'It went from being surreal to real': Former Island Lake trustee diagnosed with COVID-19
Stuck at home in her pajamas watching Netflix, former Island Lake village trustee Debra Westfall asked an unsettling question.
"Is the worst ahead of me or behind me?" she wondered Thursday. "I'm just sitting here bracing myself."
Westfall, who now lives in a condo in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood, is among the 422 confirmed cases - up from 288 earlier Thursday - of COVID-19 in Illinois.
She has learned the hard way the virus is no joke and wants to dispel skepticism. So, she posted on Facebook.
"I decided to make a very public point to humanize it. To let people know it's real," she said.
Like most people, the 52-year old sales rep and cancer survivor couldn't avoid the nonstop news about the marauding virus and had been being careful.
She figured the little dry cough, low energy and mild body aches she was experiencing last week was a seasonal ailment. She felt bedraggled but able to go about her business, albeit abiding by the protocols of social distancing.
On Sunday, she heard from other residents in her building, which is home to about 200.
"They said, 'Did you hear the news? A resident was rushed off by ambulance today and was diagnosed with COVID-19,'" she recalled Thursday.
Until then, Westfall hadn't been overly concerned, figuring the number of confirmed cases among a population of millions were a drop in the bucket.
"When I heard someone in my building had it, I thought, 'Oh, crap.' It went from being surreal to real."
Reality quickly followed.
"On Monday morning I had this coughing attack, so much so that I got lightheaded," she said.
Westfall called her doctor, who immediately told her to get a clinic in Gurnee to be tested. She was whisked into a separate room and given a surgical mask to wear. Her temperature was 97.9 degrees. Normal.
"I'm thinking this is just a panic attack," she said.
Three hours later, a swab of her throat and two from her nose were taken and tested negative for flu and strep throat. She was sent home and told to self-quarantine for 14 days.
About a day later, a representative of NorthShore Evanston Hospital called to say the test was positive for COVID-19.
"The Chicago Health Department will be reaching out to you shortly," Westfall said she was told. "If you feel any worse at all, go to a hospital."
One of her biggest concerns has been the inability to get any response from the city health department. She wants to know when she can be tested again.
The other is the downturn in her field, the special events industry.
"The only calls I'm getting are cancellation notices. All my friends are getting laid off. It's tough."
So far, Westfall is holding her own.
"You know, I'm actually doing OK. Every day I'm feeling a little bit stronger," she said Thursday.
"For me, it's a nagging cough, a little bit low energy and body aches. It hasn't been as bad of some of the flus I've had," she said.
She's confident she'll prevail and worries more about people with pulmonary disease or threatened immune systems. The man in her building got it much worse and is younger, she noted.
"I'm just kind of riding this thing out and praying the worst is behind me," she said.