Writing by Beth Dedman | Photographs by Lisa Merck

CRESTED BUTTE, COLORADO: On March 8 my husband took me to the emergency room. I wanted to collapse. I was nauseous and my lungs hurt so much, I could barely breathe. It felt like someone was stabbing my lungs with an ice pick. 

The doctors tested for the flu, they did a chest x-ray, a complete blood count, a metabolic panel and a white blood count. 

It wasn’t until I developed pneumonia in both of my lungs that they tested me for COVID-19.

I was never hospitalized overnight, but I was super scared, especially when I got the diagnosis. There were so many people dying from it. And who knew if it was going to get worse or better. It was really scary because there are so many unknowns. 

I had severe nausea, headaches and shortness of breath. When I had first begun to suspect I was sick around March 1, I had a fever. 

My symptoms lasted about 6 weeks. One day I’d feel good, and the next I’d feel horrible. The worst part was not knowing how I was going to feel from day to day. As a result, I have lost a total of 14 pounds. 

I own a private women’s healthcare clinic and I cannot return to work until I have cleared COVID tests with a negative. As of April 14, I was still testing positive, but now I have already had one test come back clear, and I just took the last test.

I set up my telemedicine practice at my house so I can continue seeing my patients who need it. I’m trying to stay active and do meditation, yoga and deep breathing exercises. I’ve been staying hydrated, eating a 90% plant-based diet and taking a lot of vitamins.

There’s a lot of unknowns. If we’re putting our healthcare workers in dangerous situations, it's not protecting us and it's not protecting our patients either. With the virus so rampant, opening up the country too soon is going to cause a second wave.

I think everyone needs to protect each other. Stay at home. Stop the spread. Save lives. Us healthcare workers when we see people protesting to go back to work, that’s a big fear for us. We really want the general public to stay at home and stay safe.