I have no doubts that I caught the Wuhan coronavirus at Changi International Airport in Singapore while we were there waiting for nine hours because of the timeline, severity of the flu-like symptoms, dry cough, inability to breathe, the medicines that I finished taking before I recovered, namely: Z-Pack, Prednisone, over the counter & prescription cough medicines, Ventollin Inhaler 3 times a day, and 8 caplets of extra-strength Tylenol every 24 hours, until my fever subsided. But why was Gie free and clear of the virus when we sat next to each other the whole time inside the confines of an airplane, at home, especially in our matrimonial king-size bed, until I got sick when we put one pillow between us, without knowing anything yet about the coronavirus?
First of all, unlike me, she didn't talk to strangers or people she didn't know, and didn't walk around except when going to the restroom. Also, she reminded me that aside from the flu vaccine that we both had in the fall of 2019, she was given 3 other shots-- the pneumonia vaccine which I'm getting this year, and 2 shingles vaccines 6 months apart which she never had before. Plus, she's healthier, has a better immune system than me, and for every little ailment goes to her favorite Filipina lady doctor who was very caring like our daughter Claire-Voe, a graduate of the premier College of Medicine at the Catholic University of Santo Tomas (where I went and taught Pre-med students,) and also very religious like Gie (her waiting room in the Catholic hospital had piped-in praise and worship music and a religious painting.)
And, because of the Las Vegas lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic,
Gie's doctor couldn't see her, and was sent to a laboratory for an x-ray after she coughed blood last month. While waiting for the result of her x-ray, I also developed a fever, which got me into thinking that maybe, I only had the flu around the holidays right after the cruise because the pharmacist who gave us the flu vaccine in October of 2019 said that it was only 40% effective because there was another strain of the flu virus that was going on then. Which means that we had to be tested if we had the coronavirus, considering that we were both senior citizens with preexisting conditions-- I had a history of asthma, while she had pneumonia before.
We both called our doctors who told us the same thing; that is, to call the number at UNLV Medicine for testing, which we did immediately. That was Friday, March 27; but unfortunately, they were only open from 9 AM until 3 PM, so I had to call back on Monday, the 30th.
I called first thing in the morning, and was put on hold for half an hour because there were many people calling to be tested, and they didn't have enough people to answer the calls. Anyway, the guy who answered the call was very nice, asked us a few questions, and told us that we're qualified to be tested. He gave us directions for the testing in 2 days, which was April Fools Day, but not the time because we had to wait for their phone call the following day, or March 31st.
We waited the whole day for a phone call but nobody called us. So, on April 1st, I told Gie to get ready because we're going there whether they liked it or not. We got there before lunchtime, and called them again because there was a long line of cars, and told them that we took the chance to go there because nobody called us when they were supposed to. The guy on the other line was very apologetic and told us to go back home because we were not on the list for that day, and there was just a number of testing they could do everyday, so we just had to wait for a phone call, and they would tell us what time we're supposed to go there.
Sure enough, somebody left a message on my voicemail that day, and told us to come for testing at 3:40 PM on Friday, which we did.
Finally, we were tested for the coronavirus a week after we called, but the results were not available until after another week. I called them the following Friday, but they told us that they will call us after 7 business days, or just wait for the result online. We kept checking online to no avail, until the night of April 15, when we watched the local evening news which showed us how people where complaining because of how slow they were about the testing, and in getting the test results.
Osbert & Claire-Voe kept calling us because they were worried, and I told them that we had not received the results yet, but the good news was that my fever was gone, and Gie's x-ray was negative for tuberculosis or any abnormalities.
Anyway, just to give you an idea of how unprepared we were, from Pres. Trump to any other officials or mortals like us, about this pandemic: we could have been dead in three weeks-- from the time we got sick to the time they gave us the test results.
(TO BE CONTINUED...)
First of all, unlike me, she didn't talk to strangers or people she didn't know, and didn't walk around except when going to the restroom. Also, she reminded me that aside from the flu vaccine that we both had in the fall of 2019, she was given 3 other shots-- the pneumonia vaccine which I'm getting this year, and 2 shingles vaccines 6 months apart which she never had before. Plus, she's healthier, has a better immune system than me, and for every little ailment goes to her favorite Filipina lady doctor who was very caring like our daughter Claire-Voe, a graduate of the premier College of Medicine at the Catholic University of Santo Tomas (where I went and taught Pre-med students,) and also very religious like Gie (her waiting room in the Catholic hospital had piped-in praise and worship music and a religious painting.)
And, because of the Las Vegas lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic,
Gie's doctor couldn't see her, and was sent to a laboratory for an x-ray after she coughed blood last month. While waiting for the result of her x-ray, I also developed a fever, which got me into thinking that maybe, I only had the flu around the holidays right after the cruise because the pharmacist who gave us the flu vaccine in October of 2019 said that it was only 40% effective because there was another strain of the flu virus that was going on then. Which means that we had to be tested if we had the coronavirus, considering that we were both senior citizens with preexisting conditions-- I had a history of asthma, while she had pneumonia before.
We both called our doctors who told us the same thing; that is, to call the number at UNLV Medicine for testing, which we did immediately. That was Friday, March 27; but unfortunately, they were only open from 9 AM until 3 PM, so I had to call back on Monday, the 30th.
I called first thing in the morning, and was put on hold for half an hour because there were many people calling to be tested, and they didn't have enough people to answer the calls. Anyway, the guy who answered the call was very nice, asked us a few questions, and told us that we're qualified to be tested. He gave us directions for the testing in 2 days, which was April Fools Day, but not the time because we had to wait for their phone call the following day, or March 31st.
We waited the whole day for a phone call but nobody called us. So, on April 1st, I told Gie to get ready because we're going there whether they liked it or not. We got there before lunchtime, and called them again because there was a long line of cars, and told them that we took the chance to go there because nobody called us when they were supposed to. The guy on the other line was very apologetic and told us to go back home because we were not on the list for that day, and there was just a number of testing they could do everyday, so we just had to wait for a phone call, and they would tell us what time we're supposed to go there.
Sure enough, somebody left a message on my voicemail that day, and told us to come for testing at 3:40 PM on Friday, which we did.
Finally, we were tested for the coronavirus a week after we called, but the results were not available until after another week. I called them the following Friday, but they told us that they will call us after 7 business days, or just wait for the result online. We kept checking online to no avail, until the night of April 15, when we watched the local evening news which showed us how people where complaining because of how slow they were about the testing, and in getting the test results.
Osbert & Claire-Voe kept calling us because they were worried, and I told them that we had not received the results yet, but the good news was that my fever was gone, and Gie's x-ray was negative for tuberculosis or any abnormalities.
Anyway, just to give you an idea of how unprepared we were, from Pres. Trump to any other officials or mortals like us, about this pandemic: we could have been dead in three weeks-- from the time we got sick to the time they gave us the test results.
(TO BE CONTINUED...)
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