COVID-19 proves no joke for pair of Cordell women
Karla Kinney provides one simple piece of advice about COVID-19.
Take it seriously.
“This virus can be deadly,” the 56-year-old Kinney said. “It doesn’t matter the age. Anybody can get it.”
Health officials told Kinney she had the virus on Jan. 13, after she was tested on Jan. 11.
She had a friend who had the virus, and officials told her to get tested.
“I wasn’t aware that he had COVID until he got over it, but he was around us during the period of time that he had it,” she said. “And we were notified that he had it and that we all needed to be tested. I came down with it a week later.”
Her immunity is really low, because she’s had problems with her kidneys and has been on a lot of antibiotics.
“So now I’m fighting much harder than what anybody else would fight,” she said.
That fight included dealing with a 102-degree temperature, coughing up blood from her lungs, constant headaches, shortness of breath and total exhaustion.
“Every bone in my body hurts and I’m just totally exhausted and want to sleep all the time,” she said.
If you’ve been told you’ve been around somebody, go get tested and stay away from people, she said..
“We never know with the individual, if it’s going to be a bad case or a deadly case, or a small case.”
She urges people to follow the Centers for Disease Control recommendations.
“I just believe that this virus is trying to get better, but it won’t get better if people continue to do what they want and not do as they’re told by wearing masks, sanitizing and staying at home. And I believe that if you are serious of understanding that this virus can kill that you need to get your life straight with God in case you come down with the virus. We all need to know God and we all need to get our lives straight and get saved.”
Kinney’s story is much sadder because she lost her husband, Mike, to colon cancer a little more than a year ago. She was raised in Cordell, then got married and moved to the panhandle area. She moved back to her hometown last year after her husband died. They were married 18 years.
“I’m alone taking care of myself because my husband passed away with colon cancer and it just really pays to stay well, if you possibly can,” she said.
‘Stay away from crowds’
Holley Daniel of Cordell thinks she got COVID-19 Christmas shopping at Walmart.
Daniel video-blogged her experience and published it on YouTube so she could share her experiences, and hopefully, educate some people about the virus.
“Stay away from crowds,” the 40-year-old mother of four said in the video. “You know what? You’ve heard it a million, million times. I did Christmas shopping before Christmas and I’m pretty sure that’s when I got this.”
Her vlog captured her experiences over the course of eight days.
She had a lot of the same issues as Kinney: Stuffy nose, sore throat, body aches, congestion, wheezy, nausea, and diarrhea. And she also lost her taste and smell.
“Everything tastes bitter, bland,” she said. “I really don’t know how to explain it.”
She vlogged about craving potato wedges and went ahead and made some. “Like I kept thinking I can’t smell them, so they can’t be done yet. I went to check on them and they were pretty toasty. And I went to eat them and couldn’t taste them. I put lots of seasoning on it and, some spicy stuff and couldn’t taste it. It was weird,” she said.
On day five of her experience, she added a few more symptoms: dizziness, dry skin and no appetite.
And on the eighth day, even though she was feeling better, she was still battling symptoms.
“I don’t know what to think about it,” she said. “This is real, I mean, it’s not a fake virus. It’s definitely real. Guys this virus is serious. I’m still having some issues with it. Still coughing, sneezing, and have issues with nausea and vomiting, diarrhea. It’s not a joke. It’s real.”
She did lose 13 pounds, she said, but wouldn’t wish the experience on anyone.
“It hasn’t been fun,” she said.
Holley is a certified nursing assistant at the Cordell Christian Home.
Now, looking back on her experience, she offers a little advice.
“If you get COVID, drink lots of fluids. I lost my taste and smell. But I could tell the difference between sweet and sour,” she said.
Her secret was pickle juice.
“It helped me stay hydrated. I could tell it was sour and knew pickle juice was sour. It also helped me keep some electrolytes in my body that I was losing.”
She also relied on Gatorade Zero and chicken noodle soup.
“I slept when I was tired but did try to keep pushing myself to get up and move around because I was scared of getting pneumonia from staying in bed all the time.”
GET TESTED
If you have symptoms and need to get tested, there are various ways. You can call your doctor or the nearest county health department. In this case, it’s Kiowa County Health Department in Hobart. You can call that office at (580) 726-3316 to see when curbside testing is conducted.