Our story of surviving COVID-19

BY MARY LOU PEDERSON

Willmar — My son came home from work expounding on the fact that he had a sore throat. He said it lasted about half an hour and went away.

I thought nothing of it. He is quite susceptible to colds. He works outside.

The next day the sore throat came back. It lasted a little longer and he began to sneeze.

Within the next two days, he was sneezing with a vengeance. I looked it up on the internet and sneezing was dubbed as rarely being a symptom of COVID-19.

When the sneezing was over, he started coughing. Now I am beginning to wonder. Three days after he started sneezing, I came down with the chills, just out of the blue.

The episode lasted about half an hour and I had another case of the chills the next day.

Now I was pretty sure we had COVID-19.

We were both feeling poorly, but I managed to drive us both into a COVID- 19 testing spot.

Two days later, a nurse from the Minnesota Department of Health called us with the results.

I tested positive for COVID-19. I calmly said “OK.”

Then I handed the phone to my son to get his test results. The nurse told my son he also tested positive.

I couldn’t help but to chuckle when my son said, “Well! How disappointing!” It is what it is.

I was 72 years old, have only one kidney and Multiple Sclerosis.

I just figured if I got COVID-19, I was a dead duck. There was no way I would ever make it through a case of that dreaded virus.

That had been my opinion from the onset of COVID.

I had a multitude of symptoms, but they mostly were in the mild-moderate range. I ended up in the hospital with a dehydrated kidney and went home with a UTI. COVID didn’t put me in the hospital. Fatigued as I was, I had to take care of my son, Mr. Terrific Immune System. He rarely ever gets sick. He wouldn’t know an emergency if it were staring him in the face.

The Lord had something to show me through it all.

Not only were my symptoms less severe than my son’s, I managed to live through it. I had gotten COVID and survived. I guess I lost sight of the fact that God was in control, even through this horrible pandemic with millions of people dying worldwide.

My son took three doses of aspirin on day nine of COVID, told me he felt great that evening and went back to work on day 11, full of energy.

I had twice the recovery time but did manage to regain my focus.

God is in control. He always has been and always will be.