“Before getting COVID, I never imagined it would be this bad if I got it. When I tested positive, I still couldn't believe it. I was healthy and never had any pre-existing problems. It was said that if you are healthy, you wouldn’t get it. But, all that was a myth.”

NEW YORK, NEW YORK: Before getting COVID, I never imagined it would be this bad if I got it. When I tested positive, I still couldn't believe it. I was healthy and never had any pre-existing problems. It was said that if you are healthy, you wouldn’t get it. But, all that was a myth. 

It was said that if you are healthy, you won’t get it. But all that was a myth.

I moved from Australia to New York in 1998 as a Jazz singer. Now, I have my own company, Natchie. I make records and draw illustrations for each song. Then, I sell the drawings as prints with the lyrics on the back and a download code.

I make records and draw illustrations for each song.

In February 2020, I went to India and came home with a sty on my eye, which was strange because I never had one in my life and it didn't go away until COVID went away. After a few days back, I met a friend who is a school teacher. She got tested for COVID and was waiting for her results.

 She got tested for COVID and was waiting for her results.

Tuesday, March 10th, I attended an Australian dinner put on by the Australian consulate to thank everyone who raised funds for the recent bush fires. About one hundred people attended at a really nice restaurant in Chinatown. COVID wasn't taken seriously at the time. I was on the fence about going but thought I was being crazy and ridiculous, so I should go. Everyone was in close proximity with 6 - 10 people around a table sharing drinks and dinner plates. It was loud so people were also shouting trying to talk. I was there for about five hours at a table with two Aussie friends and another two friends there who I spoke to at length during the evening. Everything about that night was the top 10 worst things you could do during COVID. Nobody there was serious about COVID and thought it was silly.

Everything about that night was the top 10 worst things you could do during COVID. 

On the morning of Friday, March 12th, I woke up with a strange and sudden, but very severe, dry coughing attack for ten minutes, like something was in my windpipe. It felt like someone was boxing my chest. It felt bruised and sore. After that little episode, I thought that it was a spring allergy. That day I had lunch with a friend in Manhattan — social distancing, sitting outside, didn’t hug or anything. After lunch, I got a message that they were closing down Broadway. Then, it really dawned on me.

It felt like someone was boxing my chest.

My boyfriend picked me up from the subway and I told him that I was cold and freezing. He said it really was not cold. On our way to the supermarket, I suddenly felt hot and started sweating and shaking. It felt like I had been hit by a bus. I got back home and stayed on my couch. I had chest pain, a fluctuating temperature, and just felt horribly sick. 

It felt like I had been hit by a bus. 

On Friday, March 13th, I went to a doctor at ProHEALTH. I told him about my symptoms and how I might have gotten COVID. He told me that my fever was only 100℉ and my glands were swollen among other symptoms but he was not allowed to test me. I said, “Are you kidding me?” He told me he could test me for the normal flu but not COVID even though he thought I had. He asked me to quarantine myself for two weeks and get myself tested if my friend's result came out positive. I felt like an idiot because the doctor did not take me seriously, as if I was overreacting.

 I felt like an idiot because the doctor did not take me seriously, as if  I was overreacting.

Within that duration, while my boyfriend, John, took care of me, he got sicker than me. He took my place on the couch and now I took care of him. His temperature was similar to mine, fluctuating abruptly from 100℉ to 103℉. After the 3rd day, I have never seen anybody that sick. I took him to the emergency room and they hospitalized him for six days, asking me to go home. 

they hospitalized him for six days

While taking care of John, I actually felt fine -- almost like going through the eye of a storm. I thought that maybe I was being dramatic and it was gone. However, after dropping John at the hospital and getting home, I fell into a heap. That’s when I got really sick! I stayed in my bed for a week. It was hard because I was alone. The symptoms got worse and worse. I lost my sense of smell and taste. I had the worst headaches of my entire life. I already suffer from migraines but it felt like someone was boiling my brain. Medicines did not help. My symptoms got worse. I felt nauseous all the time, with diarrhea and vomiting. Eventually, I stopped eating. I also had severe arthritis like all my joints were filled with concrete including my hips and my knees. I felt like I was 80 years old. Neighbors would drop vegetable broth and Gatorade at my doorstep. That was all I managed to get down at that time. It even got to a point where I was unable to hold anything down. I felt like I was going to die not because I couldn’t breathe but because I was so sick. 

it felt like someone was boiling my brain.

