Friends, it’s been nearly twelve hours and my nose still hurts.
As I talked about in my last post, I developed symptoms around the 10th-12th. During this time, I messaged my doctor on mychart and asked what the protocol was for getting tested, just in case. By the evening on the 13th, I was pretty convinced that COVID-19 would explain my symptoms but waited on calling.
On the 18th, I called my doctor’s office and had a nurse take notes on my symptoms and possible exposure. She passed that along to the infectious disease team who evaluated my case. They called me back around 2 pm on the 19th, despite being told it could take up to 72 hours. They scheduled me for an appointment today at 11:30.
The Test
I was told to wear a mask into the clinic, so I put on my vogmask and headed to my appointment. Upon arrival, I filled out a form with my symptoms, the date of my last flu shot, and any recent travel. The nurse came up and got me and went through my symptoms. Then, it was time to get down and dirty.
The COVID-19 test is similar to the flu test where they take a swab from your nasopharynx. That means they stick a long Q-tip incredibly far up your nose. Then they have to twist the Q-tip around for ten seconds.
All I could think about was how pushing too far is a way to kill someone.
It burned and hurt. I can still smell medical smell way up my nose. My ears and throat weren’t pleased, either.
What Now?
I’ll know the answers within 4-5 days. Honestly, I’m leaving a little wiggle room with that amount of time, though, since we’ve officially hit over 200 cases.
Fingers crossed!