Una más del montón, positiva para COVID... / One more in the pile, positive for COVID...

Hello, here I am again, this time with an experience, an anecdote that is different from the usual...

While we know that the pandemic is still a reality, we must also be aware that most people have downplayed its importance, where basic preventions such as social distancing and the use of the mask have been left aside in many places; in my country, Venezuela, although it is still "mandatory" to use the mask, never but never all the population that should use it has done so; Venezuela, although it is still "mandatory" the use of the mask, never but never all the population that should use it has done it, on the contrary there are those who are annoyed if you demand the use of it and more if it is near you, something that today should be considered a rule of coexistence, respect for others.

Now, closing a little more the circle of people, in the city where I live San Cristobal, have risen exponentially positive cases of covid, this is because as I mentioned above, that as a society has lowered its guard and has been downplayed the importance of the virus, being the current strains much more contagious than the initial.

In spite of being a very careful person, today I am part of the statistics, today I am one more positive of the bunch, this actually at first caused me a little bit of bad mood, since it was in a little, let's say silly, way that I got infected. I traveled, used public transportation during my vacation more than I've used it in 10 years in my city, went to a concert and a couple of other things and came down with it at my workplace.... All because a somewhat irresponsible coworker refused to wear a mask even though she had viral symptoms. I have no proof that this was my point of contagion, but I have no doubts either, even though I always use the mask, in that space I had to have a break in my safety protocol and there I acquired the virus, because I have not been related to anyone else who tested positive and 3 and a half days after the incident with my coworker (who tested positive and her workplace is diagonal to mine) I began to show symptoms.

Mis síntomas comenzaron a manifestarse el jueves en la tarde, un pequeño dolor de piernas, de cabeza y unas ganas increíbles de quedarme en cama, cosa que se la achaco a la pereza por lo que no se le dio mayor importancia. Viernes 4am, despierto con mucho escalofrío, fiebre, dolor de cabeza y un zumbido en mis oídos que me alejaba por completo de la tranquilidad; algo dentro de mí sabía que las cosas no iban bien, sin embargo Hive account@isamorales decide que todo esto puede ser causa del estrés al cual había sido sometida en mi día anterior; aún así aviso al trabajo que estoy con malestar y que no iré a trabajar.

My symptoms began to manifest on Thursday afternoon, a little pain in my legs, headache and an incredible desire to stay in bed, which I put it down to laziness so I did not give it much importance. Friday 4am, I wake up with a lot of chills, fever, headache and a buzzing in my ears that took me completely away from tranquility; something inside me knew that things were not going well, however Hive account@isamorales decides that all this may be caused by the stress to which I had been subjected in my previous day; even so I notify work that I am with malaise and that I will not go to work.

As the hours went by my symptoms were getting worse, I felt more and more depressed and with less spirit, the only fact of grabbing the cell phone was a unique overexertion, the headache was taking over me and the buzzing in my ears did not allow me to stop feeling dazed.

Resignation, a word that has accompanied me throughout these days.... So Saturday I started it not only with discomfort but with resignation, so I decided to go out to see if I could take the test in a public health center, without any success because there were no tests available anywhere, I resigned myself to a new aspect and began to find out in several paid laboratories to see where I would take the precious test, but they all agreed on the same recommendation: wait a few more days so as not to get a false negative, as with the passing of the days, the viral load would be higher and the result would be more reliable. Reaching a new level of resignation, I returned home to rest and wait patiently for the days to pass to clear up the uncertainty.

Fue un fin de semana largo, con el pasar de los días, los síntomas han ido empeorando, cada día agrego un nuevo síntoma a la lista, pero he de decir que lo peor es el cansancio, desde que comencé con la enfermedad me canso mucho y por todo, es increíble, el dolor en mis huesos es peor que cuando me dio dengue. Hive account@isamorales quien me ha cuidado con amor y dedicación, ha caído enferma a mi lado, era de esperarse lo sé, pero aún así guardábamos un poco de esperanzas de que eso no sucediera.

It was a long weekend, with the passing of the days, the symptoms have been getting worse, every day I add a new symptom to the list, but I have to say that the worst is the tiredness, since I started with the disease I get tired a lot and for everything, it's incredible, the pain in my bones is worse than when I got dengue. Hive account@isamorales who has taken care of me with love and dedication, has fallen ill by my side, it was to be expected I know, but we still had a little hope that this would not happen.

Monday, we left home as early as we could, not an easy task feeling both down, but we still made it; we insisted again in public health centers, to see if there was the test but there was not, so we went to perform the paid test, which cost around 25$. The test I had was the nasal swab, I must say that my experience was quite unpleasant, in fact after a while I could still feel that uncomfortable sensation in me.

The gentleman at the laboratory told me that the result would take about 30 minutes but that if my viral load was very high, it could be positive in 12 minutes. Fifteen minutes passed and the gentleman came out, indicating that the result was indeed positive, there was no room for doubt, in me there was only resignation.