I needed relief from the headache. I wanted to get rid of it so I tried putting ice packs, wrapped in tea towels, and lied down praying to God to take away the headache. That was probably the most painful part of COVID. It was like that 24/7. It was there when I slept. It was there when I woke up. I just wanted it to get over and it was not ending at all. Every day I was thinking, oh no, here we go again!

 lied down praying to God to take away the headache

On the sixth day, I called John at the hospital and cried. I told him about my symptoms. He told the doctors about me and they asked me to go to the ER as soon as possible. I was severely dehydrated and wasn't going to be able to recover from that at home. It got to a point where I was so sick it felt like I was going to die, I didn't know what else to do but go to the hospital. So, I called an ambulance. 

I was so sick it felt like I was going to die

They were wearing hazmat suits and masks as if they came from the moon. They did not enter my home. They helped me walk to the ambulance. They put a seat belt around my body and asked a couple of questions while maintaining a good amount of distance from me. I had COVID at the very beginning, so they probably hadn't had that much experience dealing with COVID. In fact, it felt like when 9/11 when I reached the hospital. It was chaos. It felt like I was in a SiFi movie for which I was not given a memo. But, getting hospitalized was the best thing I could have done to myself.

 it felt like when 9/11 when I reached the hospital.

They had a room for COVID patients, but they didn’t send me to that room. They should have sent me there. They sent me to a little spot in the ER instead. They weren't as careful with me as they should have been. I was extremely dehydrated. When the nurse came to put the IV she struggled to find a vein. They gave me injections for headache and nausea, but neither of them worked. But, the IV helped a lot. I was then tested for COVID. The test result came back positive 12 days later. But, I knew I had COVID before because John tested positive in the hospital.

After 10 hours in the hospital, I was sent home and asked to quarantine again. John and I got home on the same night. He got home two hours before me. We were excited to see each other but we were still too sick to even greet each other properly. The next couple of days were horrible. John was still extremely sick. We struggled to get his fever down. We were both in separate rooms. I used to wake up every three hours to help him change his clothes and linen, as he would get up soaking wet like someone had poured a bucket of water over him and into the bed because of the fever. He still had a brutal headache, diarrhea, and vomiting. He would pace the room like an animal because lying in bed did not bring relief. He wanted relief so badly but nothing helped. 

I still had a headache and felt nauseous. I went to bed that night and prayed to God for some relief in the morning like dial this headache down to an eight. When I woke up the next morning after the hospital, it was a bit better. John was given hydroxychloroquine and antibiotics for his treatment which was of no help at all.

One night I made miso soup and asked John to have at least something as he was not eating anything, but after two spoons he started vomiting on the way to the toilet and couldn’t control it. He sat on the floor of the bathroom and said, “What is this? Who am I?” I went to him for support but he told me not to because it stank in the bathroom from the vomit. I said to him, “Babe I can’t taste or smell anything! Don't worry it is fine with me.” We both sat on the floor, can’t smell anything, vomit all over. It was a defining moment for us as a couple. 

We both sat on the floor, can’t smell anything, vomit all over.

My taste and smell didn't come back for a good two months. It made cooking and eating difficult. When you don't smell anything, then you are not hungry. You don't even think to eat. So, we both lost a lot of weight. Until early August, I felt like I was smelling a phantom cigarette all the time. No matter where I went and whether someone was smoking or not. Eventually, it disappeared on its own. 

