Stay vigilant, warns Waterloo nurse who tested positive for COVID-19

As COVID-19 cases continue to rise in Ontario, a Waterloo nurse is urging people to stay vigilant about following public health guidelines and protecting themselves from the novel coronavirus.

Jennifer McDonald knows from personal experience just how serious the viruscan be.

She was bedridden for nearly two weeks after getting sick with COVID-19 this spring. Later on, she also treated patients inintensive carewhile working as an ICU nurse in a local hospital.

"I've learned that [COVID] can impact anyone," said McDonald.

McDonald told CBC News she began feeling sick toward the end of March. She had a persistent headache, fever and chills that woke her up in the middle of the night.

At the time, McDonald said she doubted she had COVID-19, but was tested as aprecaution. It came back positive.

"Thinking back now, it seems so obvious in retrospect, but until I lost my sense of taste and smell, I assumed it was just a really bad flu," said McDonald, who added that, fortunately, she hadn't been in recent contact with patients prior to the diagnosis.

Lingering symptoms

After the worst of the illness had passed, McDonald said she still dealt with lingering symptoms, including fatigue and significant hair loss.

"Probably three quarters of my hair fell out," she said.

McDonald said she rarely gets sick but was flattened by COVID-19. She's heard others saythey have strong immune systems and aren't vulnerable, but warns that no one is perfectly safe.

"I would say I have a pretty strong immune system based on my past health," said McDonald, who added that she feels lucky not to have been hospitalized.

"But I have to say, I've never been in bed for 12 days in all of my life, and this one did that to me. So I would take it seriously."

Isolation takes a toll on patients

After recovering and testing negative, McDonald returned to work where she saw the pandemic from another vantage point as a frontline health-care worker.

As an intensive care nurse, she worked with some COVID-19 patients, along with stroke victims and others who were seriously ill.

Because ICU nurses must take significant precautions and wear PPE as a part of their daily work, McDonald said in some ways, working during the pandemic wasn't much different than before.

The most significant change for patients, she said, was the restriction on hospital visitors.

"It was very challenging for patients not to have family with them," said McDonald.

"To be able to hear and see their loved ones voices, and know that they're staying connected, is hugely important."

To adapt, McDonald said staffers used phones and iPads to help patients hear from their families and loved ones. She recalls one elderly woman whose husband set up a lawn chair in the parking lot outside her hospital window and stayed there all afternoon.

"We brought her over to the window to connect with him, to wave, and then they spoke over FaceTime that way," she said.

"So the power of connection and the power of one's family, and how important that is to recovery and to that emotional support, I think is really well recognized."

Stay safe and take care of each other

Taken together, McDonald said her experiences have emphasized how important it is both to follow public health rules, and to reach out to those in the community who may be dealing with loneliness and isolation.

Human connection is still crucial, as is wearing a mask and washing one's hands, she said.

"I'm hopeful that we can, as a community and as a society, be mindful about how this virus is impacting everyone [and] look through the community and see who needs support," she said.

"I think if we are able to do that, each in our own way, that would be a way to really bring some meaning to what's happening."