DARIEN, Conn. — A working mom from Darien has a message to everyone watching. Take social distancing seriously. Her brush with COVID-19 landed her in bed for over a week. Kristina Gregory of Darien told FOX61 she first started experiencing symptoms on March 14th. Three weeks later, she is finally back to feeling 75%.
Kristina Gregory says she’s lucky. She is a healthy 51 year old. She told FOX61 COVID-19 leveled her. “I am a mom, I’m busy I have a job and I got it and I was bedridden for a week plus,” said Gregory.
On March 14th, Kristina woke up to tightness in her chest. She thought it was muscle soreness from bench pressing. “Didn’t think much of it. We went out that Saturday night with friends. This is the 14th of March and the next day I woke up and felt like I had the flu.“
Kristina had body aches, chills, and a painful headache. She even lost her smell and taste, but only had a slight cough. Her husband took her to the hospital. “My husband checked us in and he came back with a mask and gloves for me.”
They ruled out the flu and swabbed her for COVID. She got her positive result back 11 days later due to a backlog in testing. Kristina told FOX61 at least 3 people who she came in contact with are now showing symptoms. “It's obviously very easy to get,” she said.
But luckily, no one in her immediate family showed any symptoms. While at home, she isolated herself in her bedroom. She was separated from her husband, who had to urge her to eat to gain some strength. “My family has not contracted anything. He immediately moved out of the master bedroom and into the guest room and I was sent meals upstairs and waited for them to leave them outside the door and pick them up. Kind of like an upscale prison,” said Gregory.
The isolation was particularly hard on Kristina’s sons. “Especially for my youngest. He’s a momma's boy and he really missed being able to be with me.”
Kristina doesn’t know how she caught COVID, but she says people need to take social distancing more seriously. “You can’t have play dates. You can’t have casual hangouts. You can’t send your kids to another person's house to play basketball. You just can’t. Yes, this is excruciating for everyone. It’s not fun. Nobody is having fun but this is a necessary part of the process.”
Now that Kristen is recovering, she plans to donate her blood which is rich in antibodies, to Mt. Sinai and the Red Cross to be used to treat COVID-19 patients. The FDA just started allowing plasma therapy as a treatment