WBFF Baltimore reporter Alexa Ashwell is still not the same after contracting Covid-19 six weeks ago, she says.
The Baltimore reporter documented her experience with the virus, which she says began with brain fog and muscle aches. She published a Google Doc about her symptoms and posted a video on Twitter describing the illness and its lasting effects on her health.
Ashwell’s symptoms began after an evening reporting shift in early July, she wrote.
It was almost midnight. I had just arrived home from the 11 p.m. show. I felt fine. Well, I thought I did. More on that later. I sat down to watch the movie Patriot’s Day. Within the 2 hr 13 min movie it felt like everything changed. I noticed my shins began throbbing. I played sports throughout high school and college. My shins felt like the end of spring training for soccer. I mentioned the sudden pain out loud. How it was odd, but I didn’t think COVID. The pain was solely in my shins. No other symptoms. Again, or so I thought. I grabbed a long kitchen spoon and started rolling it up and down my leg for relief. The movie kept playing. And I got worse. In less than two hours the throbbing ache spread to my forearms, and then my ankle and knee joints. My body got hot. I developed chills on my arms. Oh my God, I thought – COVID.
It would take days before she would get the confirmation and weeks before she would recover.
Week 2 literally changed me. That’s when doctors believe the virus reached my lungs and weeks later I’m still feeling the impacts. My chest was tight. I began feeling short of breath. I had a dry cough that produced no relief. It would hit me in waves. Sleeping was difficult. No matter the angle the pressure on my chest, back and side made it feel harder to breathe. Many nights I would be up from 2- 5 a.m., hunched over the humidifier with my face literally dripping wet from the steam. I can still hear the sounds of my breathing app playing on my phone, telling me when to inhale, hold and exhale.
Ashwell says she’s negative for Covid-19 now and is working from home, although she still has shortness of breath. “I’ll never take a clear, deep breath for granted again,” she wrote.
You can watch her video below.
Opening up about my experience with COVID and the journey it has been to feel like myself again. https://t.co/rCCuTgnc7P pic.twitter.com/a4UNbP4ffL
— Alexa Ashwell (@AlexaAshwell) August 12, 2020