Sandra Walker; a mom, a sister, a bank teller, a Corona virus survivor.
Sandra, a woman born in the 1960’s was just your typical everyday Jamaican woman who went to work on a daily basis and then enjoyed her alone time at home. Then the Corona Virus pandemic hit and everything changed. Like everyone else she adhered to the safety precautions advised by the government, by practicing social distancing and staying home as much as was possible. But Sandra is a bank teller so she is an essential worker and she still had to go to work. Not long after, she realized she had a runny nose and her sinuses were feeling stuffy. Although she knew that the Corona virus was at large, she couldn’t imagine catching it as the only places she went to was work and home. She went to her doctor because of her symptoms and he decided to run a Corona Virus check on her just in case. When the results came back to confirm the virus she was in utter shock.
Sandra, like many persons in the Generation X category had a few underlying health issues that she was concerned about. She is hypertensive, diabetic; she has sickle cell traits and two auto immune diseases. Before she caught the virus, she wasn’t too worried about it as she didn’t have anyone to worry about- not her deceased parents or her 30 year old son living abroad. During her time with the virus, she was in the hospital for 5 days and she didn’t really have any human interaction. The doctors and nurses only came by to do routine checks as they had other patients to deal with and whenever she called her relatives she could barely even talk to them because she felt so out of breath and weak. She said she remembers thinking that she “might die here alone”, she got constant panic attacks and became extremely fearful. She also didn’t call her son until she knew she was out of the woods so as to not make him worry. She recovered thankfully, and did her additional self-quarantine at home.
Later she heard that another co-worker contracted the virus as well which made her decide to take an additional leave of absence. Now she is overly cautious and suffers from mild Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD), anxiety and paranoia causing her to feel tense, nervous and emotionally distressed. She only leaves her house for 3 reasons; to get check-ups from her doctor to ensure she is still Corona free, to go grocery shopping where she always buys 2 or more weeks’ worth of groceries and when getting gas at the gas station. On these occasions when she has to leave the house, she becomes frantic as she ensures she is fully ‘suited up’, sanitizes everything and every surface that she come into contact with and is ready to practice social distancing. She states that she dreads every minute of it. She says that every time she thinks about having to go outside for whatever reason she is in a near panic because she fears contracting the virus again. She also now has a ‘Corona Kit’ that she has on her at all times that includes sanitizers, masks, gloves among other protective gear.
Sandra tries to cope with her anxiety, paranoia and her PTSD by reassuring herself each time that she will be okay and she is safe. Additionally, she replaces watching the news with light entertainment such as comedies and other types of TV shows as the news evokes feelings of anxiety and depression due to the climbing rates of the Corona Virus. She talks to her family more frequently who constantly encourages and supports her emotionally which she says makes her feel better. She says when she is at home she feels safer and more at peace.
She was to resume working in July; however she is still quite fearful so she has extended her leave for her to return in September instead. Prior to having Corona Virus Sandra wasn’t an anxious person or someone who really worried about a lot of things, but now she is trying to get back to her normal self after recovering. She says she considers herself to be ‘one of the lucky ones’ who recovered and her symptoms weren’t that bad, she however wouldn’t wish the Corona Virus on anyone and she prays she will never get it again.
Comentarios