Since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the world, our lives have been turned upside down. It hasn’t been the easiest past few years for all of us. I want to share with you how it affected me since last year. Let’s start with having a Covid-19 scare twice but this summer of 2021 was the scariest experience because the symptoms I had were far worse than last year.

In 2020, I only had a slight fever and flu but after taking a rapid test with my niece who is a medical technician, luckily I was negative. In March, I first had the occasional allergies ( I have allergic rhinitis) which progress to an itchy throat, colds and body aches.

At first I didn’t got check because it was pretty common for me to have allergies when the season is changing and the weather changed from wet season to summer. But what alarmed me and made me think of getting tested was my allergies and cough weren’t going away even after a few days and whenever I coughed (dry cough) I had horrible shooting pains on my back which travelled to to my arms and hands as if I was getting electrocuted.

I had a rapid test before that happened and I was negative but I received a call from a friend of mine who urged me to get tested again because sometimes patients get false negative results. So I booked a schedule online with the Philippine Red Cross for a Saliva Test for me and my parents to be sure.

I took a leave from my work for a few days because I had no energy to work even remotely. It was such a nerve wracking experience to not know if I had Coronavirus or it was simply the usual flu or cold. So on a rainy Sunday, we had our appointment for the Saliva Test scheduled and it was done via drive thru, which made us feel much safer, away from people.

It took around two hours to have it done because there was a line of cars full of people who were also getting tested. Another thing that took so long is producing saliva for half a vial that the Philippine Red Cross staff gave us because the bubbles from your saliva isn’t included for the specimen they needed to test if a patient is positive on Coronavirus.

After the test, we had to wait for 24 hours to know the result and that entire one day of my life was torture and I prayed night and day that we were all negative from Covid-19. That time the cases in Manila started rising again and a new strain was found so it felt like the summer of the previous year was repeating.

Finally, we got the results via e-mail and luckily we were Covid-19 negative! I’m one of the lucky ones who hasn’t caught the virus yet and I’m super thankful that my parents haven’t had it since there was an outbreak. But we’ve had a few family members who are close to us who had it and when it hits your family, it feels like your world is falling apart. What sucks the most about this virus is that you can’t visit or take care of your family when they get sick. The most you can do is wait for news, make phone calls or do a video call and send food or medicines via courier to them.

Last year a couple of my family were sick with Covid-19 but we were so lucky that everybody survived unlike others who have passed away. It was a very emotional experience and so scary that all you can do is try to stay positive that they will heal quickly and to keep praying that it will be all over, especially that there is a dire problem with hospital occupancy to the point that others die without getting medical help at all!

I’m so glad that all of my family are out of the woods and no one succumbed to the horrible disease. I’m praying that nobody will get infected again and we don’t have to deal with it ever again. I can’t wait for the day that this will be all over!