Story By:  Ana Marjanovic, Sub-Editor:  Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News

A Detroit mother has spoken of her nightmare COVID-19 ordeal where she was constantly turned away from hospitals an incredible eight times but eventually recovered from the disease.

Nicole Quarrels, a mother of three from Romulus in the Detroit metro area of Michigan in the US fell ill on 16th March with coronavirus symptoms and shared her story in order to encourage others to get through the ordeal.

She told her Facebook followers: “I started feeling ill on March 16th, 2020. It was later in the evening after I was home for a while. It started with just feeling off, body aches and fatigue. The next morning I woke up having a fever, cough, weak, sore throat, nauseous, fatigued, ears bothering me and more.

“I went to urgent care who looked at me and told me I have Flu, Strep, and bronchitis. No testing was done at all. They sent me on my way with 3 medications.

“My symptoms continued to get worse. By March 20th, I was in so much pain that I couldn’t bear it. Nothing I did would help. It wasn’t a body ache pain that you get from the flu. It felt like it was in my joints, in my bones. It was one of the worst pains I have ever experienced in my life. You couldn’t sit, lay, walk or move in any way but you had to.

“All I did was cry cause it was so unbearable. I took Tylenol and pain meds and got no relief. I tried anything I could and nothing would even ease this pain a bit. I would get into the hottest bath I could get into but that didn’t even help. I would find myself falling asleep in the bathtub after these spurts.

“The pain was constant but would get so intense throughout the day. I finally went to the Emergency room around 2:30a.m. They did an X-ray to see if I had pneumonia. It showed no signs of pneumonia so they sent me on my way. Telling me I had an upper respiratory infection. They could clearly see how much pain I was in but did nothing to help me.

“That same day later in the day I decided to go back to Urgent Care. Hoping they might help me since I wasn’t getting any help in the emergency room. I saw the same doctor as I did before. She checked me out and saw my pain. She then gave me an inhaler and steroids and told me she is 99.9 percent sure I have COVID. She gave me a discharge paper of COVID-19 discharge instructions.

“That evening I literally thought I was going to die. The pain almost made me not want to live. I was afraid I had something else going on that they were overlooking. I decided to go through the drive-thru screening at the hospital. But again no help. They checked all my vitals and again sent me on my way.

“A few days go by and I still had the horrible pain along with more symptoms. I had lost my smell. I had a few days where I barely had an appetite. My cough was getting worse. I was having extremely bad headaches. I had a copper taste in my mouth. My chest was so painful and heavy. I was having shortness of breath. I couldn’t sleep or lay down without gasping for air.

“On March 25th, I was back in the hospital. I decided to go in cause I was so short of breath and having horrible chest pain and pressure. They did a CT scan to see if I had blood clots. Thankfully that was negative. So again sent me home with upper respiratory infection but told me they are certain it’s COVID.

“Symptoms continued and I almost thought I was getting better. My breathing had gotten somewhat better and my chest pain but it came back full force.

“On March 29th, I was right back in an emergency not being able to breathe and felt like my chest was caving in. The pain was shooting up to my arm, in my back and in my neck. This doctor decided to do blood work and an X-ray again and said I needed testing for COVID. They put me in an isolated room that I couldn’t leave even to go to the bathroom. My blood pressure and blood count showed signs I clearly had something going on. The X-ray showed no signs of pneumonia.

“He kept me for a couple of hours and told me he is sure it’s COVID. He then sent me home. On my way home my chest pain was so bad I could feel the pain shooting up my neck, chin and into my teeth. It hurt so bad. My shoulders hurt, my upper back hurt. It was the sharpest pains I had felt. I made it home but couldn’t do anything. It’s scary to fall asleep or try feeling like this.

“As the days went on I continued with symptoms. I got my COVID test results back 2 days later and it was positive.

“On April 7th I finally started to feel better still having some issues. That’s 21 days of being sick. There are things that happened and ways I felt that are impossible to even explain to let someone know what it’s really like. I had so much more go on. But if I told it all I’d need to write a book.

“I’m thankful to God that I have survived this evil and horrible virus. I’m thankful for all the prayers and all those who reached out to me. I believe I can now say I have beat COVID. I’m still pretty worried not knowing if this virus is in my home or still in my body. I’ll keep doing everything I can to keep my family safe.”

She said she posted the notes online to let other people know that even if they have to fight it on their own, they can get through it.

She said: “To those who have tested positive, I know it’s so scary but YOU CAN MAKE IT THROUGH THIS.”

When speaking to CEN, she declined to name the hospitals involved, saying: “I’m still having issues of shortness of breath, chest pain, chemical taste and smell. Phlegm and pains in my stomach.”

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