i got covid

I began writing this post about my COVID experience, stopped, started again, stopped again, and finally completed it on September 27, 2022, six months after the the whole ordeal. Here it is:

Two years into this whole mess, I got covid. It's a little ridiculous; I've kept so safe for so long, and just when it was the least convenient, just when I could not possibly afford to catch it, covid caught up with me.

I began writing this blog post while in isolation, around March 31 probably (I don't quite remember; I stopped writing it and am now revisiting this post on May 24), so I apologize for the confusion regarding the timeline of things.

I could have caught it at any other point in the last two years and it wouldn't have ruined things the way it did this week. To be fair, that's a bit dramatic; I'm very grateful that covid didn't hit me hard. The worst of my symptoms came last week, when I was still under the impression that I just had a very bad cold.

I started feeling off last Monday, when I woke up with a scratchy throat. Being cautious, I made sure to get a covid test that day. Tuesday I felt worse, I had a cough and my voice wasn't working the way it usually does, which made me worried because I was meant to run through my recital program that day, and I couldn't do it in that state. I got my PCR results from Monday, though, and they were negative. I was relieved.

Tuesday night I skipped rehearsal for Broadway on Broad and went straight home after Figaro rehearsal. I slept eleven hours that night, and I woke up feeling a lot better- I was coughing up mucus, which I figured meant my body was getting rid of whatever bug I had. I slept nine hours Wednesday night, and Thursday I felt a little congested, but thought I was getting better. I didn't sing that day.

On the way home from Broadway on Broad rehearsal on Thursday night, my ears started feeling really funky. It was cold and rainy, so I figured the moisture was affecting me in a weird way, but then when I got home my ears wouldn't pop. My right ear started hurting, and I had a really hard time sleeping that night.

Friday morning I woke up with a full-blown ear infection. So I dragged myself over to student health and a nurse checked out my ears and nose and mouth. She told me I had a "drainage issue" resulting in fluid buildup in both ears, and my right ear was definitely infected. She also told me I had a ton of post-nasal drip, none of which was a surprise to me. I explained that my recital was coming up the following Monday, and she prescribed me a cornucopia of different drugs: afrin nasal spray on top of the flonase I was already taking, amoxicillin for my ear infection, allegra D to decongest, and a steroid (prednisone) to speed up the whole process.

The drugs took me out. That whole weekend, I felt like a zombie. I wasn't myself at all; I would be in conversation with people, listening to what they had to say but unable to quickly formulate a response. I went to get bubble tea with my friend Jason on Sunday night, thinking it might make me feel more human, and found myself zoning out almost the entire time I spent with him. He was a trooper about it, very supportive and sympathetic, but I was incredibly frustrated at my lack of energy and the absence of my usual wit and charm in conversation. I just didn't feel like me.

Monday morning, finally off the prednisone and feeling at least somewhat refreshed, if a bit congested, I prepared myself for the final run-through of my recital program. I was ready; I was on the other side of it now, and I was sure I'd be in great shape for Wednesday (my recital date, March 30). As I was walking to Rock Hall, however, I got a text that sent me spiraling. My roommate Kayla, who had begun feeling under the weather two days after I had, tested positive for COVID. I was heartbroken and confused - we had assumed Kayla just had whatever cold I had had! And I knew I didn't have COVID! So what gives?

The moral of the story here is that with whatever variant is going around now, or at least whatever variant it was going around Philadelphia in late March 2022, you can't trust a test you take until at least two days into your symptoms. If I'd known I had COVID the week before my recital, I could have 1. postponed the recital more than two days before the scheduled date, thereby giving myself more time to get used to the idea that I would not be able to give my recital as planned, and 2. much more importantly, isolated during my peak infectious period!

Looking back, it was a little ridiculous for student health not to test me for COVID immediately when I came in with the symptoms I had. A negative PCR from Monday morning means virtually nothing when it's Friday and I'm sitting in student health with a sore throat and an ear infection. If they'd tested me that morning, there's no doubt it would have come back positive, and I could have avoided exposing lots of people to COVID, plus I wouldn't have spent that weekend drugged up on prednisone probably, which sucked.

I sang through my recital that Monday, even though I knew I'd been exposed to COVID. I checked with my voice teacher, my accompanist, and her teacher, and they all agreed that since the hall was so big they were fine with me singing behind the silly little plexiglass barrier on the Rock Hall stage. It went really well that day, and I felt great going into my Wednesday recital. Which did not happen, of course.

After my dress rehearsal, I ran straight to the Mitten Hall test center to get a PCR test. I then realized, immediately after taking the test, that there was no way I'd get my results in time to make a safe and informed decision on whether or not to cancel my recital. Panicked, I tried to schedule a rapid test at the Morgan Hall facility on the other side of campus, but the student health portal told me I had reached my limit on the number of tests I could schedule that day. I then called student health, desperate for a rapid test, and after explaining my situation over the phone (with much difficulty, I might add. It was very windy on campus that day and the person on the phone could barely hear me) I was allowed to schedule a test in Morgan.

My Morgan Hall experience was very stressful, naturally. I think in my heart I knew what was coming, but I had so much riding on not testing positive that I couldn't face the likely reality of the situation. I saw a friendly face in there, at the very least - the nurse who used to give me my allergy shots was there, and though I didn't recognize her through her full on hazmat suit at first, after she called my name and asked how I was doing I remembered her face from the pre-pandemic days. She was very sympathetic and patient with me, answering all my questions kindly but realistically.

I got a call from my favorite nurse as I walked up Norris street, still ten blocks or so away from my apartment. I picked up the phone and heard, "Conway, I 'm so sorry, I don't have good news for you," and my world shattered. I felt everything come crashing down around me; I felt tightness in my chest and tears in my eyes. My nightmare scenario had come true.

Luckily for me, I was able to reschedule my senior recital and perform it at the end of April. Even luckier, I finished my quarantine in time to not miss the Broadway on Broad rehearsal I had to lead that Thursday, and just in time to start tech rehearsals for Le nozze di Figaro. I tested negative on a rapid test that Saturday, and everything worked its way back to normal.

In hindsight, I feel very blessed that my bout of COVID wasn't too serious; I was able to get back to singing very quickly and (knock on wood) I have yet to experience any symptoms of long COVID. I am glad I am vaccinated (I just got my new bivalent booster shot a few weeks ago!) and hopeful that this virus becomes less dangerous and/or less common in the near future.