I don’t have a big platform, if you can spread awareness to my story..pls do so by retweeting and working to educate yourself & others about something VERY REAL & VERY PAINFUL. Others have similar stories. If you know me, i hope it shows awareness that this can happen to anyone.

COVID-19. You never think it will happen to you, until it does. I hadn’t been sick before this in about 2 years. I always wore my masks when out or in groups, mostly stayed home & made sure I was constantly staying safe. Pictures below are before getting sick but “recent”.

On 6/20, I had been out in the sun more than usual. With allergies, a small very faint runny nose was not new to me when I had not been used to the weather getting drastically hotter lately. I thought nothing of it at the time since it was so faint. However it was only the start.

I had seen my boyfriend the next day on Sunday, 6/21/20. I had taken a sudafed early that morning & my very small runny nose was already gone & I thought all was well. After an hour or two of being home after seeing him, I felt terrible & had gained a very very sore throat.

Sunday night my symptom list only growing & becoming worse. I figured Covid-19 was painful & a bad sickness, it was way extremely worse than I had pictured. I woke up Monday: bad sore throat, muscle aches all over, & very bad fatigue/chills. I got tested that day/ Monday (6/22)

The test takes about 3-8 days to come back so I had quarantined myself for me and my family’s safety. That next day , Tuesday (6/23) I tried to take it easy in my bed but my symptoms were only getting worse than before. Tuesday I lost my sense of smell completely.

Tuesday (6/23)while getting breakfast, I realized the milk was ab to expire. I put it in a cup, smelled to see if the milk smelled bad & could not smell anything. I didn’t think much until taking whiffs of tabasco, smelling absolutely nothing yet feeling my nose burning.

Tuesday night had been bad, but I was able to get through it. I woke up Wednesday (6/24) to very hard breathing & immediately called my mom while she was at work complaining of a tight chest & it being very difficult to breathe. She came home & took me to the hospital immediately

While @ the hospital, they did a nasal covid test which would come back whitin 1-2 hours. My chest xrays showed mild inflammation but overall each test came back alright & there was no signs of blood clots in my lungs. I was put on breathing treatments to try and help the pain.

They gave me a sedative to help my breathing, breathing treatments, steroids, & other things to help. They told me they would send me home with these. They said their covid test machine stopped working & would tell me my results over the phone. That didn’t end up being the case.

The doctor come back in & i thought i would just be getting discharged as we had been told. He told me my test did come back & I had tested positive for the Coronavirus / COVID-19. They ran a Chest CT and then discharged me to home to cope with the symptoms w/ proper medicine.

I told few people of what was going on, I felt embarrassed that I had gotten covid although I had done my best to stay safe. We have a very good idea where it came from, but that will be kept private. Just know that selfish people will always only care about themselves.

I got discharged & went home after about 10 hours of being in the emergency room. I took my medication and slept a lot, but still felt a lot pressure in my chest while breathing. Especially trying to sleep on my side or sitting up in bed. I had NO ENERGY. & constantly felt winded

The pain in my chest had been getting worse but I was able to try and contain it and just push through the day, let me just say i have never felt that much pain in my chest, ever. The breathing treatmemts gave immediate relief but NEVER lasted long in helping my chest and lungs.

Saturday (6/27) I woke up from my sleep with a huge headache that felt like my head was a hot air ballon about to pop & could not breathe AT ALL.I felt like weights were sitting on my lungs/chest & exhaling air became difficult, like air was trapped. I went to the hospital again.

This time at the hospital, I was able to control my anxiety & breathing but the pain was far worse than the first trip to the emergency room. Without barley any inspection the doctor told me there was no way I was not getting admitted to the ICU. I needed to stay @ the hospital.

I was the first St.Rose Pediatric Covid Positive Patient to be bad enough to get admitted in the ICU. I was surprised because of how big the hospital was, how could I be the first? I was told I was in the “red zone” for having covid and needed to be monitored overnight.

My body CONSTANTLY felt the weakest it’s ever been in my life, it still does. I couldn’t sit up in bed without feeling winded & out of air, my mom had to help me use the bathroom EVERY TIME, my whole body shook trying to move, my chest felt so so terrible and weak all the time.

My pain didn’t feel like it was getting better. My chest pain & breathing felt like it was either at a steady level of pain & i could get use to or it would get worse. We found out my sternum had been pushing on my lungs making it even worse to breathe. I constantly felt winded.

I was given a lot of breathing treatments, pain medication, steroids, etc to help but the pain was always still there, it just felt like the medicine made me a bit more comfortable and sleepy. The only time the pain felt better was when i was asleep COMPLETELY STILL.

If i was asleep and woke up, i tried to stay as still as possible. I could still feel tightness in my chest but if i found myself moving at all , off my side, etc. the pain would immediately get worse & my sternum would put more pressure on my lungs again. My body felt so weak.

The weakness felt like it was everywhere, especially in my chest. The worse pain I’ve ever gotten. Sometimes I felt winded for an hour just from sitting up in the hospital bed for 2 minutes or getting up to go to the bathroom. Never went away, just stayed the same or got worse

Today (6/29) I was finally out of the “red zone” for Covid 19. My chest tightness and pain is still very bad, but all we can do now is wait it out at home and hope I don’t have to go back to the hospital. I still feel very weak. I still need help doing simple little things.

I want to bring awareness to the fact it can happen to anyone. I wear my mask, I don’t go near many people, & I STILL got it. Some may not know they have it , some may be going through tremendous pain like me, but it doesn’t matter. I’m here to tell you it’s real & it’s painful

Never had a fever & never had a cough. Some big symptoms are ones I never had. I can’t run away from this & act like it never happened, all I can do is take my anger & frustration & turn it into awareness. Pls stay educated during this time. I’m still sick & praying to get better

If you take anything from this thread, or even just read a little of it , please just realize it can happen to anyone. Please wear a mask, please realize Covid-19 has not gone away, & please realize that we can STILL do better and more. Be safe for not just yourself but others.