Symptoms

On Tuesday night I started having some body aches before bed. It was mild but reminded me a bit of how I get aches when I'm getting mastitis. I decided it might be from lack of sleep.

On Wednesday I started having a feeling of tightness in my chest. The best way to describe it is it's the same feeling I get after running in the cold. Except that feeling only lasts for a short time, but this lasted all day. Sometimes I would feel slightly short of breath. The random aches continued. I went to bed early to see if anything changed.

On Thursday, everything was the same. I discussed with other providers and we all agreed that I should stay out of work and get tested. I was "fortunate" that we have run out of the prefered NP (nasopharyngeal) swabs. (Those are the ones that go in your nose absurdly far). So instead of the NP swab, I had an OP swab done. That's a throat swab. It can make you feel gaggy and it appears to be a little less sensitive for catching infection, but it's what we have. Also good news, my oxygen level was normal at the time of my test.

Today, everything is the same. I have weird but mild aches, chest tightness, some increasing chest pains, and a few dry coughs here and there. Still no fever. I'm awaiting test results. I may have them later today, but it might not be until tomorrow.

I'm not worried about my own health, or even the health of my family. We are all young and healthy. This will most likely pass us over, but I fear for my patients. I worry that I'm "over-reacting" to mild symptoms that might not actually be COVID-19, but I worry more that I may have gotten someone else ill while working earlier this week. I see a lot of pregnant people and babies. While everyone that comes into our clinic wear's a mask these days, if I have COVID, I most likely got it while I was wearing a mask, so it's not much reassurance.

I am used to minimizing my symptoms and trucking on. This feels bad. I want to just will it away, but I have to protect my patients and I can't take the risk that I have it right now.