For the past three weeks, host Trina Guytingco had not been around for Tiebreaker Vodcasts’ So She Did!, presented by SMART Sports.
And now she could share the reason why.
Last July 9, the 22-year-old, who has been in California since the lockdown was implemented in the Philippines, went into a three-day basketball camp in Las Vegas, Nevada.
There were a lot of people in that combine, including coaches, scouts, and, of course, aspirants.
“About three weeks, I attended a basketball combine in Vegas. Prior to that, I was very cautious with everything that I was doing — wearing a mask, washing my hands, practicing social distancing. I think I did a pretty good job, I thought I was. When I went to this camp, I spent three days with just a whole bunch of women, playing basketball,” Guytingco recounted during last Saturday’s episode of So She Did!.
“A couple of days later, I started feeling sick.”
The 5-foot-7 guard started experiencing fever but she would still soldier on to tape So She Did’s episode with Gilas Pilipinas Women’s last July 12.
Then she had really bad headaches, sore throat, loss of appetite, and then, later on, body aches.
A classic case of the “trangkaso” right especially after not playing basketball for the last five months?
But Guytingco would receive bad news. And it was her worst fear.
“Then I received news that one of my teammates tested positive for COVID.
“It was just very nerve-wracking and I didn’t know what was about to happen just because when you have having contact with the virus, it just messes with your head,” she bared.
During that week, Guytingco got herself tested in a school-turned-COVID 19-testing facility in Pleasant Hill.
Though it was free, the downside was it took long for the result to come out.
Not wanting to leave anything to chance, Guytingco and her parents treated her like a positive case.
“When I got sick, I had to treat myself like I had COVID because my friend I had contact with had COVID. I treated myself like I was positive and my family treated me like I was positive.
“They did their best to wear masks, disinfect properly everything and anything I could’ve possibly touched, and I was just in my room for a whole two weeks,” she said.
The next two weeks would be a roller-coaster ride for Guytingco.
There were times when she would think that everything’s going to be fine if she takes all the meds, rest, and hydrate.
“But there were days that you think why did this happen to me. It felt like a normal flu just with a lot of body aches. You keep on thinking about the tragic stories of COVID-19 like what if you deteriorate all of a sudden,” shared Guytingco as California has 509,000 confirmed COVID-19 cases with 9,359 deaths as of publishing.
“It was a very rough week for me.”
She went to music to ease herself and make everything feel “normal”.
Besides the mental anguish, there was also the excruciating body pains she experienced for a whole week.
“For me, it felt like I worked out the whole day when I was literally at the bad the whole day. I was exhausted and my body was just like hurting and aching everywhere. Think of it like after a workout and you just did squats, a really heavy squat workout. Then the next day you can’t walk,” she described.
“Imagine that feeling but all over your body. For me, it was just hard to walk around for a week. I was just twenty-four hours in bed outside of going to the bathroom.”
But with the result still not coming out, Guytingco’s mother did her best in concocting the right formula to treat her daughter.
“This was just a regimen that my mom made me do. This is just what we did what helped me get through this,” shared Guytingco, citing that this is not medically-proven.
“Of course I had to take Tylenol for my fever. To help with my sore throat, I drank a lot of ginger tea with cinnamon. It burned but it felt good. I was also taking a lot of organic multivitamins. Aside from that, I took a lot of vitamin D and vitamin B. And I was taking probiotics for my stomach just in case. I was on a lot of stuff.”
After a week, Guytingco started to feel better.
Last July 11, the result from her first test came out positive.
The next day, she went through a rapid test and it turned out negative. Trina just survived hell and lived to tell about it.
Guytingco remains cautious and a little bit paranoid as no one still knows the long-term effects of the virus.
Still, she is just glad to finally be able to go out — of course, with a mask on.
“I’ve been feeling amazing. Since I passed the fourteen-day quarantine mark, I’ve been able to go outside for a walk but, obviously, with a mask on. We still don’t know how much this virus can get,” she expressed.
“I don’t know when I’m fully recovered.”
