Tresa Baldas (Facebook photo)
Tresa Baldas: "I am truly scared." (Photos: Facebook)
We all have events that become life-defining.
Detroit Free Press reporter Tresa Baldas of Detroit tells about her battle with Covid-19 and how it changed her outlook on life. "A strange thing happens to you when you get struck with a grave illness, she writes.
"You don't look at life the same anymore. Things that once seemed important don't matter — like replacing my kitchen countertops, fighting with people on Facebook over political differences, having the perfect body, the perfect job, winning awards.
"All that matters when you're sick is living. Listening to your kids laugh and your husband's jokes. Hearing birds. Feeling the sunlight on your face. Laughing with friends. Talking to your sister, your mom."
Baldas, 52, is married to reporter M.L. Elrick, who returned to the Free Press after leaving Fox 2. He too contracted the disease. Both have now healed.
Baldas talks about the pain and fear.
"Hi sissy. I'm scared and crying. I have a fever of 102 ... I'd call you but I can't stop crying as I am truly scared," she wrote to her sister March 27.
Baldas and husband M.L. Elrick in January.
She talks about the chills, fever, loss of taste and living in the basement while her husband lived upstairs and her two daughters cooked.
For four days, I couldn't get off the couch. My legs ached and I battled a fatigue I had never before experienced. My head pounded, my jaws hurt, and I had nausea galore. It felt like a sinus infection. My doctor wrote me an antibiotic prescription for a Z-pack, which helped my sinuses.
But the illness didn't go away. I stayed weak and tired for days. I had no appetite and lost my sense of taste. Then came the cold sweats. Day after day, I would wake up soaked head to toe. My hair sopping wet. My comforter drenched. And when I took deep breaths, a cold ache filled my esophagus.
On Easter Sunday, she and her husband were feeling better and had dinner with their two daughters.
