Three Days Out

By Darren Pen

It was around late February of 2020 when I got severely sick for three days. My throat started feeling off on Sunday. I went to school the next day feeling a little bit sick. It got progressively worse throughout the day. My entire body felt sore and feverish. My parents got worried, and I ended up going to urgent care on Wednesday.

I only sat in the waiting room for about forty minutes, but I was anxious the whole time. All I could think about was whether I had Covid, if I was going to be okay, if my family was going to be okay. When they finally called me in, they did tests mostly on the nose and mouth. My nose felt uncomfortable and they gave me medication. After taking it, I felt tired and needed some sleep.

When I woke up on Thursday, I was feeling a little bit better. The meds seemed to be helping, I was eating a lot and drinking more water. My temperature went down and on Friday I was much better. I texted my friends who were worried about me because I hadn’t gone to school for three days. I was happy that they thought about my health and cared about me.

Later that day, the test results came in negative for Covid; and by Sunday, I felt cured.

Despite starting to feel better, I ended up getting sick again around early March. At one point, I was taking medicine every day. I was sick for a long time. I finally started feeling better by the end of the month.

This experience taught me an important lesson. Being sick is lonely. You can’t be around the people you love without endangering them. Being sick is tiring and boring. You can’t do anything you want. But most importantly, being sick is preventable. Washing your hands frequently and staying home when you’re sick can keep yourself and others healthy.

For The Warrior Times, this is Darren Pen.