There are no words to describe the feeling I had when the doctor walked into the exam room and told my mom and I that we had both tested positive for Covid-19. I could see my mom’s eyes well up with tears. We would miss my little brother’s last football game of the season, we would not be able to make it to my little cousin’s first birthday party, and I would miss part of my senior year. Walking out of the urgent care felt like a walk of shame. We followed all of the rules, we washed and sanitized everything, we always wore our masks, and tried to steer clear of crowded spaces. So why us? I believe the universe has a funny way of showing us… well, I don’t really know what the universe was trying to prove with this. Here’s my story.

On Friday, Oct. 9, I woke up feeling like I had been hit by a truck. I had been at the Homecoming game the night before where I stood in the rain for about an hour which was definitely not the wisest decision, but I thought that had something to do with the yucky feeling. Then I started to get body aches, my teeth felt like they were going to fall out of my skull at any minute, and it seemed like every nerve of mine was on edge. I told my mom about my symptoms and it turned out that she did not feel good either. We decided at this point to go get tested even though we were 85 percent sure we only had the flu, but it was the responsible thing to do.

When we woke up the next morning, I felt horrible. I could barely brush out my hair because my body ached so much, so I couldn’t manage any more than that. The nurse at the urgent care swabbed us for both the flu and Covid, and I swear she was digging for bits of my brain. A couple of minutes passed and the doctor delivered the news. We were shocked and to be honest, I am still kind of shocked. You don’t think this kind of thing will happen to you until it does. The next couple of days were about the same. I had these chronic headaches, my eyes felt like there were being plucked out, and my sense of smell was completely gone. I had actually gone around the house picking up random things like nail polish remover, coffee grounds, and perfume to test if I could smell them.

My dad and my brother, Shae, had both tested positive a day or so after my mom and I so we were all just coexisting in pain. Then after literally only 24 hours of my dad and brother testing positive, they began to feel absolutely no symptoms. What kind of cruel joke is that? My mom was on a breathing machine and I couldn’t manage to get out of bed and my brother was just running around having the time of his life. It was so weird. Speaking of weird, I was having these crazy, vivid fever dreams. During one of my many naps, I had a dream about a faceless boy chasing me through a field in a drill team costume. I woke up so scared and was clearly traumatized by the dream. Making jokes about the situation really helped me get through this challenging time.

I spent my last few days with ‘Rona in bed, resting, and trying to prepare myself for my release back into the world. On Oct. 21, I finally went back to school, happy to see my friends and teachers, and excited to get out of my house. While there were a few snide remarks from those who maybe didn’t understand the full extent of what I had gone through, the following week when I made my second Covid-free debut, people were much more understanding. They were more curious than anything about the symptoms, the test, and the process of getting released. That was fine; I was okay with answering questions.

Overall, I would not recommend getting Covid. It was pretty awful, but my family and I are very lucky to have made it out virtually ok (except I don’t have my smell back). Jokes aside, this is a dangerous virus. With 9.58 million cases in the United States and 230,000 Americans dead, the Corona Virus is not going away any time soon. Do your part, wash your hands, and wear your mask.