17 days

  It started on a Sunday afternoon when a friend wanted to have dinner in Downtown LA outside of a market, I was picking up random beverages to see what I wanted to go with my meal and I finally selected one after touching about 6 glasses of different juices. The following day I just went to work and came straight back home, same with that Tuesday. But Wednesday I woke up with something in my throat and it was painful to cough, on top of that I noticed that my body started to ache. Since it was the 10th anniversary of my father’s passing I watched Disney’s “Onward” in his honor but I noticed that I wasn’t feeling too hot, I still went to Santa Monica Pier to watch the sunset also in his honor but I noticed that I was starting to feel worse. I usually stay to watch the clouds turn to that beautiful California fuchsia but as soon as the sun was setting I immediately left, the ride home was even more torturous where I couldn’t wait to lay down on my bed. I spent my Thursday laying in bed for the duration of the day, with medicine and everything else on standby.  

 I planned to call in sick on Friday but my mother needed some essential supplies such as toilet paper and paper towels and the only way she was able to get these items for sure was if I were working to hold the items for her, but when I met up with her outside she stated that she started to feel some chills down her back. When I came home that day I continued to stay in bed for the rest of the day, my appetite was notably absent as well. Because of our short staff and my dedication to being reliable at work, I didn’t call in sick that Saturday, my strength was gone too. I had to use the bathroom 6 times within the first 2 hours that my shift started, I asked myself what did I eat for dinner the previous night and when I realized I didn’t eat anything it dawned on me at that moment that I might’ve contracted the coronavirus. I called my mother telling her the possible news and she stated that she started feeling bad as well, I immediately left home after that phone call with my mother and stayed to rest for the remainder of the day. Sunday we scrambled to find anybody willing to test us but every place was booked, by Monday we got a hold of my doctor who was willing to test us both and the results came back positive for both of us.

  On my way to isolation on that Monday, I contacted a select few closest to me to tell them the bad news but I especially called the person I had dinner with that night to alert them to get tested immediately. The week was torturous on my body, it just seemed like as the days went by things were getting worse. I couldn't keep down anything I ate, hot and cold all day long, no desire to eat, constantly weak, everything was a nightmare. The only thing I could do was to stream from my iPad to the TV, even playing video games required too much energy. Since my mother lost her sense of smell and taste, making Thanksgiving dinner was a challenge for her as well (making certain dishes made her nauseous). Throughout the day on Thanksgiving I had to mentally prepare myself to get out of bed to try to eat the meal my mother made for me, holding onto the walls and to the handle stairs as I'm stumbling to go downstairs. When I went to the kitchen I had to eat on the floor because my body was heating up and I had no energy, as I took a rest on the kitchen floor I honestly asked myself if I was going to succumb to this since things just kept gradually weren't getting any better. A weird miracle happened the following morning, my stomach started to growl as I regained my appetite.

 It was from that day forward where things were starting to get better, slowly but surely getting somewhat back to normal (same for my mother, she regained her smell and taste three weeks later). Doing household chores throughout the week was the true test of how much energy I could withhold, as things got better and better I wasn’t ready to come back to work until another week later. I didn’t announce to the world about what I had been through until I fully recovered when it was revealed that I had COVID others had contacted me about what to do when they did become sick, I hope to never become sick like this ever again. I don’t even wish that on those I’m not fond of, if you read this story please continue to stay safe.