This is day 14 and I don’t know if I’ll ever feel better. My symptoms are mostly diarrhea, headache, extreme fatigue, and now depression and loneliness. Anxiety tries to take over because I don’t know what will happen day by day. Each morning I wake up and I have a different symptom.

The very first symptom I noticed was diarrhea but I associated that with the Mexican dinner I had just eaten. Day 2, I woke up and felt like a car ran over me. My body was so achy. I got up and went to work. I felt like crap and almost fell asleep because I was so exhausted. Day 3, I woke up and felt like a Mac truck hit me. I barely made it to work but only because our nurses are furloughed or moved to different departments. I had to work. I did my normal temperature check at the deck to make sure I didn’t have COVID-19 (which is a joke because I have never had a fever).

Anyways, I now presented with more than two symptoms and was sent home. I was not told to get a test but I did. And I was shocked when I found out that I was positive. I cried, I was mad, I was sick. I was a lot of things. I’ve joined a Facebook support group and it is what keeps me going every day.

I’m easily discouraged because I worry about my children. I worry about my co-workers. I worry about my long-term health. This illness is like nothing I have ever known. I’m afraid that the lasting effects will kill me and I won’t be around to see my grandchildren. I won’t be around to see my children grow. This is slowly killing me.