I was just going to write this on an Instagram post for close friends, but then I thought, no way! This calls for a blog update!

My mom and I are total homebodies. (I guess more specifically my mom is a homebody and at some point it started rubbing off on me idk.) Even before covid, we spent a lot of our time off at home and would prefer inviting people over than going out to meet them. Anyway, even as homebodies we still love meeting close friends and families, even if it's just once a month. But covid doesn't give a hoot if you take off your mask in front of people you meet once a month, heck even once a year. It's a freaking virus that now apparently floats around in the air in freaking aerosol particles. Your close friends and families don't get a pass on this. If you're vaccinated, good for you and stay safe. But if you're not and you happen to live in a certain Southeast Asian country where the healthcare system is slowly collapsing from the endless daily surge of new covid cases caused by an incompetent government and the lack of law-abiding citizens, maybe try rescheduling that lunch date.

Anyway, we think we might have had close contact with someone with covid, and both my mom and I just felt so sick afterward. We took the antigen test and my mom's results came out positive while mine was negative. We then took the PCR test just to be sure, with the same results as our antigen tests. So off we went on our 10-day quarantine journey...

I decided to stay home with my mom because at first I was pretty sure I had it too. Maybe, in some ways unexplainable to me (don't ask me, I stopped learning science in 11th grade), I just haven't developed the symptoms yet. Maybe I was a late bloomer (?) Anyway, I felt feverish for like a week, even got my blood checked at the lab. Everything came out healthy so I was left pondering what the hell was all that fever about. But then I started feeling better when my mom started losing her smell and taste. She'd have a fever every now and then while my normal body temperature was more stable than my paycheck. That was when I truly realized that I really was a confirmed negative, and that what we were doing was super risky.

My mom's symptoms were considerably mild but I still can't imagine what she had to go through every day, and I'm pretty sure it was just as bad as everyone says it is. Our neighborhood happens to be extremely supportive to families in quarantine, and we're just so lucky and privileged to be delivered warm meals three times a day for ten freaking days. My mom is the cook in our family. (In my defense I can cook too but... it's a long story. The point is, it's so much better for our welfare and happiness if she cooks for the both of us). So if we hadn't had the help we had from our neighbors, she'd be freaking out about not being able to cook for me, and wouldn't get her much-needed rest. But even with our meals secured, life got even more expensive. You'd need all sorts of vitamins, drugs, extra hygiene supplies to disinfect your home with, and every other thing had to be delivered to your door (and costed extra). Stressful times...

It's been 10 days and we got another test today... with both negative results! I can't even begin to explain how happy and relieved we are. It might take a while for mom to regain her sense of smell and taste, but what's most important now is that she's clear from the virus and that she can now start her journey to full recovery!

Covid is everyone's battle. Be it if you're the patient with mild or severe symptoms, the caretaker of such patient, or anyone whose life is affected by this pandemic. And boy is it a hard one. I can't speak for everyone because obviously all our stories are different. All I can say is... I know so many stories of people losing a loved one, a business, a life to covid. And... I hear you. I might never understand what you're going through, but I hear you and I'm in this together with you. Wherever you are, I pray that things will get better for you. And I'm sure it will, no matter how hard it is to believe right now. 

So, my only wish is if you get to schedule a covid vax, DO IT RIGHT NOW. GET VACCINATED!!!!