Sadly, after keeping Covid out of our home for 18 months, our efforts and precautions failed. This is my account of our journey over the last few weeks. In an era where thoughts are often controversial, I do feel some fear in posting our story. I also feel like I can't be released to post photos until I post this, so here I go...
On September 24th I woke T up at 8:00 with silly tickles. She responded with "My neck hurts. Will you take my temperature?" T has a crazy high pain tolerance and she could probably do a flip and land on her neck and not notice pain. I could tell something was different! I grabbed the thermometer and sure enough her temp was 101.7. We decided to take it again in case it was malfunctioning in some way. The second time it was 101.8. Yikes! I called the school and told them that she wouldn't be coming in and asked about covid protocol in the message. They called back and said she would need a negative test to come back to school. The soonest I could get her in was Saturday. Next I called the middle school as M was complaining about a tummy ache that morning (he starts an hour before T). I asked them to check on him and make sure he was OK. He had eaten many black bean brownies and flax energy bites which is what I thought the tummy ache was from, but I wanted to make sure. The school called and said that he wanted to talk with me because he seemed concerned about his sister. He gets on the phone and says, "Is T going to get to watch screens all day?" Hmmm... I guess we know what he was actually concerned about. I said that she was miserable and that he didn't need to worry about that and should go back to class.
T was indeed miserable and her fever kept climbing all day. She took two naps and her temp was hotter each time I checked. In the afternoon we had to drive Brandon to a Covid test (he had exposure at work) and she didn't even want to walk to the van. She had a headache, tummy ache, neck ache, and fever. When we came home and took her temp it was 103.8, so we decided to test her for Covid with a home test. When the timer went off the second pink line was glaringly obvious! Wow! It was happening to us, even with all of our caution. I had a quick chat with my nurse friend who encouraged us to head to Children's Urgent Care to confirm the test. Since it was Friday, we knew we needed to figure out a lot of details for Sunday if she was actually positive.
On the way to urgent care she was incredibly light sensitive and so miserably sick I wanted to cry. It was scary as she was so very different than her usual personality. Typically, even when T is sick she has lots of energy. When we arrived at the clinic and I told them about the positive test and symptoms they just let us sit in the waiting room with all the other kids. I couldn't believe it. I kind of turned her toward me so that I could shield her germs... maybe?
Once we were called we were in our own space taken such good care of. The nurses and Dr were all fabulous. I am so thankful for the care she received. They went out of there way to play youtube videos for her, turn the lights almost off due to light sensitivity, bring her a warm blanket etc. While sitting in the room we read a sign that really haunted me the first 24 hours. It said "Your mask protects me (meaning the nurses and Dr's) my mask protects you." Our schools were mask optional due to parents demanding a choice. I felt like my heart was being ripped apart as I processed how T was masked but so many were not and their lack of masks didn't protect her and she was now the sickest I had ever seen her. I had feelings of sorrow, of rage, of frustration, and of fear for my sweet girl. I cried all the way home. It was pouring outside and I think the tears were actually healing tears. I was processing how out of control I really am in life. Thankfully with time to process and pray the angry and bitter feelings did not last.
Covid doesn't just affect the person who is sick...
Once home we were confronted with M for the first time. He was so angry with T for bringing it to our family. It was rough. Thankfully with a little (lot) of screen time they were able to sleep. Brandon and I had much to figure out. He made many phone calls and decided to prerecord the message on Saturday and stay home on Sunday. I decided to zoom in to my Sunday School class so I could still teach them from my basement. Saturday was like a full day of screens for the kids and a full day of work for Brandon and me. Actually, Brandon was working until after 12:30am to get the sermon ready for the following day. T had a rough evening and said she didn't fall asleep until 2:00am. T also was throwing up on Friday night and on Saturday. On Saturday her fever only got to 102 so that was a reassuring sign that maybe the worst was behind us.
On Sunday we watched church and I taught Sunday School from the basement. I did all the mom things I couldn't do on Saturday like cooking and laundry and life. I was feeling a bit under the weather but nothing horrible. M and I did drive through tests (though we learned it was technically too early to test). We learned that more kids in T's class were sick and that many families had chosen to do the optional quarantine. In fact she only had two kids doing in person learning the whole time she was home. T was much more weary than the day and the fever remained but was now 101. I think she might have thrown up once on Sunday.
On Monday morning I called both both schools and said the kids were at home as I didn't know if M was allowed to go to school or not. The school nurse called at 10:00 and said he could go. He was so excited!!! T was so very tired. Wow! She took three naps totaling about 5 hours that day. She even took a little nap after a big nap because she went upstairs and was so tired she needed to lay at the top of the stairs. She had a bath and that perked her up enough to be awake for a couple of hours. Her fever was now around 100 and she still had an upset tummy, but overall was feeling better.
On Tuesday we had further drama as one of our cats had severe diarrhea so we had to take him to the vet. We did car remote school for a couple of hours. Thankfully the cat meds helped a lot and he was soon on the mend. We also ended up canceling our midweek children's ministry when we realized that only one worker was without sick/quarantining kids!
The rest of the week is sort of a blur of temp checks and naps and trying to get school work done. There were cuddles and jello and Hallmark movies. M, Brandon, and I did additional tests on Friday afternoon and we all tested negative! M stayed home with T on Sunday, but Brandon and I both did in person church stuff.
The following Tuesday T was allowed to go back to school. She made it through the school day, but came home and fell on the family room floor and slept. I was concerned about "long covid" with her fatigue, but I can now report that she is back to normal. She did end up missing gymnastics and taking extra naps, but she made it through the week. I would say it took her about 2.5 weeks to feel back to normal.
I am thankful that we are over this Covid battle. I am so thankful that M's vaccine was recent enough that his antibodies held well, and that Brandon and I must still be producing a lot of antibodies too. T never really coughed. I feel like this was a HUGE blessing to us and a huge protection for us. We still plan to get her vaccinated as soon as possible and the rest of us will get boosters as we become eligible. Covid was hard on our entire family and we sure don't want to deal with it again!
I know I need to get back to photo blogging since my most recent pictures are from the 4th of July. It will happen soon. I have been feeling a weight of making sure I documented all of this before doing the photos.
