Covid-19

 So recently I just contracted covid-19! 

It started with Saturday, since morning I felt a very unusually scratchy throat but I had no other symptoms. And because I'm a sufferer from the unfortunately evil hayfever, a scratchy throat isn't terribly too uncommon for me so I thought it was a result of my sinus allergy which did blow up the night before. I bought a peppermint honey tea and went out for a walk as usual. Then, at night, there was a sudden flare up of fever and headache, and I suspected it was covid-19. Quickly, I did an ART, which yielded negative result. I thus presumed it was my allergy acting out again, so I used my nasal spray, took one Telfast, went to sleep, and thankfully I woke up the next day much better, except again with a persistent scratchy throat but not as scratchy as the day before.

I thought it wasn't anything, so I resumed my normal activities and I even went to Labrador Park for a breeze.

The next day was Monday. I still had a scratchy throat though it had become milder. But other than that, I had no indication whatsoever I was otherwise ill. So I went to office, bought a sandwich, ate in the office maskless, and attended a meeting. After the virtual meeting, I wanted to take off my mask, but I was thinking, hey, there's a covid kit in front of me, and I had a scratchy throat, why not just be safe? So I did the test.

And safe it was.

Looked at it, the fluid wasn't done flowing the strip and the T line had appeared, indicating very strong virus presence.

I texted my boss, packed my stuff speedily and hightailed it to the clinic. I was extremely nervous and guilty because I was already in the office for an hour plus. I could feel the stare and confusion in the others' eyes when I was rushing to leave, and my messages blew up on the way to the clinic.

Thanks, guy for the concern, and sorry for the risk.

Anyway, I went to the clinic and I told the nurse I tested positive on a rapid test. She told me it was a two hours wait and then rather nonchalantly told me to 'go eat first'. Ya, you heard right. I was momentarily stunned too, but yes that's what the nurse told me.

I returned to my home instead, which was nearby. I visited a nearer clinic rather than the usual I went to because this was the closest I could go without taking public transport and it was a very shiny 11am Monday morning. I returned an hour and a half later, and yet I still needed to wait for almost an hour. I didn't expect I needed to wait this long more so I went without a bottle of water and nastily my throat began to irritate more and more. No choice, I went down to the supermarket and grabbed a bottle of peppermint honey tea again and went back to resume the wait. Oops. Sorry, not my intention to be a superspreader there's no vending machine nearby I had no choice!

Anyway, when I met the doctor and told him I had only a mild dry and scratchy throat, he took a peek into my throat and said 'not so bad'. As I had no other symptoms, I guessed he became wary and sceptical than I did contract covid-19, and began to ask whether I did the test properly and whether I waited too long to see the lines appeared, to which I replied no and I took a photo. He did the swab for me himself, and as expected, it yielded positive result.

I was given 5 days MC so basically one week off. Yay.

But for me, covid-19 was better than a flu. I had only a scratchy throat, and it wasn't enough sore enough to stop me from eating chilli. On the second day though I had a bout of incredibly intolerable runny nose, but upon realising that the mucous looked unusually white and watery I then suspected it wasn't covid-19 but rather my allergy, so I deployed my nasal spray again and I got an instant relief - I suffered half a day for a symptom I mistaken as covid-19. But, on the same day, I did experience extreme fatigue - I literally slept half a day. I left my bed and my head hurt like hell, so I just resumed sleeping and I slept till the evening. It's 16 hours plus in total.

But on the third day onwards I had become rather symptomless. The scratchy throat had begun to fade though still present, I had no more runny or blocked nose, but I did suffer a very mild throat irritation that caused some cough but it was surreptitious rather than persistent. So I fully utilised my MC and spent all the time watching all the shows and reading all the books I wanted.

The most painful experience had got to be the home quarantine. Singapore mandated that anybody who tested positive must self-isolate for at least 72 hours, after that the patient might self-test with an ART and if they got a negative result, they could exit self-isolation; but if the results continue to be positive, they should resume self-isolation until Day 7, which they were allowed to leave even if they still tested positive.

The self-isolation was rather torturous. I had a landlord and housemate so I had to be careful not to expose them to the virus, so I largely confined myself to my room and if needed to, I wore a mask outside my room. I had to rely entirely on delivery, which was incredibly expensive and set my budget back a hundred dollars this month. My aunty graciously brought me a lunch one day together with fruits and soothing drinks, while my landlord was very kind enough to cook me a meal for a number of days, for which I am eternally grateful.

Covid-19, for me, was not a very serious disease, but the toll on the mind was large. The self-isolation was quite bad, and I tested negative only one day 6, so I had been confined to my room for 6 days. Upon getting my negative result, I danced for a minute, and I straight leapt out, took in a few deep breaths of fresh air, and went to buy my groceries. It's extremely sweet to be outside and free again.