Michael
PHOTOGRAPHS BY MORGANA WINGARD
SOMERSET, NEW JERSEY - May 22, 2020: I honestly did not fully believe what was told to me through the news due to previous experiences of the news not being truthful. So, I figured it was just another dramatic thing to work people up that would build fear towards others. However, I've been able to understand the truth of COVID-19 as a whole as opposed to what we're being shown.
My approach did change as quarantine started because for us to be told to stay home tells me this is a serious matter, this is not something that's being told to us out of a whim. This is something that is really shaking the world, let alone the country. So, I should take matters into my own hands and make sure I'm doing what I need to do to keep myself safe and my family safe.
Despite taking precautions, I believe I caught COVID-19 at my part time job at a supermarket. I strongly believe it was from a surface that was not properly sterilized, whether it was a shopping cart, a table, or a shelf that may have caused me to be exposed to the virus.
I only realized I had COVID moments before I was rushed to the hospital. I drove to urgent care to get tested just to be sure because I’d been feeling sick a week prior to this, but my symptoms did not match the symptoms we were told to look out for. So, I automatically assumed I did not have it. But, I chose to get tested and the physicians that were at this facility that I drove to told me that my vitals were not well at all and I should go to the hospital. That convinced me there was a strong possibility that I did have the virus considering I’d been very sick for a little over a week at that point. They confirmed that I tested positive on April 21st.
There was a moment in time where the doctors and nurses thought I wasn't going to make it. One day they wanted to put me in the ICU. They also wanted to put me on a ventilator and they wanted to have a cardiologist meet with me. They wanted to prepare all of those things for me because they felt the virus was spreading and matters were going to get worse.
And then the very next day, things turned around. The very next day they canceled all of that. I didn't need a cardiologist anymore. I did not need to go to the ICU. There was no need for me to go to get on a ventilator because I went from five liters of oxygen to three. Many of the nurses that would give me my meals said, “I don't know what you're doing but whatever you're doing it's working because the virus is not winning this fight with you. So whatever you're doing, keep it up cause it's working.” My doctor would tell me that the virus has backed into a corner to where my body is starting to fight it off properly. However it did find comfort in my kidneys. But, everywhere else in my body it couldn't survive.
Apparently the doctors and the nurses did not know where the virus was going to attack because it has a tendency to just get inside the human body, go everywhere, and spread like wildfire. So, they assumed that’s what the virus would do to me. They were able to learn that the virus was not going everywhere, but it did attack my kidneys head on. My kidneys were the main victim of the virus. It’s as if the virus found a weak spot in my kidneys to where it would attack that. They said the best option for me was dialysis. They had to inject a tube that connects to a central vein that’s also connected to my heart to be able to clean my blood and do the job that our kidneys are supposed to do to help heal them. Underneath my shirt there is a catheter line right here by my right shoulder and I still have to go through dialysis. It was three times a week. Now it’s been reduced to two times a week. I have to really be patient in terms of dialysis, so I’m able to dance the way that I want to again. I’m dancing more mental now. I have a lot of choreography and dance strategies in here [pointing to head] that I want to just flush out. I just can’t yet, until my process of dialysis comes to an end.
My faith has played a dramatic part in my recovery. It is very easy and it is very common for anyone going through a tragedy, whether it's of a loss or a situation where your health is not the best, to automatically think that all is lost or assume that it's only going to get worse for you. With this virus, it is very common for many people to say that if someone catches it, all is lost because of what is being shown to us on a regular basis. We know the amount of cases that are being updated regularly and we know the amount of deaths that are being updated regularly. Receiving that information every single day, it can prone someone to believe that as soon as the virus is caught, that person will die. No one has talked about it on television the amount of recoveries that come from this because there have been more recoveries than deaths and what my faith has helped me believe and helped me focus on is the fact that I am capable of being in that percentage of recovery. I am capable of being a representation of what they do not show on television. I am capable of letting people know that my faith is real and my higher source is real as well. And I wanted to really focus on that in terms of sharing it towards others, to let them know that if you ever doubted a belief or you ever question whether God was real or not, just look at me because it could have easily, easily, easily taken me out. But, it didn't. It could have done the same thing to my mother, but it didn't. And from what I've been hearing recently, there have been more cases of people that fall under the category of not making it and they have overcome it.
COVID-19 is not what the news is telling. It is far beyond what they can comprehend. It is a virus and it is something that can really harm a human body, but it will not attack everyone the same way. It may clog your ears. It may give you chills. It may give you a fever. It may take away your sense of smell and taste. It may make the nerves in your body feel irregular. It is a virus that can really attack someone differently than the next person. So if there's any symptoms that someone may have that may fall off, it's something that they should take seriously because it does affect people differently.
It should be taken very seriously and it should not be taken lightly. The main component is to not panic in any way because causing stress can make matters worse. Everyone should stay calm. Everyone should take proper caution and everyone should remain consistent and take proper precautions because that is literally the best way to fight this virus off.
Michael is a fit, hip-hop based dancer and family man with no known pre-existing conditions.
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Symptoms: clogged ears, fever, chills, irregular bowel and urine movements, wet cough
Treatment: IV, applied oxygen, kidney dialysis
