‘A veil has been lifted.’ A COVID-19 survivor tells his family’s tale of recovery
June 24: Cold chills. Muscle aches. Slight headache. Headache is not in the front, but the backside of the head. Appetite normal.
June 25: Temperature is 99.8 Groggy. Muscle soreness. Took Advil for headache. Rode my bike outside, mowed the lawn.
“Now that was a bad day,” said Derrick Merchant in reacting to the journal entries he began to chronicle what he thought just might be a his own case of coronavirus.
Merchant, a 41-year-old insurance agent from Fort Worth, is one of the growing number of people who, along with the rest of the family, contracted COVID-19, and survived the virus. An admitted germaphobe, he is also one of a growing number of people who took the preventative measures seriously, and now believes that Texas, and the rest of America, needs to reopen.
This is Derrick Merchant’s story.
“I don’t think this is some hoax or it’s all political. I don’t think this is a fraud,” Merchant said. “I had it. My family had it. I know it’s serious. I just don’t think we are seeing enough of the cases that people are recovering from this and are OK. You don’t see that enough in the media.
“Since I’ve had it a veil has been lifted.”
Contact tracing COVID-19
On June 21, Merchant, his wife and their two children went to his dad’s house in Fort Worth to celebrate Father’s Day. Eight people were there, including Merchant’s 69-year-old father, Dennis.
Merchant said everyone sat outside, and everyone remained socially distanced.
One of the guests had recently taken a trip to a beach, while another had visited a friend who worked at an urgent care center in a rural community.
Later that evening while still at his father’s house, Merchant’s half-sister said she was not feeling well, and complained of feeling chills and was running a slight fever.
“If you match the symptoms my dad had and myself, we both think we got it that evening,” Merchant said.
Three days later, Merchant started to feel it. So did his father.
One day after he started to feel symptoms, when the Advil wore off, his temperature rose to 101.2 degrees. That was June 25.
Living with COVID-19
On June 26, Merchant was tested for the coronavirus by the U.S. National Guard at the testing center at TCU. By that time his symptoms included chills, nausea, night sweats, and his skin was sensitive to the touch. He had an infrequent cough.
Merchant opted to self-quarantine inside his family’s home, distancing himself from his wife and their two children. “I was sore everywhere, even under my rib cage. It like I had bruising underneath the skin,” he said. “I have four nurses in my family, and they thought my lung sac was inflamed.”
Then his daughter, seven-year-old Savannah, began to show signs, and she joined her father in the home’s quarantine zone for an extended period of quality daddy-daughter time. Her symptoms included sneezing, stomach problems, a dry cough, some vomiting, headaches and a fever for three straight nights. The only measure that provided any comfort was a hot bath.
After the third day, she started to feel better.
Then his son, Wyatt, 10, started to complain about his lower back and legs hurting. “He was fatigued a lot, and he had symptoms for two days,” Merchant said.
Then Monika Merchant, 37, started to feel headaches. “Of the four of us, hers was the oddest of all,” Merchant said. “One day she felt tired, took a nap, and that was about it.” One symptom included an irregular bleeding not during her menstrual cycle. Although inter-menstrual bleeding has not been linked to COVID-19, stress, such as from an illness, can be a cause.
“She took the [COVID-19] rapid test, but it came back negative,” Merchant said. “I think it was a false negative.”
By the time the results of Merchant’s COVID-19 test arrived on July 10, he and his family were on their way out of the symptoms. He had tested positive.
Frustrated with COVID-19
Of the eight people who attended the Father’s Day party at Dennis Merchant’s house, four tested positive for the coronavirus, and the other four all had symptoms. However, none of the eight required a hospital visit.
“My dad had it the worst,” Merchant said. “He’s not a smoker or a drinker. He was trying to power through, but it was tough.”
Before Merchant and his family contracted COVID-19 or showed symptoms, he said they took it all seriously. They didn’t go out. The kids were not attending camps or outside social activities.
“I’m a little bit irritated with how we are trying to pacify this situation. I think for the majority of us who do get it the symptoms are minor, but I know this is serious,” he said. “I don’t think you see enough of the cases like us in the media at all.”
Merchant’s personal feelings are that large gatherings are not a good idea. He also stridently believes that his community, and America, need to be more aggressive about reopening.
“We will certainly do our part and I do think for the elderly a plan has to be in place,” he said. “But we need to move forward with our lives. We are going backwards. When I go out, I’m going to be confident.”
This is one family’s story of living with COVID-19.
