I was down under for the past two days. Thinking that I possibly could maybe gotten Covid. Story begins when I was about to clock out at 5pm, on last Saturday from work. It was 430pm, I began to feel my bones were shivering. Maybe because the clothes I wore that day were skimpier? So I turned off the air condition. But the shivering doesn’t go away. At 450pm, I told Jenny to clock out earlier, so I could return home.
Back home I took panadol and vitamin. My extremities such as my toes and fingers were so cold that I have to wear socks and gloves to bed. Two hours later, the fever doesn’t go away. I was scared shit. I’m begining to think about the recent Mother’s Day celebration at home. Could I possibly infected my mom, my aunt and my uncles too? They ARE OLD AND HIGH RISK PEOPLE. Also, why I’m so stubborn to even try to go play badminton on the last day before MCO announce (even I have not fully recovered from my lower back pain)? Shit, nobody’s gonna play badminton with me after this, like Issac’s case.
That night I had nanda chicken, which I ordered earlier – even I know that could prolly make me having sore throat. But YOLO. The chicks were fresh from kitchen.
Come Sunday. I was mostly on bed. I finished reading a book (because what else I can do on bed?). The fever feeling subsided, but now I felt throaty. My aunt asked me to gargle with salt water, which I did, took some chinese meds, and panadol, and vitamin. Gosh, did I feel like a pill box, hell yeah. So here’s my routine
- Every 8 hours: Chinese Meds (popular covid medicine in China, my dad swears by it)
- Every 6 hours: Panadol
- Every in between Chinese Meds & Panadol: Vitamin & Gargle with saltwater
Boy, I was so lethargic by the end of this ordeal. But, I have to say the gargle with saltwater thing did make my throat feel less throaty, if you know what I mean. So the next day I develop some cough. And thinking back, on Friday I actually had diarrhea for two consecutive days. So we made the decision to go for the swab test. The more I think about my chest giving me tight feeling, the worse it becomes. In the end, I decided to go for a swab test. It’s better to be safe than sorry.
He’s the charging rate for two places I’d compared in Kuantan
- Klinik Syed Baharuddin
- RTK TEST: RM100
- PCR TEST: RM270
- You have to get down the car and register, give IC, stand outside the clinic when they cucuk you.
- Kuantan Medical Center
- RTK TEST: RM120
- PCR TEST: RM3XX
- Can do it with drive thru, meaning like order McD lah, they just take samples without you having to get down from the car.
So here’s the explanation based on my understanding and conversation with the nurses there what each test means:-
RTK basically is cheaper because they only take samples from your nose. Which is quite accurate already and fast too (within 2 hours). You could opt to do for the RTK test, and proceed to the PCR test if you are positive to covid. Because KKM will need PCR results from you. RTK is recommended for those who have symptoms but no close contact with covid patients.
PCR is comprise of RTK (nasal swab) in addition to throat swab for your saliva sample. This is a little bit more through, and usually opted by those who have close contact with covid-19 patients. The result will take much longer, usually you could only get it the next day.
So I choose to do RTK at Kuantan Medical Center, for the extra convenience. The process was simple, I have to register myself, pay them an upfront of RM120 fees (cash or online bank-in) and drive to the swab counter.
The process: When the frontliner came by, she told me to tilt my head, and try not squeeze my nasal passage and breathe like normal. The cotton swab was smaller to my usual cotton buds, I didn’t know how deep it went in, but it lasted for 4secs at most. I was trying to breathe normal, and the moment my tears almost come out, the frontliner pulled out the swab. I was tearing abit, and I felt my nose pretty dry. Like she just dug the deepest shit in my nose. On the way back, I think I achoooo-ed like 5 times, because some cotton fibres from the swab must’ve irritated my nose. Other than that, I’m good.
So I asked if my result come back negative what should I do? She told me to still monitor my condition for the next 4 days, and quarantine at home. If the symptom did not subside, I should come visit a doctor as there may be some other underlying conditions.
At about 1 hour later, and my result came back negative. I was relieved. AAAND then my dad only reminded me that on 1st day of MCO I actually went out cycling even it was drizzling. *Flips my eyeball like 1000 times* So he knewww ALLL ALONGGG??? I went through the whole quarantine ordeal and swab dig nose thing, only to know THAT? But, I wasn’t angry or mad. I was just tired, and lesson learnt. At time like this, we really don’t want to take risk to get sick. The thought of contracting COVID to some you loved dearly, makes us feel horrible. 爸爸妈妈，对不起，我长大了。。。
Melissa's Muse 