Nothing to write home and elaborately about, but two and a half years since the start of the pandemic, it seemed inevitable. We tested positive with COVID-19. Putting this here for posterity of September’s events, so I’d be reminded down the line that this indeed took place.
I was under the impression that I may have gotten it from either the mall in Antipolo, or our usual weekday grocery shopping. We could no longer pinpoint it.
Prepping the antigen test
The first symptom that I felt the night before I tested was how itchy my throat was before sleeping. The following morning, my head was throbbing and it felt quite different from the other headaches I usually have.
We still have some antigen kits at home, which be periodically use to be sure. And for the first time, I got the dreaded two lines. Mon, on the other hand, tested negative. He was off the hook (for now).
While most people would not want to have themselves tested for a confirmatory RT-PCR test, I strongly felt we still had to do it. We went to the mall parking lot and had our swabs, which was not too bad. Mon was quite anxious because he never felt comfortable with one. I, on the other hand, had a test a year ago, which fortunately tested negative.
And the dreaded RT-PCR
The next day, I woke up to the love letter from the laboratory confirming what I already knew. Mon was still negative. I then scheduled a doctor’s appointment online, and received a long list of medicines and vitamins to tide me through for the next 7 days.
Mon, unfortunately, began having symptoms three days after mine manifested. He got an antigen test and the two lines appeared. He then took another RT-PCR test, which eventually had the result we were not surprised of.
From 2 lines to 1 line, wooh!
My symptoms disappeared after the 3rd day, except for the lingering feeling that I wanted to eat and eat. And although the usual prescribed day for the quarantine was 7-days, we added plus 4 days on top of Mon’s quarantine to be sure. We also wanted to make sure the antigen test was no longer showing even the faintest second line. That meant we missed attending my mother’s birthday celebration. We did not want to bring any unwanted gifts anyway.
One other thing that got me extremely worried was my cat getting sick around the same time as I was. The last weekend we were at home, she was already quite low energy. There was also an obvious wound around her nose.
Then mid-week, she barely touched her food, prompting my father to immediately inform everyone that they might have to bring Miso to the vet.
The difference that 4 days can make
We decided that it would be better to have her confined in the vet, so she can be closely monitored. That also meant she would have to be shaved all over, as they try to manage her condition. My poor cat, alone in an unfamiliar place, enough to keep me extremely worried especially in the first 2 days. As an overthinker, I even cried the first night as I was thinking I may be losing her, never getting the opportunity to see her because I could not step out of the house.
She managed to pull through after 7 days, which also meant she was as noisy and easily annoyed with the people around. That was a good sign, as she was slowly getting back to her old self.
The last 2 weeks had been very stressful and challenging health-wise.
