COVID survivor: “I seriously thought that I was going to die”

After going through a series of tests, Karen was told that her lungs were fine despite her still experiencing shortness of breath. At this point, she still hadn’t received a swab test, which was due to her not meeting the protocol according to Karen.

Fortunately, a doctor ordered a swab test be conducted the moment this was brought to his attention.

After that, she was sent home where shortly after she was informed that she had tested positive for the coronavirus.

Over the next few months, she went in and out of the emergency department.

“It just felt like everything was closing in on you,” she described the feeling of not being able to breathe.

During one of her last visits to emerge, she was asked by a doctor what she wanted to do.

“He’s asking me ‘what do you want to do’,” she explained. “I said I’ve been sick since March. I just want to feel better. I golf, I want to get out on the golf course. He said he could admit me, but if they did I could get others sick, I’m going to be this, I’m going to be that. He actually made me feel guilty for saying ‘admit me, find out (what’s going on) because maybe there’s an underlying issue.”

She was eventually set up in the hospital for nearly a week before sending her home again, still experiencing shortness of breath and troubles communicating. She was also placed on prednisone, a drug mostly used to suppress the immune system and decrease inflammation.

“I’m just sitting here thinking that I just want to be better. It just doesn’t seem like I am getting better. They give me these drugs and it’s like do more tests and find out where it’s coming from. I just want to get back to my normal living again.”

To this day, Karen has no idea where she contracted the virus, admitting that she has an auto-immune disease in her lungs so she was getting herself prepared before she was even sick so she didn’t have to put herself at risk, loading up on non-perishables, cancelling appointments, and stocking up her prescriptions.

“Then the week after, it hit me and it hit me hard. It was like ‘oh, I don’t feel good.’ It was like four days and it hit me hard.”

Meanwhile, her boyfriend Eric had experienced mild symptoms but had recovered relatively quickly. He admits this whole ordeal has been nerve-wracking.

“Scared of the unknown. Not sure of what’s happening. Not being able to get any clear answers for anybody because nobody has ever seen this before so nobody knows what it’s going to do to your body. It’s a mixture of being terrified that you’re going to lose somebody that you love, then feel some hope, and back to being terrified.”

Fortunately, Karen’s past three tests have all come back negative and is considered to be in recovery. Both Karen and Eric urge the public to adhere to the Provincial Health Office’s mandates so no one has to experience what they’ve had to go through.

“If you’re sick, stay home. Just be careful,” says Serwatkewich.

Serwatkewich genuinely thought she was going to die, so much so that she informed her daughter where her stash of money was being kept and where her will was located.

“I just didn’t think that I was going to make it.”

by Ethan Ready

COVID survivor: “I seriously thought that I was going to die”

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