A listener who has just tested positive for Coronavirus and is recovering from mild symptoms at home emailed "The Dan O'Donnell Show" to share their story in hopes that will help stop the irrational panic over a virus that is in the overwhelming majority of cases not that bad.
Hi Dan,
I was listening to your show on 3/27 and you were talking about people who have tested positive for COVID, experiencing mild symptoms and not having any light shed on their experience.
I am one of those people. I like so many have been very daunted by the news of COVID, however that went into overdrive on Wednesday March 25th, when I found out that I had tested positive for the virus.
I am an asthmatic and there was a slight change in the way that I was breathing. As an asthmatic, whenever it is cold and flu season, I need to be careful as just a regular head cold can settle in the chest and turn into pneumonia or bronchitis very early, takes you out for days. The change that I felt was just a bit of stinging when I took a deep breath and a little bit of pressure in the middle of my chest. Like so many out there, I think that my anxiety over the bleak news was not working in my favor and was playing into the symptoms that I was feeling.
This promoted me to contact my primary doctor let them know that there was a change to my breathing. I was sent an email from my primary that I was a candidate to be tested for COVID-19. I was contacted by a nurse quickly after the initial email and set up my test at a drive thru clinic.
I was tested for both COVID-19 and Influenza A & B. I was told by the kind nurse who did my testing that it could be up to 72 hours to receive my results. I continued with my social distancing and staying home due to not feel bad, but not exactly 100% as directed by the CDC and trying to do my part in flattening the curve.
Fast forward 18 hours when my phone went off at 4:39 am with my test results from my testing. I logged into my chart and read what was a confusing test result. It said that Value: was Detected but the Long Range: Was not Detected. All I could think was maybe it was a false positive? I called the COVID line for Froedtert and I was to told no one could help me until my primary doctors office opened up at 8 am. All I could think about at that time was how many people I could have spread this to, did I pass it on to my immuno compromised Father or Mother-in-Law. Does my husband have it, did my kids have it? Am I going to die because I have asthma? Those are all of the things that you hear in the media over and over and over and run through your mind.
I waited until 8 am, finally got ahold of a nurse at my doctors office and she read me the result as confirmed positive. She gave me a list of instructions, and let me know that the Health Department would be contacting me. At the time of talking with the Health Department the only symptoms that I was feeling were fatigue and a slight stuffy nose and a slight tickle in the back of my throat.
After hearing the diagnosis, I felt like a ticking time bomb. Was I going to not be able to breathe, was I going to get a fever suddenly, how was I going to tell my employer and my family?
No one talks about the people like me who only have slight symptoms and are able to recover at home. All we hear about is the gravely ill, and my heart goes out to all of the families affected by this terrible virus. However, I know there are more of me out there. While I know that I am not completely over this, I feel that I am getting there.
As of right now, there is only one recovered case in Wisconsin. I hope to make that 2 in the next coming week! I want to show the side of the virus that allows us to have hope that when we get this, that we are able to recover. We are able to stay positive.
I wanted to share my story with someone, and this seemed like the perfect opportunity.
My journey in recovery could not have been achieved with out the help our my parents, my children and my most amazing husband. There's no one else I'd rather be quarantined with than them!
I'd like to remain anonymous as I am active on social media, have a family and am not 100% recovered at this time.
Thank you Dan for all of the awareness you bring to our communities and all of the good you do for the great state of WI.