My Experience with COVID-19

I uploaded a video on my COVID story, but there's only so much I can say without coughing or trouble breathing these days. So, if you would please, allow me to share my story with you.

On 8/22, it was a very hot day in California. During these days, it is common for me to suffer from heat rashes. I got them on my back, my hands, and my legs. As soon as I took a cold shower and put on soothing oil, they were manageable for the rest of the day.

On 8/23, my heat rashes were gone but my hands and feet continued to be intermittently irritated. They just itched randomly. By the end of the night, I felt like the heat and humidity was affecting my asthma. I had a 99.3F temperature and felt fatigued. I took a shower and my inhaler for the night, and I felt better.

On 8/24, I woke up with a sore throat, body aches, headaches, and a cough. The rashes and itchiness were gone. I was scheduled to work that night, and thinking about the screening for COVID, I knew I was going to fail. So, I called off work and decided to get tested. I isolated myself from my family, and only had enough energy to sleep throughout the day.

On 8/25, I got my result for COVID: positive.

The questions that ran through my mind was: how? where? who could have I given it to? A long series of events happened: upon being on strict isolation, the rest of my family were tested, I told the few people I was in contact with so they can get tested, and my workplace was notified. I'm thankful because my mother took care of everything else that had to be done.

The rest of the week was a blur. I suffered mostly from coughing, trouble breathing, fatigue, and aches. It felt like I was having an asthma attack every single day for a week. I had to take a 2 to 3 hour nap for every 30 minutes of simply existing. It was impossible to hear my voice anymore, I could only breathe while I was proning or sitting, and I couldn't even walk 10 feet without gasping for air. Needless to say, I ended up in the hospital.

Initially, it was only to get my lungs evaluated. I had a tele-health appointment with an internal medicine doctor because I asked for a referral to a pulmonologist. But after hearing my symptoms, he thought it would be best if I go to the emergency room to get evaluated. I agreed. My mother took me. And my mother can tell you how hard it was to simply go to the emergency room.

On 8/31, I had the worst coughing fit just while I had to walk from my mom's car to the triage tent. I took 3 breaks while having a coughing fit, catching my breath, gasping for air, and sweating like crazy. They brought me to an ER room, and honestly, I can't even explain it to you because the whole thing just felt like a blur. I was coughing, trying to breathe, and waiting. They took my blood, took a chest X-ray, had me walk around the room, doctors came to see me, they listened to my lungs, and the verdict was: stay in the hospital for further monitoring.

On top of COVID, I got pneumonia and my asthma has been badly exacerbated. In middle school, running a mile felt like running a marathon. It took me years of exercise and weight loss and asthma management to function normally. And now, I feel like I'm back to middle school.

I spent four days in the hospital, but those days went by like a blur. I had a routine of waking up for vital signs and medications, breathing treatments every four hours, sitting with my hymn music on for a couple hours, taking a nap in between every meal and breathing treatment, staying still for antibiotics, taking in more breathing treatments, sleeping, and then repeat. I walked around the hospital room to see how much I could handle without coughing. The breathing treatments were working, but there was still tightness on my chest, difficulty breathing, and persistent coughing. Four days later, things felt manageable enough for me to be sent home and continue my recovery at home.

As a nurse, I feel like I should be able to explain this experience more. But every fiber of my being throughout this experience has been focused on healing. I'm starting to see and understand the patient's perspective more, and it really makes me re-evaluate my thoughts when I discharge a patient next time.

Because even though I'm not in the hospital anymore, my recovery has been frustrating. I'm slowly feeling more energy. I can now exist with fewer naps. I've lost weight, but I'm slowly gaining back my appetite (there have been more stomach discomfort than I expected throughout this experience). But I'm still continuing my breathing treatments throughout the day, I'm still short of breath when I walk, and I feel like my lungs have aged so much in the last two weeks. I have been walking everyday, and my current progress is: a break when I go down or up one flight of stairs, and a break about every 50 feet when I walk outside. At this point, a quarter mile of walking without coughing or shortness of breath feels like it will take me weeks.

It's only been four days out of the hospital, yet I already expect myself to be back to my 100%.

Lord, give me patience.

Getting COVID-19, pneumonia, and my asthma exacerbation has been a humbling experience. Lungs do A LOT of work. I feel like I haven't appreciated them as much as I do now. Little things take a lot of work, like, when was the last time you had to think about breathing? Now-a-days, even when I just walk down my stairs, I'm holding onto my inhaler like my life depends on it (although I guess it does depend on it at this point). My recovery will take some time, and I'm here to keep on fighting for my health.

I think I've said it all at this point. I'm thankful for the Lord and the life that He is allowing me to live. As a 23 year old, otherwise was healthy person, I feel like I haven't truly thanked God for my existence until now. During the last two weeks, I wake up and the first thing I do is thank God for allowing me to breathe.

I'm also very thankful to have a lot of support. I'm thankful to have my mom be my biggest advocate. She has been the best nurse and mom possible during this whole experience. I'm also thankful to have my whole family check up on me and not let me get lonely throughout my room isolation. I'm thankful for all of the family members and friends who have checked up on me, contacted my immediate family members, and have prayed for me.

Prayers move mountains, and I appreciate all of you who have had me in yours.

With all of this said, COVID is real. It affects each of us differently. Also, flu season is around the corner (another big concern I've got for my lungs, but that's for another time). Please wash your hands, don't touch your faces, and be mindful of your surroundings.

Thank you for taking your time to read my story.