Retired teacher hopes to educate others by sharing COVID battle

Reportinga retired teacher in grundy county is finally feeling like herself again.but it took six weeks and a six-day hospital stay to kick covid.

Connie olmstead:"i just want people to know that this is real and it didn't go away on the election a lot of people think that's going to go away when the elections over and it's not gonna go away until people become responsible and do what they're supposed to do a and we need to take them seriously.and her husband got sick with of august.connie olmstead: his experience was much different than mine his came on beginning he had a fever.

He had a headache but it was over in five days and then he was out in the yard mowing the yard doing whatever waiting for his isolation to end.olmstead retired from teaching in 2018 -- but to her -- education is not a career -- it's a lifestyle she posted her experience to facebook.connie olmstead: at that time people weren't really taking this seriously and my illness was very serious so i decided i wanted to educate people to let them know that we can have a serious illness from this.

At that time -- grundy county had 32 cases and one death.now it has 532 cases and 17 deaths.so she's sharing her story again.

Connie olmstead: i guess that i am a teacher and educator at heart and so i wanted people to know what can happenshe felt fine the week after testing positive for the virus day 7 was bad -- day 10 was worse.connie olmstead: my husband came home from work and i said i think i am in trouble i think i need to go to the er.

A ct scan there showed an enlarged liver, enlarged spleen, pneumonia, gastritis, and severe dehydration.with covid knotting up rural medical centers -- olmstead was taken to st.

Lukes north.several days later...connie olmstead: they took my temperature and it was 103.2 and it had went up immediately and so they put in a pick line in my arm and they started me on some very strong antibiotics.

They also started me on the remdesivir severe which is an antiviral medication that has been given to many people including the president.

I couldn't even talk to my family on the phone.

They had me on 3 l of oxygen and i was just really nauseated and weak at that point.still today -- she has one remaining side effect of the virus -- a blood clot in her leg -- doctors tell her with medication -- it will be completely gone in 4 months.

Connie olmstead: i want to give people an update and tell them and educate them on what to look for you know if you have this then you may want to look out for this.a teacher at heart - she posted all of this to her facebook page.connie olmstead: one of the teachers that i used to work with saw that and her brother-in-law had the covid and was not doing well and so she shared my blog with him and he went to the er and found out that he had a blood clot in his leg and in his lung and so she messaged me back and she said your experience and sharing it may have saved his life and well that was enough for me.

Do you think that just because i shared my experience somebody else may have been saved.>>