COVID-19 Survivor Stories It’s a Lonely Virus

COVID-19 Survivor Stories

It is a Lonely Virus By Cindy & Patricia (sisters)

Patricia’s story

It was Tuesday, June 9th. I developed a headache, but didn’t think anything of it, since I suffer from migraines anyway. Tylenol wouldn’t even touch my pain. The headache continued through Wednesday and Thursday, along with a slight sore throat and a light dry cough. I developed a low-grade fever of 99.5. Even with these signs, I still didn’t think it was COVID. The symptoms were so subtle!

Because I was working from home that week, I was able to keep to myself. I was scheduled to work in the office the following week, when on Friday the 12th, I woke up feeling worse. Since I work for one of the hospital systems, we had a hotline number we could call if we had symptoms. I called the number that morning and had an appointment that afternoon to get tested. I still didn’t think it was COVID. But just to be careful, I quarantined myself. My mask was on at all times and I didn’t leave the room unless I had too. As Friday wore on, I felt worse.

Finally, I left to go get tested and was told if it was positive, I would get a call on the weekend. Saturday came and I still felt really bad so I didn’t leave to go anywhere. The headache was the worst, even though I was taking Tylenol and Advil every couple of hours. On Sunday morning, I went to the store to buy some more meds. My head hurt so much that I cried all the way home. My body aches continued to get worse. When I got home, my daughter asked me how I was feeling and I told her my headache was unbearable. As she was massaging my head, my phone started to ring. I noticed it was from the hospital, so I answered.

The nurse proceeded to tell me that I was COVID positive! My heart sank, but everything made sense; you know, how I was feeling and the intensity of my symptoms. I told my family. Thankfully my son, daughter and my parents tested negative that following week. The house was cleaned and sanitized. My food was left on a table outside the room. If I was going to leave my room, I let everyone know that I was stepping out.

Over the next couple of days, I got worse. I have never felt anything like this before. The headaches, body aches and difficulty breathing. I knew I should have gone to the hospital but I didn’t want too. One evening, I went outside because I wanted to see my son who had been staying at a friend’s house. We sat outside at safe distances and with masks on. I started to shake and sweat so much; I was very dizzy but didn’t want to alarm my family and scare my son. So, I went to my room very quickly and as soon as I shut the door, I passed out and woke up a few minutes later. It was a very scary time. I literally prayed that I wouldn’t die.

I lost my senses of taste and smell. To this day, my taste is different. This virus is a lonely one. I made myself walk outside in the middle of the day to warm up. Thankfully, with a

lot of support and prayers, I was cleared after ten days to go back to work. The fatigue and shortness of breath continued for weeks after going back to work.

Meanwhile, as I was going through this, my sister Cindy and her family were just about to get started with this nightmare.

Cindy’s story

It was Sunday June 14 when I got the call from Patricia that she had tested positive. She let all of us know and we were in shock. So, the whole family avoided being around my sister as well as to my parents’ home. But it was too late.

The next day, Monday, I had my sons tested with their pediatrician. The doctor had them sit outside in the back of the office where the nurse came to do a nasal swab and checked their lungs. All was clear. Wednesday we got the news all the boys were negative. I was very relieved.

I decided to get checked too by my mother’s doctor on Wednesday. After a week, I received the results - negative. Again relieved, we let our guard down. But it turned out we made the same mistake many have made; we got tested too soon after exposure. We are supposed to wait eight days after exposure to be tested. The symptoms started when one of my young boys started with a low-grade fever, body aches and head hurting. I just thought it was the flu or something else, not COVID.

I had the mentality of “it won’t happen to us”. Then I noticed my 14-year-old sleeping more, being tired and developing black eyes. He was on the couch, tired. I cut up some pineapple for him and he got up to get some. He asked me if I could taste the pineapple, and I said yes, it’s sweet. He couldn’t taste or smell it. That’s when I started to get really worried.

The next morning, I called the kids’ pediatrician again for them to get tested and the doctor’s office scheduled them in right away. This time I only took the two youngest boys to the doctor. My youngest one was wheezing and, when we got the results of the test, they both tested positive. I was told that the whole family should use masks and keep our distance in our home. When I got back, I had everyone distance from each other and quarantine. I washed all the clothes and bedding. I had them all clean/sanitize everything, including door handles. I sprayed down the couches and mattresses with Lysol and then continued to spray down everything else. I washed dishes as soon as they were used. I washed the bedding every other day. My two oldest sons stayed in their room, since they didn’t present any symptoms.

I had started walking almost every day in the summer heat to get myself in better health. I noticed by body was hot but I thought it was because of the outside heat in June. But it turns out I had started with a low fever. Then one day I was just tired, my body ached and my fever started getting a little higher. My husband walked in from work looking tired; he said his body ached. He didn’t want to eat and said his nose “burned”. The next day I called my mom’s doctor’s office to get tested again. By then my boy’s symptoms had gone away. For my boys, it lasted about a week and they were back to “normal”. But I struggled for about 2 weeks with fever, tightness in my chest and I was wheezing. I also had a dry cough that would act up at night. My husband would ask me if I was ok. He wanted to take me the hospital, but I didn’t want to go. I noticed my sense of smell was gone and I had lost my appetite, but I still had some taste.

I used all of my son’s inhaler and that seemed to help a little. I was really scared with everything that I had heard on the news. My husband had all the symptoms but never got tested. He said he didn’t feel the need to if I had already tested positive; he was sure he also had it. Because he worked by himself outside, he just kept working. He would come home and just sleep. In the evenings, he would tell me to walk and get moving so I wouldn’t just be in bed. I would walk about half-a-block and I couldn’t take it. I felt so tired and out of breath.

Finally, my fever broke and the wheezing stopped, my chest felt so sore. My employer helped me get an appointment to get tested again to go back to work. The test results were negative for COVID. I hoped that meant everything would be back to normal, but it took week s for my sister and I, walking in the evenings, to build our strength back. We both struggled with our breathing. For several weeks I couldn’t catch my breath.

Now I’m doing much better, breathing “normal”. All six of us in my family still don’t have our full sense of smell and taste back. My faith in God is what got us through it; praying and believing we would all get better. We still take all the necessary precautions including masks when we’re out and we use hand sanitizer. We hope we don’t ever get COVID again.