My Covid-19 Test Experience

My sister had pre-warned me, I would not be able to handle the test. I decided, even though she had recently had the test for an upcoming surgery, I would show her otherwise. I felt I was pretty tough, most of the time. Surgery for my bone attached hearing aide (BAHA) would be coming soon and I knew I would have to be tested prior.

Test day

Sure enough on Saturday, July 18, I was scheduled for my test. With our hot weather, in the 100’s by 3:00, I wasn’t looking forward to sitting in my car, going through the line. I arrived at 9:55 for my 10:00 appointment. The line was long and we were looping around the parking lot. I wondered how many of us had 10:00 appointments. And I wondered if maybe some of them didn’t have appointments and they were hoping to be let through. There were people that did get turned away. I guess you do need an appointment as they had told me. If you didn’t have an appointment they would not have your test materials together with your name and identification on it.

I estimated there were at least 30 cars ahead of me. The line seemed to be moving rather quickly despite the number of cars ahead of me. Once I arrived at the front of the line I realized they were working on 3 vehicles at a time, under awnings.

An employee came up to me and verified my name. She then placed the pre-assembled bag of testing items on my windshield. She was followed by two nurses who came to my car and verified my name and birthdate. I was handed an information sheet to read later. Later I realized it came with a single tissue inside in case I needed it after the test.

The swab

From watching the news, I remembered the swab being about a foot long. However, it was probably about 5 inches long. The nurse in charge said she would swab my mouth and then both of my nostrils. I was told to open my mouth and say “aw.” She stuck the swab in my mouth and I tried to say “aw,” as I was gagging. Then, the swab was up one nostril and then the other before I realized it. It felt like water was being shot up each nostril. It was over, I felt like my head had been invaded, but I would surely live. I could see why they try not to test people that don’t have symptoms.

The nurse said I would get my results within five days, even though I knew I would have mine within three days. Since this was a pre-surgery test for me, I was pretty confident my results would be negative. The process of waiting in line and having the test took about 30 minutes, nothing like the hours I had seen on the news in other states.

Later, I read the sheet of paper that I received telling me about my test. The paper explained that I was having the test because I had symptoms of respiratory illness or was exposed to someone with Covid-19. Neither was true, but I guess that applied to most of the other people in the line. I was there because I had surgery the following Wednesday and if I had Covid-19, they would be canceling my surgery for their sake and mine.

The wait

Saturday went by. Sunday went by. On Monday, I received a text message telling me the date of my two weeks follow-up appointment after my surgery. No news on the result of my Covid-19 test.

On Tuesday, the day before surgery, I received a call in the morning letting me know what time my surgery would be the next day. I was also given my final instructions about being dropped off by my driver and drinking Gatorade or apple juice two hours before my scheduled time for surgery. He also went through what I needed to bring: my insurance card, a way to pay my co-pay, and my identification. And I must wear comfortable clothing. It was all the typical pre-surgery stuff.

Test results

Wednesday my surgery took place. I asked if they had a result yet on my test. No, but they were all aware and were preceding with caution. On Thursday, I was called at home to see how I was doing. It was the normal day after you go home, wellness check type phone call. It was my RN that was with me pre-surgery. I asked him if my result had come in since I thought his call might be my result. No, it was still listed as in process. On Friday, I decided maybe I would never hear back on my results.

On Sunday morning, eight days after my test, I received an email that I had test results ready. We were on our way out of town. I mentioned it to my husband and his response was “so we might be turning around?” I quickly went to the website and there was a complicated response. Among other things, it explained that the result could be “not detected” or “invalid.” I was hoping for a simple negative or positive. Reading down I did see that my result from my Covid-19 test was “not detected.” So I was free to have my surgery (four days prior) and continue on to our vacation.

My feelings on the process

I sympathize with anyone that has a Covid-19 test and has to wait for days, even weeks, for the result. What is the point of having the test and not finding out for eight days or longer? If my surgery would have been canceled due to a lack of results, I would not have been happy. I’ve waited months for the surgery I had and to have gotten my hopes up for nothing would have been a disappointment. However, once again, I would have realized that God had a plan for my wait.

My test didn’t take as long as I expected from getting in line to being finished. It wasn’t as horrible having the swab test as I had feared, yet I’d prefer not to have another one.

Have you had a Covid-19 test? How soon did you get your result?