NEW YORK, NEW YORK: It started on Friday, March 13 — of course right? I had a sore throat, which is pretty common for me being that I’m a singer. The next day the sore throat was much worse and I started coughing. Then, I started sneezing. After my first low grade fever of 99.9 with chills and dizziness my doctor suggested I go get a Covid-19 test since I met all the criteria ( I saw someone at work on March 2 who later tested positive). I drove to a local urgent care and gave the pretty awful Covid-19 swab. I was told it would take up to 10 days to get results.

In the meantime, my symptoms worsened. My fever went upp. I had chills, sweats, and body aches every day. I lost my sense of smell and taste. Then, the nausea hit. The next Friday I woke up with trouble breathing and my boyfriend rushed me to the ER. By the time we got there I was gasping for air. They put in a wheelchair and rolled me into a room where they put me on an IV, an additional line, and gave me a ventimask. It was the most scared I've ever been!! The Dr. said they would have had to intubate me if it came to it, so thank God it never did!

A chest x-ray showed I had bacterial bilateral pneumonia, but they still weren't sure if I had Covid-19. However, they treated me like I did. I spent two more days in the hospital in isolation with no roommate and no visitors. Only doctors and nurses “briefly” saw me. Two days after I was released from the hospital, the board of health called to tell me I tested positive for Covid-19.

I was lucky to be young (38) in this experience and my body was able to fight back. I am now trying to get back to being me, but it’s hard. I went through a very traumatic time and the world is so different now.

I hope my story shows that it’s possible to survive and be okay.