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Welcome to the Record Newspapers/Oswego Ledger Kendall County local government newsletter. Each Tuesday and Thursday, reporters Katie Finlon, Shea Lazansky and editor John Etheredge provide exclusive content and commentary on topics and issues involving Kendall County area governmental agencies and the communities they serve.
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Hey, Kendall County! This is news reporter Katie Finlon again, and I'm once again hoping this newsletter is finding everybody either safe, healthy or at the very least on the mend.
If it looks like my byline hasn't been as prevalent as it usually is since about Wednesday, your powers of observation are definitely up to snuff I've been feeling sick for more than a week and I reached a breaking point with symptoms from last Wednesday through Saturday morning. I'm talking cluster headaches/migraines, nausea, other less pleasant tummy troubles, an off sense of taste (like everything had a weird wax aftertaste), a little shortness of breath and the worst symptom for me to tolerate hives. The type of full-body hives that wake you up at least every two hours throughout the night.
Separately, these symptoms really aren't that unusual for me. Those who know me know I have some unique autoimmune health conditions never mind that I'm just an anxious human being by design and I finally got some decent relief in the last few years with a sharp eye on my sleep schedule, keeping tabs on my diet and a daily medication cocktail of omeprazole and various antihistamines. Still, I will have some off days on occassion, especially with my history of migraines.
Together, however, those symptoms which have been reported to be more secondary symptoms of COVID-19 started to kind of concern me, especially since they were breaking the threshold of my daily medication regimen for days on end and there weren't any noticeable changes made to my diet or sleep schedule otherwise. The symptoms definitely concerned my husband, especially after I mentioned the off sense of taste even though it wasn't a complete loss of that sense for me.
After my husband kind of talked me off of my stubborn high horse, we agreed it wouldn't do either of us any harm to get tested for COVID-19 sooner rather than later, especially with my sick day reserve I (thankfully) have at my disposal. So we opted to start with an Illinois Department of Public Health COVID-19 test from the Chicago Premium Outlets mall in Aurora, which opened April 22.
To start, the reason why I don't have my own photos of my actual experience from the drive-thru test site as a patron is that multiple Illinois National Guard officers kept telling cars in line ours included that taking photos of the site was prohibited. It appeared that order was to limit some gaper's block and to keep the car line moving along safely and to be fair, that approach seemed to be effective. I don't think we were there for longer than an hour, and we were allowed in line at about 9:15 a.m. Thursday, May 21 much to my relief, since I know the tests are given on a first-come, first-serve basis.
Since I've told people here and there about what's been going on with my situation up to this point, I've also been asked what the drive-thru testing experience was like. I've boiled it down to this: It felt a little dystopian and unnerving as a whole, but at least everything was well streamlined.
We were greeted by an officer wearing a cloth face mask toward the beginning of the maze, who asked who in the car was getting tested (both my husband and I). They wrote the number of tests to be administered on the driver's side window along with my husband's phone number on that same window and my phone number on the passenger side window and we were both given a small paper packet with information on what to expect from the testing procedure and how the state will follow up with test results via phone call.
After that, we were greeted by more officers with cloth face masks that asked us to hold our driver's licenses up to the windows which were only cracked about a half inch, per officers' instructions after my husband accidentally rolled his window down about an inch too far as they took down that information and whatever symptoms applied. We were then shepherded by a few more cloth face mask-clad officers into a tented area, where a sergeant with an N-95 mask, a face shield and a medical apron guided both of us through self-administered nasal swab tests.
As if receiving instructions from someone with that type of get-up yelling through a cracked window wasn't unsettling enough, let me tell you: The sensation of shoving a huge Q-tip about an inch up both of your own nostrils also is a weird one. If your eyes don't water and you don't feel the constant need to sneeze, you might have done it wrong.
As far as my own health situation goes, I ended up following up with my primary doctor via video call after all the day after I got tested. She seemed to be reassured that it would be unlikely that I'd test positive for COVID-19, since I didn't (and still don't) have a fever and a lot of these symptoms could be attributed to the horrid allergy season that's seemingly knocking everyone allergy-prone or not off of their feet.
However, she agreed it was appropriate for me to get tested regardless, considering what's happening in the world and what I do for a living, and that helped me personally feel a little less worry wart-y and not like I'm wasting state health time and resources. She also wrote another prescription and ordered me to take even more antihistamines to help me feel a little more human again in the following days.
Like my (correct, I begrudgingly admit) husband said: It's like it's almost always a good idea to follow up with your physician with any health concerns you may have, especially in this day and age.
As I write this from the comfort of my own couch on Sunday, it looks like the earliest I'll get my test results back is today (Tuesday). For now, I'm laying as low as I possibly can and trying not to scratch my skin completely raw until I get that health clearance to be able to run necessary errands and cover more assignments from a safe distance a little more freely.
Until then, it's good to be back at about 75% health-wise and I'm looking forward to seeing more of you soon, Kendall County!
Visit link:
Newsletter: What is it like to go through the Aurora COVID-19 testing site? - Kendall County Now
