Sylvia learning a lot while home-quarantined
Two months and two weeks after she got infected by COVID-19 and eventually recovered, Sylvia Sanchez is getting the hang of being quarantined at home with her family and getting used to not working.
“You know me naman, I am a workaholic,” Sylvia told Funfare in a phone chat. “For a few years now, I’ve always been shooting and taping almost every day, Mondays thru Saturdays, all for teleseryes starting with Be Careful With My Heart and then sunod-sunod na, Greatest Love, Hanggang Saan and now Pamilya Ko. In between the tapings, may ginawa pa akong mga pelikula.”
It took the virus to put an abrupt stop to Sylvia’s breakneck work schedule. Sylvia had her last taping for Pamilya Ko on March (Friday) the 13th and she’s sure that she wasn’t infected by, nor did she infect, any of her co-stars in that shoot.
“It was Art (Atayde), my husband, who first got infected on March 16,” recalled Sylvia. “Tandang-tanda ko ang date because that night, he was coughing and coughing although he didn’t have a fever. On March 21, I began having symptoms kasi we sleep in one room. Pareho kaming positive. Anyway, after confinement in the hospital, pareho din kaming nag-negative.”
Still, they didn’t lose their sense of humor.
“Art was joking. Sabi niya, ‘O, di ba? Together in sickness and in health.’ Sabi ko naman, ‘Dapat in health lang,’ at tawa kami nang tawa.”
The Ataydes live in an elevator-equipped three-storey house in a gated subdivision in Quezon City overlooking the Marikina Valley. She and Art share a room downstairs (for the meantime) and their children Arjo and Ria in another room. There are enough rooms for the seven other members of the locked-down family.
As soon as she was twice tested negative, first thing Sylvia did was hug her children before sharing a sumptuous lunch prepared by the house cook. Sylvia is a good cook but she still can’t stay long in the kitchen. (Read on.)
“Ang sakit pala ng hindi mo nayayakap ang mga anak mo” she admitted. “Art and I were confined in separate rooms at the hospital and I missed my family so much. I was all alone. I avoided getting bored by watching K-dramas and talking to friends on the phone. Now, at home, I have gotten used to the (lockdown) routine. Pero hindi ako sanay ng nakahiga lang. I’m not bored, hindi ako praning. Relaxed lang. When I was too busy working, I hardly had time to sit down and really talk to my children. Now, we talk. Ang dami kong nalalaman tungkol sa kanila at mas naiintindihan ko sila.”
Due to the Myocarditis caused by the virus, Sylvia catches for breath when she exerts too much effort (no too much exercising for now) and, aside from regular vitamins, she’s taking post-COVID medicines. (Myocarditis is an inflammation of the muscles of the heart that reduces the heart’s ability to pump, causing rapid or abnormal rhythm/arrhythmia.) “It will take up to three or more months to heal.”
Incidentally, Sylvia has just been hired by Beautederm president/CEO Rhea Anicoche-Tan as endorser of two new revolutionary products — Beauté L’ Tous and Beauté L’ Cheveux — as a response to the demand of the natural beauty movement in the beauty industry since 2017.
Rhea said, “We’ve put in a lot of hard work over the past year to develop a line of serious skin care without harsh chemicals. We wanted to use only the most powerful ingredients to produce results exceeding the quality and effectiveness of synthetic mainstream products. We finally did it!”
Beauté L’ Tous, a natural whitening hand and body lotion safe for all to use and very easy to carry in pockets or purses, is already a favorite amongst consumers while Beauté L’ Cheveux is a natural hair oil that instantly tames unruly tresses without the weight of synthetic silicone.
Added Sylvia, “I feel blessed to be back in good health. My COVID-19 experience taught me to be more conscious of my health and this is why I am honored to represent Beautederm’s all-natural line of products. We need to take care of our bodies in the best way that we can.”
Aside from Beauté L’ Tous and Beauté L’ Cheveux, Beautederm is currently gearing up for the launch of other natural beauty products.
Meanwhile, another Beautederm endorser, Quezon City 3rd District second-termer Councilor Kate Coseteng, has been busy going around her turf distributing relief goods with the help of barangay officials. True to form, Kate makes sure that, aside from the colorful PPEs to shield her from the virus, she sees to it that she applies Beautederm skin products to protect her from the scorching heat of the summer sun, hitting 42-degrees the other day.
“Duty before vanity,” quipped Kate.
(E-mail reactions at [email protected]. For more updates, photos and videos, visit www.philstar.com/funfare or follow me on Instagram @therealrickylo.)
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