First diagnosed in mid-March, Belinda Birnbaum, a Bryn Mawr rheumatologist, is still fighting the coronavirus over a month later, writes David Gambacorta for The Philadelphia Inquirer.

The virus has also spread to her husband and one of their two children.

The symptoms move fast. By March 18, she had lost her appetite and started to feel abdominal pain. She was also struggling to take deep breaths and her cough and fever were constant.

Meanwhile, her husband developed a terrible cough, headache, and horrible body aches.

“It was terrifying,” said Birnbaum, “because you don’t know which way it’s going to go.”

The pair were forced to have some hard conversations, like who would sign off on life-and-death decisions if both of them got gravely ill and who would take care of the kids.

She visited the hospital several times and by the end of March, her condition started to improve. But on April 4 she had another scare when her chest started to hurt while she was going up the stairs. She then discovered she also had residual pneumonia.

Today, she is still coughing and not even close to 100 percent.

“This was the sickest I’ve ever been,” she said.

Read more about Belinda Birnbaum at The Philadelphia Inquirer by clicking here.