Push Admin

Article (news)

Rica Peralejo shares COVID-19 journey

ABS-CBN News

MANILA – Rica Peralejo opened up about her COVID-19 journey almost a month after she survived the illness.In her May 7 vlog, Peralejo said she started feeling unwell last March 20 right after she had a shoot in their house.“I didn’t really know that I had anything. I was just exceptionally pawisin nung araw na yun. Pero kasi ang init din. Confused na confused ako. May sakit ba ako or pawisin ba ako? Prior to that, I kept sneezing also. It felt like we were having an allergy because even the kids were sneezing and ikaw,” she said referring to her husband Joseph Bonifacio.Because she felt unusually tired that day, Peralejo decided to get tested the following day just to make sure about her condition. The actress got her positive COVID-19 results on March 22.<figure class="op-interactive"><iframe height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/YQPdV45z6CA?enablejsapi=1" width="560"></iframe></figure><div class="iwantbar">Watch more in <a href="//www.iwantv.com.ph/">iWantv</a> or <a href="//tfc.tv/">TFC.tv</a></div>“I kinda suspected na rin kasi my symptoms are not going away. I just didn’t detect it right away because my symptoms were so mild and so common. It’s something that I always experience like some pain in the back, sipon or ubo. Normal na kapag napapagod ako, ito yung mga nangyayari sa akin. It didn’t really occur to me this time that I could be COVID,” she said.After learning about her condition, Bonifacio and their helper also had themselves tested since they were all exposed to Peralejo.While the two’s results came back negative, Peralejo shared that their helper began exhibiting symptoms so it was Bonifacio who ended up doing most of the work in their house eventually.“Yun yung nakakaloka kasi in the beginning, okay ka eh. And then on the ninth, 10th, 11th, 12th day mo, doon ka pwedeng mag-develop ng more symptoms na medyo mas mahirap,” she said.Peralejo said she just kept praying and monitoring her health.“That kinda comforted me, that I didn’t need to go [to the hospital]. But of course, it started a thread of worries in my head. Whenever I would look at my kids, naiisip ko na, ano ba ito? Ito na ba yung mga story na naririnig mo na last time mo na sila makikita?” she said.Peralejo said she felt really anxious because unlike other illnesses, she could not predict how her COVID-19 would progress.“Kasi kapag trangkaso, alam mo. Kapag may gastroenteritis ka, alam mo kung anong mangyayari sayo. Parang alam mo yung cycle na nung virus na yun. Ito nga dahil novel siya, I think the symptoms also manifest very differently according to the individual,” she said.The actress said she only felt better on her 12th day of sickness, but her husband also began experiencing coronavirus symptoms shortly thereafter.“Parang allergic rhinitis lang. But on [March] 27 or 28, it started to feel weird already. You just feel cold all the time. Sure enough, nag-progress na into body pains, the flu-like symptoms. The migraines were very difficult,” Bonifacio said.Despite what she and her husband went through, Peralejo is just grateful that their kids were not infected by the virus.

Rica Peralejo opened up about her COVID-19 journey almost a month after she survived the illness.

Rica Peralejo opened up about her COVID-19 journey almost a month after she survived the illness.