My Battle With COVID-19: It Hit Me Like a Ton of Bricks

I thought I was doing all the right things. I obeyed the social distancing rules, I wore gloves and mask in public, I wash my hands a million times a day. Where I messed up is not wearing a mask at work. At the time, we didn’t have to. Since it was hardly anyone around me, I thought I was safe.

When I first started coughing, I assumed it was my allergies. I had recently just gotten over a sinus infection. When the fever came the next day, I was scared. I immediately went to my room. I didn’t want to get my daughter sick.  On Easter, I made an appointment for Urgent Care and was surprised I was the only patient at the time. They tested me for the flu and strep. When the results came back negative, I asked for the COVID test. I was told I wasn’t a candidate even though I had a temperature and a cough. Since I was breathing fine, the doctor said it was probably the flu and prescribed me flu medicine.

By that Wednesday, things were getting worse for me. Every day a new symptom was popping up on top of the fever and cough. By this time, I was having vomiting episodes, even on an empty stomach. My muscle aches were extreme. It was weird how exhausted I felt by doing nothing. The fatigue was no joke. I would have chills with the heat on. My throat was so sore that I kept gargling with salt and warm water every hour. My headaches were taking hours to go away just to come back in  a short period of time. The cold baths were not doing anything for my fevers. My fevers kept jumping back and forth from a lowgrade 99 to 102. I didn’t feel like Tylenol did anything but I kept taking it twice a day. My sleep was all over the place. Some days I was going to bed at 9 AM. I couldn’t just sleep at night.

I called my doctor at Veteran Affairs (VA) and asked to be tested. My body was so weak and I could barely get out the bed. I had to drive 45 minutes to the VA hospital. It felt like forever. I was prescreened and then walked to the respiratory center. That swab up the nose is crazy, it feels it’s about to touch your brain. I had to get it twice because I accidentally grabbed the nurse’s arms the first time. She told me she would also test me for the flu since the Urgent Care doctor gave me flu meds. Later on, that day, hardcore chest pains started. I went to different Urgent Care to get x-rays.

I get a phone call from Urgent care, first informing me that I have bilateral pneumonia. The prescribed me antibiotics and told me to get a follow-up x-ray from my doctor in three weeks. At this point, I’m scared I have COVID and waiting for the call from the VA. About five hours later, I get the bad news that I’m positive. I’m told to quartine for 14 days and take Tylenol if I have a fever. I text my family and friends with the bad news. I call my mom and brothers to inform them. I thought my daughter was sleep still but she wasn’t and she heard me talking through the wall. I could hear her crying. I can’t console her so I facetime her so we can talk. The initial plan was to send her to my mom’s home in Pennsylvania just to make sure she doesn’t get infected. She told me that she didn’t want to leave me by myself. The next morning my mom calls and tells me she is on her way to take care of me. I just started crying wondering if I could beat this.

Making sure I don’t infect my mom or daughter. I isolated in my room. My mom would leave my meals in front of my door and I would wait till she was gone to grab my food quickly. Most of the time I was eating once a day because I didn’t have an appetite. I only have one bathroom. Every time I used it, I would bleach wipe and Lysol spray the whole, bathroom down including the door and light switches.

By April 20 I had the below symptoms. the ones with a star the CDC has not recognized yet.

• Fever
• Cough
• Bilateral pneumonia
• Extreme peeling lips*
• Loss of taste
• Chills
• Muscle pain
• Headache
• Sore throat
• Dizziness*
• Rapid heartbeat*
• Fatigue
• Insomnia*

On the 20th I woke just drained. I was thinking I was dehydrated because I couldn’t keep my water or food down. It was weird. I was also vomiting when I didn’t eat, and I could taste the Tylenol. I decided it was time to go to the emergency room. Mind you; my breathing was still okay. I could talk on the phone no problem. My daughter and mom looked so sad when the ambulance came. Without saying a word, we all thought I was going to die. All you hear are horror stories. Recovery is not publicized enough in the media. The EMT informed me my oxygen was at 83%. I had no idea what that meant, so he explained it to me. When the ER nurse took my vitals, I had normal blood pressure, BPM was high, oxygen was at 86%, and my temp was 105. They were also surprised I wasn’t having shortness of breath. I’m also a diabetic so the whole underlying issues had me shook. I was informed by the ER doctor that I would admitted to the hospital for observation. The ER room didn’t have a bathroom, and I couldn’t leave; I had to pee in the basin. It was so hard when I had so much medical equipment attached to me. I was so scared I was going to miss the bowl and pee all over the floor. Glad that didn’t happen lol.

