’s family are doing well and, to the best of our knowledge, none of them has become infected.
In subsequent blogs I intend to discuss some of the “facts” that we know, to a reasonable degree of certainty, about this disease, and what you can do if you or a loved one contracts the virus. We appreciate your love, kind thoughts and prayers during this most interesting and challenging time. Rest assured that we will be back and will thoroughly enjoy a return to some semblance of normal. As we get closer to reopening I will be letting you know about the measures that we will be taking to ensure your safety. I look forward to seeing all of you again soon.
Stay Home and Stay Safe,
Tim Fargo
