Abstract
This personal narrative recounts the experience of a nursing student, Sonia Sweat, and her family as they battled COVID-19 in 2020. After Sonia fell ill, her husband Jason followed suit, and his condition quickly deteriorated. Despite her efforts to care for him at home, Jason was eventually hospitalized and placed in the ICU, battling severe complications. Sonia details the emotional turmoil, the challenges of navigating a health system during a pandemic, and the anxiety of being separated from her husband due to strict quarantine protocols. Her story highlights the personal impact of COVID-19 and the strength of families facing such life-threatening challenges.
Keywords: COVID-19, family experience, ICU, quarantine, emotional toll, healthcare, pandemic
It was on May 12, 2020, when I started feeling ill. I remember the exact date because I sent a friend a text message of a bowl of soup with the caption “Not feeling well.” I can remember my 11-year-old son saying to my husband, “WHY DO YOU KEEP TAKING MY MOM OUT OF THIS HOUSE?” I noticed that my husband had been sniffing with a runny nose. It all went downhill from there. The next day I started feeling nauseous, dizzy, headaches, loss of taste and smell, body aches with chills. I would manage to still shower in which the water hitting my body felt like needles pricking my skin. I noticed that my husband was not feeling well around day three, but managed to pressure wash the front and back deck while portraying as if he was okay. I continued to take Nyquil, keep myself-hydrated, and ate some soup.
We laid in bed for four days without eating or drinking. I recovered within seven days and started to feel better and noticed that my husband was not improving. We would casually joke and laugh, and I would prepare his soup and keep him hydrated with water, sprite, and Powerade. The food would be left untouched, and the drinks would be left close to full. Jason started to complain about backaches, body aches, headaches, etc., and just wanted to be left alone. He began to feel feverish as we managed with Tylenol. I noticed that Jason started having trouble breathing and a hard time getting up out of bed. When I witnessed the lifeless look on his face while lying down in the bed moments after we were laughing, I knew it was time to get him to the hospital. Jason was lying in bed, and suddenly, I did not hear him talking anymore, but he was gazing at the ceiling without blinking his eyes. I yelled his name and hit him in his chest to get a reaction while my eldest son ran to grab his shoes. It was as if Jason had spaced out and needed a jumpstart. He was unable to sit up, so we had to force him up and out of bed to carry him down two flights of stairs.
On May 23, 2020, Jason was admitted immediately to the hospital, where the nurse informed me that he had tested positive for COVID-19 and for me to go home and quarantine with the children for 14 days. I contacted my eldest son and daughter to inform them of the results. By the time I had returned home, my eldest son, Darrius, was dressed in his mask and gloves on and had stripped down my bed to place the linen into the washer. I received a call from the nurse in which she informed me that Jason was up watching TV while receiving oxygen treatment. Jason was intubated the next day and transferred to East Alabama Medical Center, where he had to be treated for his lungs and kidneys in the ICU department for 12 days. I was informed daily regarding my husband’s condition and had to provide consent for specific procedures via phone. I had to give a passcode to obtain information regarding my husband’s treatment since no one could visit the hospitals unless you were the patient.