Not many people get to hear what it’s like, from a teenagers perspective, to contract almost every common symptom of COVID-19. This editorial is going to show you what it’s truly like, for a teenager, (16-year-old male), to come close to catching the global pandemic that is sweeping the world, COVID-19. 

It all started July 25, when I woke up vomiting. I called my job at the Mount Washington Kroger, told them I was sick and couldn’t come to work. I took the day off, and rested. 

July 26 came and I felt completely better. After 24 hours, I had no vomiting, so I went back to work. I wore a mask, as I always would.

I forgot that I needed a doctors note, but it was a Sunday, and my doctors office was closed. Therefore, the next day, July 27, I went to my doctor’s office, and got a note for the day that I missed. 

I no longer felt sick, until around four days later, July 31. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, more commonly known as CDC, symptoms appear two to 14 days after exposure to COVID-19. Four days ago, I had just gone to a doctors office.

After doing some more research, I found out that COVID-19 symptoms got better, before getting worse. Which was the same case for me, I was vomiting one day, then got better, then got worse.

The most common symptoms of COVID-19 are as follow: fever/chills, cough, shortness of breath/difficulty breathing, fatigue, muscle/body aches, headache, new loss of taste and/or smell, sore throat, congestion and/or runny nose, nausea/vomiting, and diarrhea. I experienced every one of those symptoms except for shortness of breath/difficulty breathing, new loss of taste and/or smell, and diarrhea. In other words, I experienced eight out of the 11 most common COVID-19 symptoms. 

Aug. 2 comes, I finally tell one of my managers that I just can’t come to work and that I’m going to have to get tested for COVID-19. Later that day, I schedule an appointment with my doctor’s office that run tests for COVID-19.

It was Aug. 3 when I finally got tested for COVID-19. I knew what they had to do, but I had no idea how irritating it was going to be. 

It is done by inserting a 6-inch nasopharyngeal swab into a cavity between your mouth and your nose. They leave the swab in there for 15 seconds, moving it around several times. It is then repeated on the other side of the nose, to make sure that the lab has collected enough. The swab is then inserted into a container, for protection, and sent to a lab for testing.

I was advised to self-quarantine until my test results come back, and I couldn’t go to work. Over the nine days, I just sat in my bed, talking to my friends over a phone call, playing online games with them, and mainly practicing my other job of being a magician. It was quite boring to say the least, and I was also extremely sick at the same time, making it ten times worse.

Then the day comes. It was Aug. 12, and I was laying down in my bed. My dad comes downstairs, and he tells me he got a call from my doctor. He tells me the test results came in. I’m shocked. 

I walked around for a bit, and then looked in the mirror. I say to myself: “You have a very positive personality, Brodie. Although, if there is one thing that is negative about you, that would have to be COVID-19!” I literally jumped in excitement. 

Over these past one and a half weeks, of me showing almost every common symptom of COVID-19, my test results came back, and I’m somehow magically negative. The feeling that rushed over me is actually kind of hard to explain. 

I called my mother to get the documentation. This is where things got messy. Now, what I’m about to say will be as confusing to you as it was to me, but here’s my attempt at telling you what happened. 

The doctor told my mother to go to MyChart, and print off the documentation, to give to my job as proof. On the chart, the results said, “Not Specified.” We called the doctor, and they told us that that means that they’re not particularly sure what that meant. 

We were pretty confused, because another doctor was saying that I am negative. So, we were in a sticky situation. The documentation says my results are “Not Specified,” but the doctor told us, by phone call, that I am negative. 

The next day of Aug. 13, we call the doctor’s office to finalize the documentation, and make sure that I am negative. We officially got the documentation, stating that I tested negative for COVID-19. 

My self-quarantine time period was finally over. I’m finally able to return back to my job, I’m finally allowed to go out in public with a face mask on, and I can just overall go outside. 

I’m not sure if I just had a severe cold, the flu, or what I had, but I’ve never felt as sick as I have this past week and a half. I’m just glad to say it’s over. 

That was my journey, or in other words, the journey of a teenager experiencing almost every COVID-19 symptom, having to get tested, then having to self-quarantine, turning out to be negative, and finally being able to go out.