Not Testing Positive for Covid-19: My Experience

This wasn't exactly the post I thought I'd be writing because after my partner and his entire family tested positive, I genuinely thought I had Covid-19. Unfortunately, I did not, so instead, I spent a whole week alone, isolating in my house, feeling sad and sorry for myself. 

I worked the two bank holidays following Christmas Day and as I woke up from my night shifts, Luke came over. We got ready and headed out to a local Chinese restaurant for a double date. It was lovely. That evening I woke up with a slightly sore throat and a message saying that one of the women I had looked after the previous evening had suddenly deteriorated and been diagnosed with Covid-19. I was heartbroken and of course, couldn't get back to sleep so I headed downstairs and did a lateral flow. It was negative and I couldn't decide if the sore throat was because of the message and a placebo effect, or not. Nevertheless, I went back to sleep, waking Luke and informing him in the process. 

The next morning, he woke me up after doing his own lateral flow and testing positive. He said he had a tickly cough and a sore throat and was quite surprised. We were meant to heading out to the pantomime to see Robin Hood, and then having another double date with two other friends. I was so excited. I'd been looking forward to it all month. Sadly, given that we both had mild symptoms, I didn't think it was safe to go, so we cancelled. Luckily, I did manage to get a refund for the table and pantomime. Sadly, including his 10 day isolation, we couldn't fit it in before it finished. 

Of course, because there was so many bank holidays and the festive season there was a shortage of PCR tests. There were none available in the whole county, then none in the country, finally some came up but then they quickly disappeared. I ended up calling work to tell them and they said work had some available. I rung them but the first available dates were the 2nd January so I booked us in. 

I did another LFT and I was negative still. Luke put on a mask, packed up his things and left. I was kind of heartbroken but given how much time we'd spent together and our contact, I thought I would get it for sure. Of course, while I was organising PCRs, he let his family know too. His step-dad tested positive, but his mother negative. The next day, she was positive, and two days after that, his sister was positive. 

In the meantime, that evening and the next day especially, I felt exhausted and knackered. I had an awful headache, a mild temperature and other cold symptoms: snotty nose, cough and really sore throat. I was basically feeling sorry for myself, celebrating New Year's Eve home alone. I was sure I had Covid-19 but all my LFTs were negative. 

Luckily, we each managed to book our PCRs in earlier. Luke's came back positive, as expected, mine took a lot longer so I ended up going to get the second PCR I had already booked, as it wasn't cancellable unfortunately. Both the results came back within 2 hours of each other, and both were negative. I think if it was just one, I would have thought I had done it wrong, but the second was at a drive through, by an experienced nurse and done very thoroughly. 

I was meant to be at work the next day but still didn't feel very well and was coughing quite a lot, which I didn't think was the best thing to be doing around new mother's and babies. I called work to let them know and they were actually very understanding. I actually felt much better the next day, but as my manager rang, I had a huge coughing fit, so she understandably advised not to go in again, which I agreed. 

The day after, I felt so much better. My headache was gone, I finally had my energy again and I barely had a cough. The cold symptoms were still there, but more annoying than anything else. With 7 days of not seeing anyone else and 7 days of negative LFTs, as well as 2 PCRs, I figured I was pretty much in the clear, especially as my symptoms had very much subsidised. I ended up driving up to Wakefield as Luke was still isolating, and it was so nice to be reunited with family again. 

Have you had anything similar? Have you had Covid-19 yet? I still technically haven't, despite nearly everyone I know having it now.