SAYVILLE, NEW YORK: On March 18, 2020 I tested positive for COVID-19. The day before one of my co-workers said I looked red and tired. I thought it was from all the stress of changing plans at work. The next day my wife said I looked red after I came home and took my temperature. I had a very small cough every 10-15 minutes which I didn’t realize I had. My temperature ended up being 101.2 . We went to a local clinic where they gave me a COVID-19 test. I was hoping I would fail this test. They originally told me 5 -7 days to get a result, but I ended up getting results back in two days confirming I had the virus.

My wife immediately quarantined me down to the basement. From that point on, the entire family wore masks except if we were isolated by ourselves. She constantly disinfected and cleaned the house while I lived in the basement for 2 weeks quarantining myself away from my family. I ate all of my meals, slept, worked and watched tv alone in the basement. I was very stressed over this, but kept a lot of emotion inside.

I tried not to watch too much news, but I kept hearing day 7 or 8 is the critical day because things could turn bad on that day. I was so stressed about this day that I thought at times I was going to have a heart attack as my heart was racing and pounding. I kept this too from my wife. I was also very very stressed that I would spread and give it to my family, especially my one son who has asthma and my co-workers. 

One day I decided to sit in the backyard. As I sat there, my chest got very tight -- more anxiety than the inability to breathe. I was completely freaking out on the inside, but from the outside it looked like I was just catching some sun rays while sitting next to my pup. We kept our puppy also away from me for two weeks. She also knew something was not right because she kept her distance from me, but always sat somewhat near me when I was outside instead of jumping on top of me like usual. I settled myself down and went back into the basement. 

I had sleepless nights where I was wondering what would happen to my family if something really did happen to me.

Finally, I woke up on March 25, 2020 with no sweats, no drip, no congestion, no fever, no headache and no chills. I felt about 98% back to normal. I felt like the 1,000 pound gorilla came off my chest.