Alameda mom shares her account of being sick with COVID-19, offers insights from her experience

ALAMEDA, Calif. - An Alameda mother of three is candidly sharing what it’s been like as a COVID-19 patient recovering from home, and opening up about her experience -- from the surprising diagnosis, to having the rest of her family tested.

On April 13, Kristin Furuichi Fong shared the news with friends and relatives in an email explaining that the positive test she received was “not quite the result I was hoping for.” 

Like most of the country, the reading specialist with the Alameda Unified School District has been hunkered down at home, sheltered-in-place, trying to make the most of the situation. Up until recently, her social media posts included baking success stories from her culinary adventures and posting light-hearted moments involving her dog and kids.  

Kristin Furuichi Fong's Facebook profile photo

But things quickly changed when she learned she was sick with the virus. Last week, she shared the news with friends on social media along with a marked-up photo of the test results.

In a Facebook post, she said it was a surprise, as she's practiced social distancing and followed shelter-in-place guidelines. “The only outing I’ve gone on is grocery shopping and that’s it - and it was done in full protective gear: gloves, face mask, and personal antibacterial wipes that I used to wipe down the cart,” Furuichi Fong said, though she acknowledged, “Was not as scrupulous as I could have been about wiping each and every item that I bought when I got home.” And she went on to advise friends, “wipe everything down!”  

Furuichi Fong said that when her symptoms first came on just a few days prior, her initial thought was that she had the flu. 

She said her symptoms presented themselves as a low grade fever (nothing higher than 100.8 degrees), body aches, fatigue, and some chills. Furuichi Fong said she did experience a slight, dry cough but that went away quickly after taking cough suppressants. In hindsight, though, she said that there was one tell-tale symptom not typically associated with the flu: "Oh and the reports that one’s smell and taste disappear - yup - that’s happened to me,” she said, explaining how her daughter made a Korean dish of kimchi stew and Furuichi Fong was not able to taste or smell any of it. 

As many have done, she checked her symptoms with those that have been identified with COVID-19 and decided to call her doctor just to be safe.

The doctor prescribed Tamiflu, also believing her symptoms aligned with those of the flu. But as a precaution, she advised that she get tested for the coronavirus. It took six hours to receive the surprising positive test result. 

The Alameda mom has been offering updates on social media and has not shied away from offering details, including what it was like to get swabbed at Stanford Health Care’s drive-thru testing location in Emeryville. She described the overall process as extremely efficient and organized and hailed health care workers as heroes. 

Stanford Medical Health Care's COVID-19 testing site in Emeryville

However, the actual testing itself, she explained, was “less than pleasant,” noting that the swabbing tool was not at all like a Q-Tip. "It was about 8 inches long and at the ‘swab' end were very stiff bristles - think mascara wand lol - but not as soft as mascara bristles! Ok - think TOOTHBRUSH,” Furuichi Fong wrote on Facebook. 

"The first second wasn’t bad until he pushed it so far in that I swear he took a sample of gray matter from my brain,” she joked, adding that the swab was swirled around before being pulled out. “I didn’t gag, my eyes didn’t water but I sneezed about 5 times as soon as he took it out,” she said. 

Furuichi Fong also shared what her doctor told her to expect in the coming days. "A positive result means a phone call or tele-visit with her once a day, every day, strict isolation in my house for two weeks for me and my entire family, and a phone call from the county department of public health.” She was also told she would need to be quarantined from her kids and husband, and prohibited from doing any cleaning or cooking -- a tough order to accept for many moms. 

One thing that her doctor told her to look out for was a worsening of symptoms. Her doctor explained that some people started to report improved health, but then experienced a sharp decline during days 8-12 of the illness. Luckily, it’s not something Furuichi Fong had experienced as of Monday, as she moved into week two of the illness.

There was a significant development to report over the weekend when the family learned that her husband was also positive for COVID-19. Furuichi Fong said that earlier in the month, even before she felt sick, he had experienced some chills, body aches and other symptoms, but she stressed that he never had a fever.  

"He did what everyone has been doing - searched up the charts comparing the common cold, flu, and COVID symptoms - these charts are worthless,” Furuichi Fong said. “Based on these charts, he could have had the flu or COVID. He assumed it was the flu,” she added, noting that looking back he was likely the first one between the two of them to have contracted the illness. He's been symptom-free for about two weeks and fully recovered. 

Furuichi Fong said the kids have also been tested since both her and her husband's results came back positive. But they've shown to be negative for the virus.

She said that while she's continued to feel extremely fatigued and experienced days long stretches of headaches, which were remedied by a strong dose of Tylenol, she is deeply grateful that her case, along with her husband's have been considered mild.

Ultimately, from her experience, her advice to friends and family: "if you don’t feel well, make a call to your physician and ask for their expert opinion. Don’t leave anything to chance... and please, please, please wear your mask and wash EVERYTHING all the time,” she urged.

She also noted that when a doctor recommends testing, it could help protect others in the household. "...the difference a test makes is that if you know you test positive for COVID, there are additional steps to take even in your own house, to TRY to prevent others in your family from getting sick.” 

On Monday, Furuichi Fong also shared how she’s gained some insight through the process of telling about her experience. The Alameda mother said that she had recently read CNN anchor Brooke Baldwin’s account of what she went through after being diagnosed with COVID-19 and echoed a point that the journalist made about making yourself vulnerable by opening up about something as personal as one’s health. 

Furuichi Fong said that that vulnerability has resulted in messages from friends near and far, words of encouragement and support from so many, and has even allowed her to reconnect with people she hasn’t spoken with in years, “connections that stand the test of time,” she said.

“I have been reminded that with each passing day of each of us isolating in our own spaces that while we feel disconnected from the world in so many ways, our human connections are stronger than we know,” Furuichi Fong shared.

And by opening up, she also said that she hoped to offer others some help and support during this time of overwhelming uncertainty. “If by sharing helps take away the fear and the unknown-ness of this illness, bring a bit of knowledge, and reminds you to do everything in your power to stay healthy,” she said, “then ‘staying vulnerable’ is a risk that was worth taking.”