Be optimistic and don’t live in fear. That’s my takeaway after recovering from COVID-19. My husband and I tested positive in late June but were on the road to recovery rather quickly. 

 

We could both tell we had it when the symptoms began. His began first on a Monday. Once he notified me by text that he wasn’t feeling well and had a fever, I came home from what I was doing and shut ‘er down. I had just shot some videos with a physician for his website who ultimately got tested and was negative. Kris was tested promptly the next morning; his results returned 36 hours later. I was tested a day later. We both went to Baptist Health where we received prompt attention in their drive-thru testing site. You simply drive to the emergency room, stay in your car as they’ll come to you to ask you a few questions and then they’ll direct you to the line for testing. It was a pleasant experience with the exception of the swab tickling the back of your eyeballs. 

 

My symptoms were an extreme headache, not just a slight one, fever, body aches, diarrhea and weakness the last several days along with the loss of taste and smell. Kris had a headache, fever and lost his sense of taste and smell for a few days. We had no respiratory symptoms at all. I have the dreaded A+ blood, the one feared as something that makes ya a statistic for the coronavirus. It made me wonder when the bottom would fall out. It didn’t. Did I feel like I had the flu? Of course. But the swine flu for me in 2009 was much worse. I was sick for ten days with a sore throat that felt like I was swallowing glass. 

 

Once I came down with symptoms and Kris had a positive test result, I then notified anyone I might have had contact with. We received a call from the Arkansas Department of Health who asked where we had been that we might have contracted it. We had been to Memphis four days before Kris’ symptoms. 

 

We’re both in excellent health, normal weight and no co-morbidities. (My six autoimmune conditions are not co-morbidities.) We eat fairly clean diets. No alcohol, little sugar and gluten. I say that because I believe that our diets and how we take care of ourselves dictate much of our immune response. He does 1000 pushups a day along with other bend and snaps; I work out about four days a week. Plus I get immune-boosting shots that help fight illness. 

 

As we heard personal stories from friends and family who tested positive and compared them to what we were experiencing, we were not worried at all. You should definitely not worry about testing positive, as your anxiety will most likely have a greater negative impact on your health than COVID itself. And if you’re in a vulnerable population like my father, aunt or father-in-law, stay inside and protect yourself from becoming a statistic.  

 

We haven’t turned the news on since early March. Why? If you watch it or pay attention to social media platforms, you would think the sky is falling and we’re all going to die from COVID-19.  The hysteria being reported is in stark contrast to reality as the mortality rates estimated by reputable institutions range from 1.0 to 2.5%. I may look at things differently, but if I have a 97.5% chance of survival from a worldwide pandemic, I’m pretty optimistic.

 

Yes, I know that some of you have lost relatives to the virus. I acknowledge that. But many younger healthy people I speak with have nothing else on their minds and obsess so much that it’s difficult to have conversations with them. Kind of like politics at Thanksgiving, COVID-19 has turned completely and insanely political. And if you don’t believe like they believe, then you’re viewed as crazy.  

 

Like many of you, I know the media including social is the tail that wags the dog, the very loud minority. And what is being repeated every day is always the most pessimistic and worst case outlook regardless of the subject. So when the media platforms beat their drums that we’re in a hopeless struggle against COVID-19, my husband and I naturally take the contrarian view and look for reality versus doom and gloom predictions. 

 

We personally weren’t scared of getting COVID ourselves because we’re strong healthy people, and we’ve seen and heard too many stories about this reported lion actually being a kitten in people like us. Anecdotal stories are one thing, but personal stories are much better. Rather than saying what you’ve heard, you can say what you’ve actually lived. For us, it was not bad at all, and though many disagree with this outlook: we are glad we tested positive and got it behind us.

 

I say go live your life without fear.

 

Editor’s Note: The opinions expressed in op-eds are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect those of AY About You or About You Media Group.