Update on our COVID house

Happy Tuesday everyone! Thank you for your prayers and good thoughts this past week as everyone in my house has had COVID. We have all been hit. 

Bill and I have been hit the hardest. Bill started with symptoms on Sunday of a fever and fatigue. We originally thought he picked up a virus at work as one of his coworkers was out Friday and Saturday with a fever. Sunday night he was feeling a little better but still had a fever. We found out Monday that 2 of his coworkers tested positive for COVID. Monday morning he had a slight fever which went away Monday afternoon. Tuesday morning he woke up fever free but his boss wanted him to be fever free for 24 hours for him to come back. Tuesday night, I made tikka masala for dinner and if you know anything about Indian food then you know that it can be spicy and fragrant. Well, Bill couldn't taste or smell any of it! So he headed off to Urgent Care to get tested. While at Urgent Care he was given a clinical diagnosis of COVID as the doctor said his symptoms have been matching up with what we are seeing our community. We were all placed under quarantine until Saturday Dec. 19. He has been fighting lack of energy but has been feeling better the last couple of days. His biggest complaints now are that he only has about 70% of his taste buds back, he gets tired easily, and he has an occasional cough. 

Benjamin came home on Tuesday with a fever and just felt like crud. Jacob developed a fever on Tuesday night after Bill got back from Urgent Care. The boys had fevers for about 24 hours and body aches but are now back to almost 100% (although Ben does have an occasional cough). They are doing school work each day here at home. Jacob's teacher dropped his Chromebook and some paper work off to him (on our porch) and has been posting his assignments on Google Classroom. Ben's teacher made me upset as he made me run to the school on Wednesday morning so that he could put Ben's Chromebook in the back of my van as Ben HAD to take his MAP achievement test online that morning; According to the teacher the state said it HAD to be done, no excuses. Really rubs me the wrong way. I got it though and Ben took it and improved almost 20 points from last time! His teacher has been emailing me some assignments but acts like it is so much work for him to do that (this same teacher hates using electronic means and won't upload work to Google Classroom). Ben's reading specialist though dropped off work for him at our mailbox and has been checking in to make sure Ben is doing okay. Now we are just trying to keep the boys busy while we wait out quarantine. 

Rebecca had a fever and cough and achiness from Tuesday night through Thursday. She says she feels a little better but still kind of blah. She was been trying to keep up with her schoolwork which is all on Google Classroom (as that is the policy for the Middle School teachers to have all their work posted daily). She was very responsible and emailed all of her teachers Tuesday night after her dad's diagnosis to let her teachers know. 

As for me, I have been hanging in there. While I have never knowingly had a fever I have had the body aches, extreme headache for about 24 hours, extreme fatigue, coughing AND I lost all sense of smell and taste on Thursday of last week. Today I feel a little better... I feel like I am not as achy today and am not as tired. My biggest issue is the tiredness, coughing fits and not having any taste or smell is really bothering me. It is making me not want to eat. 

We thought we were doing everything right. Washing hands, wearing masks, not going out very often, etc. Unfortunately, we are pretty convinced that it was spread to our family from Bill's work. When he tested on Tuesday there were at least 3 others who had tested positive that weekend before. His place of employment completely closed their processing center and their retail store on Monday and are closed at least through Thursday for cleaning and because of lack of employees available (so I assume many more are out sick). This is not good for a meat processor during deer season! 

There are plenty of negatives through this. Bill does not get paid at all during this time. I am losing out on my tutoring and babysitting income. It is a pain to be sick and to have everyone be sick at the same time is not something that I would recommend. Kids are missing out on activities that they were looking forward to (Rebecca was looking forward to watching "Hamilton" with her Social Studies class. The boys were looking forward to their classes' Christmas parties.)

It hasn't all been bad though. I have been able to rest when I needed to. We have enjoyed less rush in the evenings. The kids are more understanding that I can't do some things because I don't feel good. The kids have been great with going with the flow this past week and they have not fought us to get their school work done. We have been mostly blessed by the support of the kids' schools to make sure they don't fall behind. 

My dad dropped off some essentials to us on Sunday after he went to mass. He was able to pick up Jacob's ADHD medication for us and drop it off, along with milk, bread, bananas and apples. You don't realize how much of these essentials that your kids eat until they are home 24/7.

So, in a nutshell, we are doing okay. I so wish people would take this virus seriously. For now, I am going to go lay back down as I am suddenly tired again. Just wanted to say thank you for your prayers and thoughts and to give a quick update.