Ahora bien, Hive account@isamorales tenía cita en un centro de salud privado donde por parte de la empresa para la cual trabaja le harían una serie de exámenes para verificar su estado de salud, así que nos fuimos para allá, donde fue atendida de buena manera y le indicaron un reposo inicial de 7 días, donde al cumplirse esta cantidad de días, debe volver a consulta para evaluar su estado de salud; luego de esto fuimos a un centro de atención médica público, para que ya con los resultados de la prueba, me evaluaran y me indicaran el reposo necesario con la debida constancia como requisito para mi lugar de trabajo.

Now, Hive account@isamorales had an appointment at a private health center where the company she works for would perform a series of tests to verify her state of health, so we went there, where she was attended in a good way and they indicated an initial rest of 7 days, where upon completion of this number of days, she must return for consultation to evaluate her state of health; After this we went to a public medical attention center, so that with the results of the test, they could evaluate me and indicate me the necessary rest with the due constancy as a requirement for my place of work.

To my surprise, my rest has been 21 days, longer than expected, but necessary for my complete recovery, according to the doctor who is treating me, who by the way was a little worried when she noticed that my saturation was 94, so she indicated that I should measure my saturation every 4 hours and also sent me to do a series of blood tests and the respective chest x-ray.

En cuanto a medicamentos, a pesar de estar que no soportaba el dolor de garganta y que tragar hasta saliva era casi misión imposible para mí, no me indicaron antibiótico. Cada médico podríamos decir, tiene su protocolo de covid ya establecido y aún así, el médico de Hive account@isamorales y mi doctora coincidieron enviándonos el mismo tratamiento, por lo que al salir de consulta fuimos a comprarlo de una vez.

As for medication, despite the fact that I could not stand the pain in my throat and swallowing even saliva was almost impossible for me, I was not prescribed antibiotics. Each doctor, we could say, has his own covid protocol already established and even so, Hive account@isamorales' doctor and my doctor agreed to send us the same treatment, so when we left the office we went to buy it at once.

Taking the exams was not such an easy task, since we had to wait 3 days to feel a little better and with strength to go out.... Although we were already taking vitamins and resting, these days at home were quite hard, because any minimum effort left us exhausted, going to the bathroom was a kind of marathon, despite having the saturation under control, the heart rate was another story, because any slightest movement accelerated the beating of our hearts by lots...

El día que salimos para que Hive account@isamorales repitiera sus exámenes y por fin me hiciera yo los míos, salir fue una aventura total, pero no una positiva, todo nos cansaba muchísimo, al llegar a casa Hive account@isamorales casi se desmaya, cosa que por suerte no sucedió, con todo el sacrificio y esfuerzo del mundo, pudimos hacer una sopita para comer y el resto del día, lo único que pudimos hacer fue dormir...

The day we went out for Hive account@isamorales to repeat her exams and I finally took mine, going out was a total adventure, but not a positive one, everything made us very tired, when we got home Hive account@isamorales almost fainted, which luckily did not happen, with all the sacrifice and effort in the world, we could make a soup to eat and the rest of the day, the only thing we could do was sleep ....

Mis exámenes de sangre no salieron muy alterados, al igual que el RX y los de Hive account@isamorales mejoraron notablemente, por lo que continuamos sin antibióticos.

My blood tests did not come back very altered, as did the RX and Hive account@isamorales's improved markedly, so we continued without antibiotics.

In spite of presenting many symptoms, none of us have lost our taste and smell, and at this point I doubt it will happen, but in my case, I think my taste has been altered a little, since I can't eat sweet cookies, for example, because they are extremely sweet to me.

This illness has affected us all in one way or another, Susy, who we thought would be happy to have us all day at home, has not been happy, she looks a little sad, I think that is why she has not gone out again, she has had to urinate and defecate inside the house and although we do not scold her, it is obvious that she does not feel good doing it. Kara on the other hand, has been indifferent, as long as she has her cat, everything is fine.

We are still not fully recovered, we have our good times and not so good times. We are at home all day and even so, watching series, being at the pc or writing posts are not things we can do, because our body does not give us enough time to rest, you can't imagine how many days it has taken me to tell you all this.

It is inevitable for me to think about how horrible this disease has been for the whole world, all that has been suffered, so many lives lost, how it takes away your desire for everything, how it makes everything so difficult, that even the most basic things cost you, it tires you, how it takes your breath away and you get tired just to breathe, I can't imagine what it must be like to suffer from this disease without vaccines...

I think that's all for now, thank you for reading me, please take care of yourselves and be socially responsible, take care of others too and today more than ever I am pro vaccine, get vaccinated, vaccines do save lives and they do help us, without them everything would be even worse... have you had covid? tell me about your experience?