It took a little over six hours before they wheeled to my room. I did a lot of praying. Just in case you don’t know, the hospitals are not allowing visitors. It was very lonely in the room, and I started surfing the net. I had to cut my cell off because COVID deaths kept popping up. I would search for something else, and it was still popping up. I needed peace and less stress. I was moved to the COVID wing the next day. The doctor put be on hydroxychloroquine. At the time, I didn’t know the controversy surrounded by it. For me personally, I felt like it helped me. I started feeling better by day three on it. I saw a doctor once a day and nurses several times day and night. I was lucky with amazing nurses that genuinely cared and wanted me to get better. By day four, I’m informed I would discharge that evening. I couldn’t go home until I had oxygen delivered to my home. The VA provided me a nurse that comes weekly and a telehealth nurse that calls me daily. The hospital I was in provided me with a home nurse every other week.

I had a fever for 13 days straight. The next day I woke up in my bed, thankful to be recovering at home. Finally, I was fever-free without using meds. Then day by day, symptoms started to disappear. I was left with minor chest pains and a cough. I started doing daily walks with a mask on to make sure I didn’t get blood clots from being in my bed the majority of the time. I noticed my oxygen levels would drop to 95% – 97%, which is good while I was active. While I’m resting, my oxygen is 99% – 100% without the machine.

I feel like I’m better and wanted to get retested. I was denied and told to follow the CDC guidelines. Which is fever-free for 72 hours, their other symptoms have improved, and it’s been at least seven days since they first felt sick. Here is the problem with that. Two of my friends that tested positive the same time as I, meets those requirements and still tested positive on their retest. I tried to do telehealth to get a retest and was denied again. That doctor told me you’re fine after three days of no symptoms. So I asked why are people not being given retest to make sure? He told me that you need two negative tests within 24 hours to be truly negative. Since most states don’t have enough test, they can’t do that. So basically, its BS. People are walking around, thinking they are recovered and still are positive.

I went back to the VA to get a new x-ray to see if my pneumonia is getting better since I haven’t been using the oxygen machine that much. When I informed radiology, I was positive; they freaked out. I was caught off guard because I called the night before, and no one told me not to come. They sent me to the ER to get an x-ray. Then again, I’m getting screamed at for being there. The nurse proceeded to tell me that I’m suppose to be on quarantine and should not leave my home. I told her that I’ve been quarantine for three weeks I know the drill. I explained my doctor put the request in, and if the policy changed, they need to inform her. At this point I’m confused by the interactions because I’m at the hospital not a night club. They made me wait in a room for an hour. I could hear the nurses talking about me. None of them wanted to come in my room. And at this time I’m still trying to keep my patience and not snap.  Finally the ER doctor comes in the room and tells me they would not be able to give me an x-ray. He claimed it wasn’t needed to check the progress of my pneumonia, and they would have to clean the x-ray machine for several hours if I touched it. Then they wanted to give me an EKG, run tests, and take blood. I denied that request because I didn’t come there for that. It also pissed me off that they wanted to do all that but not give me an x-ray. He told me that once I didn’t have a cough for three days that I was COVID and pneumonia free. I get it no one wants disease. I understand that the medical staff is on the front line every day. In the beginning I could’ve just been told they would not give me an x-ray due to my condition and I would’ve been on my way home. To have me wait around and be treated like crap was so unnecessary. Now at this point, it’s a guessing game. I’m still isolating myself until I get retested. Luckily my job is doing retest to clear people to come back to work once I’m symptom-free for ten days I can be retested there. Thankfully I found out that my health insurance is waiving all copays related to COVID-19.

It’s been a month since I got sick. I feel better now. I’m back to cracking jokes and being my usual goofy self. I’m also starting therapy because I don’t want to live in fear. I’m nervous every time I go outside wondering I will get reinfected.

I’m so blessed with family and friends in my life. They helped me tremendously by praying for me and checking on me. I had some dark moments in the hospital and with their love and support, I was able to get out of that hole. Words can’t experience how much appreciate them.