After only one week back at college for the spring semester, I tested positive for covid after dodging it for almost two years. This time last week was pretty scary. I learned I was a close contact last Saturday after simply watching a movie in my friend's dorm room. I didn't think much of it because throughout the night I wasn't physically close to this person at all. It wasn't until the following day I started to panic a little bit. So, I drove to CVS and picked up as many rapid tests as I could find, and took one right away. It was negative. A sigh of relief washed over me. However, about thirty minutes later, one of my closest friends tested positive and I got scared. I had been with this friend every day over that last week, so there was no way I avoided the virus this time. After finding out my friend tested positive and making sure they were okay, I sat at church praying that I didn't have covid. Yes, I knew I would probably be fine because I am fully vaccinated and boosted as well as constantly taking every precaution to protect myself, but there is still an unknown. I had to leave choir practice because I was on the verge of a panic attack. Luckily, another friend followed me out and attempted to calm me down. With his help, I started to come to terms with the fact that I could possibly have covid.
This may seem a bit dramatic to you, but this is the reality of being immunocompromised during a pandemic. Because of my endometriosis and asthma, my immune system and lungs are not that of a perfectly healthy person. I didn't know how my body was going to react to this new attack. The very first thing I did the following morning was go right to my school's testing center and got a PCR test. From then on, the rest of the day was a waiting game. I kept myself busy by doing my internship and mentally preparing myself for the news I didn't want to hear. Throughout the day, I started developing cold symptoms. This is not completely abnormal for me as I have bad allergies and more often than not have a stuffy nose and cough. However, this was not a good sign since I was a close contact with two different people in the span of twenty-four hours. I decided to attend my class on zoom that night because at this point, I had full-fledged symptoms and I was not feeling good. Around 9pm that night, my friends who had also tested in the morning started getting their negative test results back. I waited and waited but never received mine. I finally went to bed around 11pm with the gut feeling that I had tested positive. I woke up several times during the night and checked my phone hoping to see an email about testing negative, but that never came. Around 8am the next morning, I received the dreaded email: "the results for your covid-19 test have come back positive."
I had little reaction at this point because 1) I was still half asleep and 2) I had prepped myself for this news. I just knew I needed to pack up my things and go home. I really wasn't feeling well at this point, so my brain wasn't working at top speed. I shoved a bunch of things into a bag and went to my car- double-masked the whole way. I knew I had to be forgetting something, but I went through the mental checklist of things most important to me: medicine and sound machine, check! Once I got in my car, I saw the negative rapid test I had taken the night before sitting there and mocking me. I hadn't eaten anything at this point and was still pretty tired, so I was attempting to hype myself up for the 1.5-hour drive home. Once I got some food in my system and my podcast playing, I was good to go. Luckily, I made it home with no problems.
When I arrived at my house, I was greeted with N95 masks and surgical gloves on the counter. I put a mask on and went straight down to my room where I've been ever since. At that point, I was having bad cold symptoms- stuffy nose, congestion, cough, dry throat- as well as trouble breathing and bad fatigue. I quickly took a shower while the rest of my family was at school and work, then immediately went to sleep. The first day was a little rough being by myself because I was so used to being super social with all my friends at school, but I quickly got into a routine of prioritizing myself and making sure I was doing everything I could to get better quickly. Those initial cold symptoms lasted about three days. Now, I am just experiencing a stuffy nose and fatigue. However, this morning I woke up with extreme dizziness and almost wet the bed not being able to stand up to walk to the bathroom. Actually, writing this blog is the first time I've sat up in bed all day because the dizziness is still very much there.
This whole week I have been so thankful that I am fully vaccinated and boosted. I've had quite of bit of trouble with my breathing even with all my vaccines, so I'm glad I didn't get covid before vaccines were available. While I have felt pretty sick all week, I am also so thankful that my symptoms haven't been worse since that was a very real possibility with me being immunocompromised. I am on the mend now and hoping to be back at school soon. Please be mindful of your immunocompromised loved ones at this time because even if you aren't scared about getting covid, they probably are. So let's be kind and respectful toward everyone and do what we can to make everyone safe!
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