Colds, cough, fever, and difficulty in breathing. These are the common symptoms of covid-19. Most of us when we feel sick and we have these symptoms will immediately seek for a health care attention or go to a nearest covid-19 test facility.

The spread of the virus is rapid and we cannot contain it alone since it is an airborne disease. It changed lives and how we live in a daily basis. Face mask, sanitizer and social distancing are our new normal. Death seems to be a new normal too. Every week a friend or a family member dies because of the virus.

I am sharing our story today NOT because I want to tell people that we can just survive it at home and no need to go to the hospital. This is NOT an advise when you feel you got the virus. It is just a mere article on how we survived it.

The onset of symptoms.

Our story started with my brother-in-law who have an asthma. Two weeks before we got the virus, he was vaccinated. Then he started to feel a bit ill. He felt weak most of the time, and he got a fever. It continued for another week. We just thought that it was just an adverse effect, and so it was. My sister and I got sick at the same time. On the first day, I got a terrible headache. I thought I wasn't had a good sleep. I drank a medicine for headache and slept, but the headache was still there when I woke up. Furthermore, I felt weak and didn’t move much that day. My sister was having the same issue. Headache.

On the second day, I still felt weak with slight headache. I sweat it off in the morning and I took a hot bath since I was feeling cold. I took my headache medicine and slept. The bed was really calling me to lie down and sleep. When I woke up in the afternoon, my fever started. I also got chills. My sister that time was having a fever all day. We were with two kids at home, and they were completely fine. We told them to stay away from us and don’t go near us. They heed our advice.

Tracking down everyone we faced.

The following day, I got a little better, but I had colds and cough but no phlegm. My nose was stuffy and I kept on coughing. I was a bit worried because I got an asthma. My sister and I talked about it. We started to track down the people we faced and the places we went. Right then we found out that two of our neighbors were having the same condition but a week ahead of us when they started to feel sick. Then we tracked down the people they faced, we found out that a person who visited one of our neighbor for over two weeks was positive! He was home quarantined for a week when we found out that he was indeed got tested positive of the covid-19. The family kept it secretly as to not cause panic to those who were in closed contact with him before he got tested. Wrong move, I must say. We got infected by virus without knowing it. I was furious by the fact that we were very careful of not getting into the crowd to avoid the virus. We always follow standard health protocols when we go out. Maybe we failed in one instance that's why we had it.

We didn't go for a test because we know exactly what hit us and we were doing our best to get better. We doubled our Vitamin C intake, more fruits and vegetables, more liquid, and rest. On the fourth day I lost my sense of smell and taste! I noticed it when I was slicing a lemon and I couldn't smell the scent of it. Eating was a bit challenging. Food didn't have any taste. No meat and oily food.

Fifth day was scary. I kept on coming back to the loo, twice in an hour. I was having a difficulty in breathing. I though it was just an asthma attack, so I got my nebulizer and my nebule ready. My sister messaged my bother-in-law's cousin. She is a doctor and we asked if it's okay to nebulize. She assessed my condition and advised us not to use the nebulizer, instead get a hot water and add a salt then inhale the vapor. I got better in the afternoon but was still catching up with my breathing. At night, I did a steam inhalation and "tuob". My sister on the other hand was having a cough and colds too but she was doing better than me. My nephew started to feel ill too. She had a fever and cough too, the same symptoms we had experiencing for days. We did a 'tuob' for him too. I was sleeping in 45 degrees position. There was a time that I automatically got up because I couldn't breathe properly. I did a steam inhalation with salt again and after a few minutes, I felt okay and fell asleep.

Day 6. I still have colds and cough without phlegm. I still had difficulty in breathing. We still continue to eat healthy food and taking a lot of rest. Early morning hot shower also helped me and right after that I walked outside for an exercise. Everyday I would go out and let myself bask under the sun for 30 minutes to one hour. I was very careful not to be around with anyone in our neighbor. I live in a farm with few houses and neighbors. The nearest neighbor is a hundred meters away from our house.

Day 7. My sister was getting better. My nephew couldn't taste his food and can't smell it. My niece started to have a cough and fever. She is the last person who got sick in our household. I continued my routine though my progress was slow compared to my sister. My boyfriend also got sick but he got back in shape in no time. He ran errands for us and was also cautious to not spread the virus in our community.

Day 8. I was still weak and sick. I slept most of the afternoons. I still ate a lot of fruits and drink plenty of liquid. Eating was still a hard thing to do but I forced myself to eat. I can't be sick for too long. Aside from vegetables, fruits, cough and cold medicines and Vitamin C, our sister from North Cotabato sent us a Lianhua tea and capsule. It boosted my recovery and I felt better the following days.

Final note.

Again, this is not a health advise. In our case, we have a doctor who monitored us all the way to our recovery. It is still best to get medical attention if you feel sick just take care though. In our case, though we didn't go for a test, we knew that it was the virus that made us sick. There was a time that I felt sad and scared. Scared that it might get worst the following day and I might die. We were able to recover from it and now, we are more cautious than ever. Strictly no attendance for birthdays and other celebrations to avoid the crowd and get infected again. We learned our lesson.

Life is short. Live it well.