My Covid Story

This blog entry was written on my third day in the hospital. Let me start with how it all began, it was Saturday evening when I started to feel feverish but I was not feeling concerned at that time. I just had a dental procedure done that same day so I thought it was just a side effect and would simply go away, I was wrong. 

Day 2 – Sunday 

Morning came and I was still down with a slight fever, it was not that severe but in the morning I could no longer eat well. I was losing my appetite.  I slept the whole afternoon as I was experiencing mild body pain due to the fever. 

Day 3 – Monday

I managed to drive myself to work and perform the usual tasks and meet the same people. I did the same thing the next day, did the usual task in the office but the feverish feeling never left me.

Day 4 – Wednesday 

My fever worsened as it is now accompanied by body pains. I could no longer bring myself to work, I decided to rest at home. I was hopeful that with much rest and sleep, my body will recuperate the next day but I was wrong.

Day 5 – Thursday 

I decided to go to the hospital. I went to a private hospital in Silang, Cavite. There, I was already tagged as PUI (patient under investigation) due to my fever therefore I was going to be treated in a separate facility along with patients that are confirmed Covid19 positive. The nurse attending to me said this while we were in the triage tent outside the hospital. This is something that I strongly opposed, I was in denial. I was thinking, I do not have Covid and I don’t want the risk of being mixed with positive patients. My opposition to the hospital protocol was so strong that I decided to look for another hospital. I ended up in a hospital in Dasmarinas however, they would not even entertain patients unless they provide a negative swab result. The hospital staff referred me to a laboratory to go to. At this point, my energy was already drained as I was dealing with the fever and a terrible headache. At this point I gave up, I decided to go back home and manage the fever with paracetamol.

Day 6 – Friday

At home, I took paracetamol every 4 hours and vitamins C plus Zinc. I also had steam therapy or “suob” wherein I inhaled steam with vaporub. I also took salabat religiously. Still, the fever did not subside, at this point, I already had chills and body pains. My condition was getting worse and worse. 

Day 7 – Saturday

I was already exhausted and was in a miserable state. My temperature was still hitting 38.6 on the 3rd day of trying to manage the fever with paracetamol. The fever never left me and so I decided again to go to another hospital in Cavite where I waited about 1 hour in the E.R. I was not encouraged at all to be side by side, though socially distanced with many sick individuals in the ER so I decided to go back to the Silang hospital. This time I was no longer going to refuse the protocol, I have decided to subject myself to their authority and care, I was desperate.

At the onset of my visit, the attending nurse immediately informed me that they no longer have available rooms if I should be admitted. They assured me that they were going to perform tests and provide a diagnosis, but in the end, I will have to be home quarantined. The staff administered a blood test, X-ray, and rapid antigen swab test on me. After a few hours, the nurse went back and interviewed me. He asked where I worked, what kind of work set up I have, and where I live. Shortly after, the nurse revealed my test results, I was positive for covid19. 

So many things raced through my mind at this point. I thought about my family and my business. I asked my wife to call all possible hospitals in Cavite to check for available rooms for admission. She called 3 different hospitals and was told that there are no more available rooms, some patients were already waiting for 3 straight days in the ER tents set up outside waiting to be admitted, most of the patients were just sent home to quarantine and manage the symptom on their own. It was already nighttime when I was sent on my way home.

Day 8 – Sunday

Despite the antibiotics, vitamins, and suob and salabat, I never got better. On this day, I had LBM and had developed a cough. The isolation took a toll on my well-being. I found myself unable to eat despite having enough food supply in my pantry. I also did not take the medicines on time as I preferred to sleep when I should be waking up to take my meds. Little did I know, I already had low oxygen levels at this time. 

Day 9 – Monday 

This is my 9th day of having covid19. Because I was not confined in a hospital, my situation was getting worse every minute, every hour. This was when my wife started to ask for help by contacting relatives who are local health care workers. Her niece, a radiologic technician, was able to secure a room for me, I am grateful to her and I praise God. At 10 am I was in the ER tent, they checked all my test results and records, and after a few moments, I was already confined in a container van turned to an isolation room. This day I discovered that I have developed pneumonia, my oxygen level was low and I had to use oxygen support. 

On my first day of confinement, I already told my wife, in case I did not make it to take good care of our children. Although my fever was gone, Covid19 gave me the worst cough I have experienced in my life. My whole body aches when I have episodes of continuous coughing. I was determined to live despite the agony I was feeling, when my cough was getting worse, I would force myself to get up and perform the breathing exercises (tutorials) sent by friends. When I have the urge to cough I would fight it, I refused to go with the flow as every cough was so painful that I knew it would drain the life out of me in no time.

In my 11 days of being in the hospital, I heard of wailing from the other rooms from relatives of patients who perished. So many severe covid patients passed away in my 11 days of stay in the hospital. While all this is happening, I also knew of some friends and acquaintances whose entire households were all infected by this virus. They came from different kinds of places from QC, from Rizal and Cavite. I am sharing this story in the hopes that you can conquer it better than I did. 

First of all, I believe this new strain that came this March 2021 is a super spreader like no other and a more deadly one. The virus strain that was present during the ber months, when the economy was relaxed and most of us can go out, this new strain was not present then. If you are like me who underestimated the virus’s ability to spread back in the last quarter of 2020, you guys better believe it now, Covid is real and more deadly than ever before. 

If you should be in an airconditioned room or space, do not engage in activities that would need you to remove your mask. If you are reading this and you know someone who has a fever that doesn’t go away for more than 3 days or even has a simple cold or cough, please bring them to the hospital or ask them to do teleconsultation. I was supposed to be for confinement but due to hospitals reaching full capacity, I had no choice but to go home. In the 3 days that I was doing home quarantine and not getting the best medical care possible, my health greatly deteriorated. Had I consulted with a medical professional on day 1 of having a fever, I probably would have not needed confinement. It was only by God’s grace that my wife was able to make calls to secure hospital confinement for me. If I continued with the home quarantine on my own, I honestly would not have survived. You may be wondering how I acquired the virus, I may have gotten it from a wake I attended but I may have gotten it anywhere. 

I am writing this and I intend to bring hope to those who are still fighting the disease, you are going to make it! I also want to bring awareness especially to people who still underestimate the virus, please take care of yourselves. Let us all bring our immunities up. Let us eat healthy, exercise, drink salabat every day, and get our daily dose of the morning sun. During this time, no matter what HMO you carry, no matter how much money and insurance policies you have, all these won’t help much when what you need is a hospital bed. I would like to thank all those who prayed for me. I am also grateful to the healthcare workers and hospital staff who have helped me in that journey, may the Lord protect and sustain you all. To everyone reading this until the end, be safe and stay strong.