IsabellaLinton wrote:
dragonsanddemons wrote:
Thank you, blooiejagwa and IsabellaLinton, I will ask my mom to call my doctor and ask if she thinks it's a good idea for me to take vitamin C supplements or otherwise up my vitamin C intake.
I confess that I'm starting to panic a little now. What will I do if they turn me away at the door (because my brother is sick, because my body randomly decided to run a slight fever, or because we can't find my wallet with my ID and insurance card)? I don't know if I can wait another two weeks or more (for self-quarantine), I don't know how rapidly my iron level is dropping. Do I wait until my symptoms are bad enough that I need to go to the ER? Do I just keep pretending I'm as okay as I can pretend to be until I die of hypoxia or heart problems caused by the anemia? Plus low iron weakens the immune system, so if my brother does have COVID-19, I'm at a higher risk of catching it and dying or having serious complications from it. I feel a bit selfish for worrying about me so much when it's my brother who's sick - but then again, he is young and going into it pretty healthy without any underlying conditions, which tip the odds in his favor. But then again, I hear that COVID-19 is also killing people who are young and otherwise healthy, so I can't completely set aside my worries for him. He hasn't been coughing much, at least, which is a good sign.
Has your brother seen a doctor or been tested? That seems like the first step, because he seems quite ill. It will put your mind at ease for your own treatment if you know he doesn't have COVID, and not knowing will keep the doctors from treating you. I wish you or your mother would make some phone calls now about your treatment plan in the meantime.
Do you take Palafer or any iron supplement already?
My brother only started feeling unwell yesterday and does not seem to be horribly ill, so we're waiting to see if it clears up on its own, I think. I kind of figure that even if one has COVID-19, unless they're having major difficulty breathing or anything, the doctor will just tell them to stay at home and self-quarantine, so may as well save the trip and just do that. But I guess in this case, a negative test result would prove that I have not been exposed. We're going to see what happens come tomorrow, I think, and if they don't let me in for my iron infusion we'll call my doctor and discuss things. I've been taking some generic iron supplement for about two months, but my iron level has only dropped since I started taking it.
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Yet in my new wildness and freedom I almost welcome the bitterness of alienage. For although nepenthe has calmed me, I know always that I am an outsider; a stranger in this century and among those who are still men.
-H. P. Lovecraft, "The Outsider"