Don’t let your guard down against COVID

It all started when I suddenly felt an itchy throat while in the office one morning. It was followed by day-long intense coughing. After arriving home, I told my wife about it, and I decided to undergo an antigen test using a kit bought from a drugstore. The result came out negative, and I was confident that I did not have the virus. Otherwise, I would have gotten a positive result because I had symptoms right then. Thus, I decided to go to the office the following day.

While at the office, I literally had chills and decided to wear all three of my corporate jackets at that time to warm my body. It was a sunny morning. From that moment, I knew something was wrong. Chills, itchy throat, constant coughing, headache, and heavy body. That’s when I decided to go home at noon time and have an RT-PCR test. The result was out by dawn, and I was positive for COVID-19. I had to isolate myself from my wife and two-year-old daughter.

We were only three in our house and my wife had no choice but to provide me with food, medicines, and all essentials that I needed. I was not supposed to roam around the house to avoid the spread of the virus. That very night, unfortunately, my wife started having an itchy throat, headache, cough, and clogged nose. We were certain that she already had the virus.

We, then, started doing the same things: suob (inhaling the steam of hot water with Vicks), taking lots of vitamins, spray and candies for sore throat, medicines, and antibiotics. Days passed and the virus won’t go away. We started losing our senses of taste and smell. I felt the lesion in my throat, and my wife had an allergy attack with psoriasis-like manifestation. We had our x-ray, and the results came out clean, thank God. We continued with our home quarantine. What we fervently prayed for was for our breastfeeding daughter not to catch the virus from us. That was impossible, to say the least.

Thus, our worst nightmare came. Our daughter suddenly had a high fever of 39.3 degrees. The ever-hyperactive child, who loves to run and jump around our house, was super clingy with her mommy and got super irritated at everything. She refused to eat and drink anything other than breast milk. Worse, she was having diarrhea and dehydration was the last thing that we wanted to happen. We had no choice but to bring her to the hospital for laboratory and swab tests. Seeing one’s child while he or she undergoes painful medical tests is the most difficult thing a parent has to endure.

COVID-19, sure is, painful. But not more painful than this:

Our daughter was set to celebrate her second birthday. Her paternal grandparents were already traveling from Ilocos Sur to attend her party. Her uncles will be joining the fun as well. The day after the celebration, a staycation was booked by her mommy where she can enjoy the pool all day long. It was a long weekend, and there’s no better time to have a family bonding. All of these were scrapped because of COVID-19. I can’t even kiss, hug, and carry my baby girl during her birthday. She had to blow her candle and open her gifts without any other visitors cheering for her.

Now that I have experienced COVID-19, the pain that it brings fails in comparison with the time you will be missing because you have to isolate yourself from others. That being said, the most difficult part of dealing with COVID-19 is the missed time you were supposed to spend with your family.

We don’t let our guard down. Let’s continue to keep safe for our family.

OLIVER P. CACHAPERO JR.,

ocachaperojr@yahoo.com