By Daniela Cintron, CNI Social Media
What feels like years was just months ago. I remember learning about a virus that was spreading quickly in a faraway town in China. Coronavirus felt so foreign to me at the time.
From that moment on, it feels like someone hit the fast-forward button. News was changing by the hour. Next thing I know, I am sitting in a doctor’s office.
Feeling fatigue and pressure in my chest, I stopped by an urgent care unit. Coronavirus never crossed my mind. With a prescription for allergy medication, off I went.
The pain didn’t stop. It got worse. Two days later, my breathing was extremely painful. Every breath felt like a stab in my chest. Knowing something was wrong, we drove to the ER in Gainesville. Soon, a doctor was screening me. “Perfect temperature. Doesn't seem like coronavirus. Proceed,” he said to the nurse before they began to run tests on me.
With all results looking normal, the doctor suggested it was bronchitis and sent me home with antibiotics and orders to rest.
Days later, after no improvement, I kept looking for answers. Two other doctors later, and prescriptions for steroids, cough medicine, and inhalers, symptoms lingered.
On April 2, I ran up a flight of stairs and found myself breathless and very dizzy. I run, I spin, I hike. I am active. Running up a flight of stairs should be nothing. I knew something was wrong, so I drove myself to urgent care again where things looked very different this time.
In a drive-through, a nurse covered head-to-toe checked my vitals through the car window, and the doctor suggested I go into the emergency room.
At the ER, things again looked different. Intimidated by the tents outside where people were being screened, I considered not going in and just waiting out my symptoms at home. After all, there was no suspicion that I could be infected. After consideration, however, I went in.
Blood work and x-rays later, the doctor said it all looked fine, but to get the possibility off the table, I would be tested for COVID-19.
Forty hours later, the phone rang. My husband and daughter had left the house to go play outside.
I haven’t hugged them since then.
When the nurse said the word “positive,” I stopped listening. It took me a few minutes to understand what was happening.
There I was, infected with the same virus that was spreading 7,764 miles away.
Since then, I have been completely isolated from my family.
The health problem is one thing, but I also I feel tremendously alone. COVID-19 is a battle that no one should face alone. I see my daughter through the window, and it breaks my heart not being there for her first Easter egg hunt. Now more than ever, I need a hug from my husband, and I cannot have it. That is the toughest part of all.
This virus is certainly testing us as a community and as individuals. It is asking us to get in touch with the most basic things in life.
I share my story in hopes to inspire people to be advocates of their health and to take social distancing seriously. Being home with your family is not a punishment. I wish I could be home with my family without any symptoms. I wish my anxiety was related to keeping my toddler entertained, not about my oxygen levels. Yes, I would want to pull my hair out, but at least I would be able to kiss her goodnight.
Stay home. You do not want to be in my shoes. We will make it through this.
Daniela Cintron is the Social Media Coordinator for the Northeast Georgia Region of Community Newspapers, Inc. and a graduate of Rabun County High School.
UPDATE: On Friday, Cintron was re-tested for COVID-19. Her results came back negative, confirming that she had finally overcome the virus after 6 weeks of illness. She is now currently quarantined with her husband and daughter.