On Monday, Nov. 9, I went to school with cold symptoms. With COVID cases going up, my mom advised me to go home. I was scared at first because my parents were out of town at the time and my grandma was watching me. The last thing I wanted was to give my grandma COVID. I went home and was kinda restless. I was so tired yet I just couldn’t sleep. I stayed in my room away from everyone that night just in case. My mom was coming home on Tuesday around 3 p.m. so I was going to get a test then. This is when my COVID journey started. 

Nov. 10, 2020 – Day 1 – I was home by myself all day because my brothers were at school and my grandma went home to limit her exposure to my possible COVID. I was fine in the morning and felt better. I told my mom this which made her and my dad more relieved and thought I could just have a cold. Another thing that didn’t help was my brother, my dad and my aunt all felt like this a week ago and tested negative so my family didn’t think I had COVID. Around 12 p.m. I took a nap and didn’t wake up till 3 p.m. Even when I woke up I didn’t really feel awake. My mom got home late and we missed our time to get tested so I now  had to wait until tomorrow. When my family got home I was feeling good. The weird thing about my experience is that how I felt was very up and down throughout the day. 

Nov. 11, 2020 – Day 2 – My parents had to work and my brothers went to school because I hadn’t tested positive yet. I was home alone again and trying to do homework, but this was a hard day. I felt nauseous and didn’t really want to eat anything. I was sneezing, coughing, and all the other cold symptoms. My aunt came over to take me to get a test around 2 p.m. We went to a COVID wellness check location where you drive through and give them printed online forms  for your appointment. Then they swab your nose for five seconds and send you on your way. After about 30-40 minutes they send you your results. Mind you, my family didn’t think I was positive because I had no real signs and got the test just as a preventative measure. My mom texted me from work because she received an email saying that I had tested positive. I had to call my friends I was with on Saturday to let them know that they all had to quarantine. The people I was with on Sunday got tested, but didn’t have to quarantine. My family had to quarantine and we had to call the school. I was now stuck in my room, away from my family to protect them from getting COVID. 

Nov. 12, 2020 – Day 3 – Today my family got tested since they have been around me so much. My mom tested positive, so now my mom and I are in my room together, quarantining. Some big symptoms started to happen for me today. I can’t taste or smell anymore, which is a weird sensation because my brain knows what I am eating tastes like but I can’t taste it. I can’t even smell the food to try to trick myself into thinking I can taste. I have been trying to eat things with a lot of texture otherwise it’s just like mush which grosses me out. I started to get really winded when I was barely walking and sometimes even while just sitting down; I have to breathe deep to make myself not feel light headed. The last of the new symptoms I got was feeling really dizzy. I started to feel motion sickness all the time. I would look at the television for too long and feel like I was on a carousel. Since I wasn’t feeling well at all, I started to get really behind in school becauseI had already missed three and a half days. It wasn’t a fun day at all. 

Nov. 13, 2020 – Day 4 – Today I woke up and still couldn’t smell or taste at all. I was so hungry and frustrated, I just started trying to eat random things. I tried things like lemon juice and hot sauce and couldn’t taste it at all. It’s so weird to describe to other people since I haven’t felt anything like this before. The rest of the day I was trying to eat healthy and things with textures. I felt way better today and had a little more energy, but still not a lot. I wanted to go on a walk or just do something, yet when I tried, I got tired very easily. All I really did was watch movies and the Westside football game which they won, but that was the most excitement I got that day (yay statebound).

Nov. 14, 2020 – Day 5 – I didn’t do much today. I started to feel better yet I still got tired very easily. I have watched a crazy amount of movies and done a little bit of online shopping as therapy. A friend of mine, who had COVID right before, told me that I might go crazy on day five because of staying home and not having anything to do. A lot of people for some reason have a panic attack this day. I did feel a little like I was going crazy and bored, especially after doing the same thing everyday, but I was fine eventually. I went to bed pretty early.

Nov. 15, 2020 – Day 6 –  Everyday is really starting to feel the same. Today was not very exciting. I slept a lot and watched more movies because I was still getting tired very easily. I still couldn’t taste or smell which made things even more boring. 

Nov. 16, 2020 – Day 7 – Today was a hard day of school for me. I tried to do more and couldn’t really focus. I was very behind and confused. Once I communicated that with my teachers they all understood and I felt way better, but at first I was very stressed. Doing online school is even harder when you are sick. A good thing about today was that I started to be able to taste very strong foods. Things that were spicy and stuff like that. Other bland foods not so much, but I was really happy to be able to taste more. It also tasted a little gross. Some people say they taste a teriyaki flavor when they can taste again, but mine was more just fuzzy. I don’t know any other way to explain it. 

Nov. 17, 2020 – Day 8 – This day was very exciting for me because my taste was back to normal for the most part. Some foods still tasted a little different, but overall, everything was way better. I also got all my work done for the day way faster than I usually do so I was starting to feel better. One thing I needed to stop doing, which I have been doing a lot. with COVID, was taking a nap everyday. It’s like I need a recharge to get me through the day, but I am trying to not do it. I haven’t stopped yet though. 

Nov, 18, 2020 – Day 9 – Today I woke up feeling better. I got a lot of my work done in the morning and didn’t have much to do in the afternoon. I did take another nap today because I have been getting tired very easily. After doing all my work I was drained and had a migraine, which I also have gotten a lot since this journey started. So I took a nap, watched some movies and went to bed.

Nov. 19, 2020 – Day 10 – This was the last day. I did my work as usual and it was a lot like the day before. I did feel more light-headed and tired today than usual, but it was fine eventually. Overall, I feel way better than I did and I think going back to school will make me feel better. My family still had to quarantine because they are looking for symptoms, soso far, nothing. Since my mom tested positive after me, she had to stay home for a little longer. 

Having COVID is different for everyone. Even with my mom and I being sick at the same time, we experienced different things. It’s all different and scary when learning you have it and going through everything. Quarantining really helps stop the virus from spreading to more people and is a difficult reality we are having to face.