My recovery was extremely slow -- slower and longer than the sickness. It took months for me to recover from COVID. For example, one day I took an online yoga class and slept for the next two days. I was always a little bit hesitant to say I felt better. The false turnaround already happened earlier. I was scared to think that I had recovered because I thought it might come back. There were definitely times where I thought, oh, I'm better. But, there were layers of recovery.  

 It took months for me to recover from COVID.

In July, I had to visit the doctor again because one night I had an excruciating stomach pain like someone had stuck a knife through the center of my body going up to my belly button and then ripped it apart. It was the worst pain I had in my entire life. I thought I was going to die, again. It was so painful. I felt like I was paralyzed. I couldn't breathe or move my arm to ask John, who was next to me, for help. After five minutes, I moved my arm to touch John, and said, “Help! help! help!” He was confused. I was sweating and boiling. He helped me to sit up and after 15 minutes of excruciating pain, it disappeared. I laid back down and thought I hope its not the appendix. I've never felt that kind of a pain in my life.

I had an excruciating stomach pain like someone had stuck a knife through the center of my body going up to my belly button and then ripped it apart.

The next morning, I did not feel fantastic. I had a fever and felt nauseous. My stomach was fine, but tender. I also had pain in my urinary tract. I went to the doctor and told her about it. I did a urine test and the doctor told me there was blood in my urine. She told me that I might be passing or had already passed a kidney stone. The doctor said its more painful than childbirth. She gave me some pills to avoid a kidney or any other kind of infection. 

there was blood in my urine. 

 When I woke up the third morning, I was home alone and it felt like I couldn't breathe, as though someone was hitting my chest again. I am not asthmatic, but it felt like I was having an asthma attack. I had nausea and kept vomiting. I called the doctor. They asked me to get to the ER immediately. I was terrified of going through the same pain as earlier again. 

I am not asthmatic, but it felt like I was having an asthma attack.

On reaching there, I told them that I might have had an allergic reaction to the pills. I was put on oxygen and got my chest x-rayed. From the reports, the doctor could see some damage and spots in my lungs. They were not sure if they were blood clots and asked me if I had COVID. She told me that she was able to see that from her reports and called it COVID lungs. She then told me that I should get admitted to see what was happening. She was the only person who took me seriously this whole time.

She was the only person who took me seriously this whole time.

I was taken to Manhattan to get my full body checked: MRI, CT scan, ECG, etc. Thankfully all my tests gave positive reports and they told me that I probably passed a kidney stone. They did say I had COVID lungs and that they would heal on their own with the due course of time. I was also tested for  COVID again which came back negative. I was relieved. If the test would have been positive, it would have been devastating. I was sent back home. 

they told me that I probably passed a kidney stone.

There is something mysterious about this virus that it's different for everybody. It's not just a lung disease. It attacks your whole body. I have never had any kidney problems before. I believe that COVID has affected my kidneys. My hair was also falling off as if I had gone through chemotherapy. Thankfully all of the lingering problems are fine now. 

My hair was also falling off as if I had gone through chemotherapy. 

For all of this, I did not face any problems with medical bills. I only paid $40 for it. First, I was sent a bill of thousands, I thought to myself that I am not going to pay it since I read an article which said Covid-19 patients won’t be asked to pay. One day I got an email saying that I only had to pay $40. We both did not pay for COVID. 

 I only paid $40 

COVID proved to be a strange gift to me. It made me realise the things I was chasing before COVID were not important. I have reevaluated to where I will spend most of my time and energy. I was very busy selling prints and running my retail store. I was not drawing much as I never had the time. Everything shut down and now I no longer have my retail. I am more creative than before and spend a lot more time on drawing. I also wanted to get into wholesale and I had been putting it off because of retail. Now through this, it has given me the space to be able to get that going. 

COVID proved to be a strange gift to me. It made me realize the things I was chasing before COVID were not important.