Keener Observations
Comedian, deejay shares thoughts on being corona-positive
TEXARKANA — When local deejay and comedian Derrick Keener discovered he tested positive for the coronavirus earlier in July, he allowed himself one day to feel down about it — that’s all.
Keener, who works at local radio station KTOY 104.7 FM and travels the region and beyond to share funny insights about life, got tested for a simple reason: family. After spending 20 minutes with someone who later tested positive, he knew he had to get tested himself. It was the responsible thing to do.
He’s tested negative now and feels healthy, but the comedian greeted his friends and fans online with video updates on social media to talk openly about the experience of testing positive.
Keener’s symptoms were relatively mild, and he admits the mental game was the toughest part of it all after he heard the test result.
“You attribute it to just normal life and then you go get tested and you find out: Man, I have this deadly virus that is affecting the world, and mentally it takes a toll on you when you first find out that you have it,” Keener said.
He began quarantining himself the day before he took a coronavirus test on July 5. Keener took a look at his son, who has muscular dystrophy, and knew he had to do it.
“I felt like, ‘Man, I’ve got to make sure that I’m not sick so that he’s OK,’” he said. He didn’t think he’d test positive.
But Keener heard the result the following Friday. He didn’t know he had symptoms because they felt like normal sorts off illnesses he had before. He didn’t get a fever or respiratory issues. He did feel fatigued, though.
“There were things that
were wrong with me that to me were normal, nothing that was just abnormal,” Keener said. But after he came public with his positive test, he realized they were symptoms. He can count one day where he was truly sick, a day where he felt like doing nothing.
“I had a really back headache, which I’ve been suffering from headaches since I was in the 4th grade, so it was nothing new. But this was a little different,” he said. Back pain, too, was a condition. He thought he sprained his back but then realized it was probably COVID-19.
“The mental aspect of it took more of a toll on me,” Keener said. It was like a depression. As a cancer survivor, his mind went to his own mortality. “You think about death, that’s where your mind goes.”
He gave himself 24 hours to feel down. “After that it was back to ‘Derrick, you’ve got to beat this thing mentally now,’” he said.
Strong faith helped him pull through. But coming clean to tell his story openly also brought support.
“I said it publicly. The reason I said it publicly is because a lot of people in our communities don’t believe that it’s a real thing. They think it’s over-hyped. They believe, ‘Oh, they’re trying to scare you.’ Well what I wanted them to know was that somebody that you know … actually has it,” Keener said.
People who were suffering in silence, he said, contacted him and came to his aid. They messaged and called him. He’s even known people who had COVID symptoms but never said anything or got tested, although they quarantined themselves. He said people were afraid to speak publicly about their own COVID experience because of a stigma that would be on them.
“And they were telling me, ‘Hey, I have it or I had it, and here’s what you need to do in order to cope with COVID,’” Keener said. “That was a big, saving grace because it let me know that, one, I wasn’t alone — two, you actually can beat this, Derrick.”
He’s quarantined himself for another week beyond testing negative because he wants to be extra cautious. He’s been able to deejay from home. During his quarantine time, he’s gone outside and kept physically active by getting exercise, which he recommends to anyone to tests positive. Vitamin D from sunlight helped.
“Not laying down, siting up — that helped,” he said. His recommendation? Take vitamins, keep fluids in you. “Try to live as normal as possible in your own home.”
With the pandemic persisting, Keener is concerned about his kids (6th graders) going back to school, however. “I don’t think that sends the right signal,” Keener said. Sending them out to be “testers to see how it is in an environment like that, I think it’s wrong,” he said.
He isn’t afraid of that stigma he mentioned, either, and as he puts it he “overly washes” his hands and wears a mask going out and about. Now, Keener feels much better that he’s survived testing positive and experiencing the mild symptoms of COVID.
“I feel good that I know that I’ve had it, and hopefully those who had it don’t get it again,” Keener reflected.