January 14, 2021 – The Forty-Eighth Official Friday Night BeerBlog

Since the pandemic began way back in Aught-20, not a COVID germ has entered our sweet abode. We have lived in a dreamlike state of feeling completely safe from this horrid virus. We’ve all been vaxxed. And all but Ian have been boostered and flu shotted. We wear our masks when out at public places. We’ve been high on the hog about how lucky we’ve been.

The Other Shoe Falls

And then. And then! Ian wakes up Monday morning not feeling well. He has jury duty and is going to call in and not go. You think he would be happy about that, but the boy really wants to go be on a jury. He must not feel good. I go into preservation mode and the mask from the car becomes the mask in the house.

I dig out a thermometer out of the junk drawer. One I don’t even think has been used since the kids were in middle school. I can’t get it off the Celsius setting, but take it up to him, mask on, hood on my sweatshirt up and over my head – just in case.

He looks pathetic lying there, looking all sick. It’s even more than the typical man whiney “Whoa is me, I don’t feel good” look. The dude is straight up sweaty. Gross. The thermomenter beeps and he takes it out. 38 degrees Celsius. What is that? Is that a fever? I take it downstairs and punch the numbers in for a calculation on my computer. 100.4. A fever. Damn.

Being Sick Is Different Now

What do moms do when they find that their kids are actually sick? They tend to go all June Clever, but I can’t just get him tucked in and bring him soup. Being sick these days is totally different. He must immediately go get a COVID test. It seems there is COVID testing on every corner. But of course I’m just realizing that EVERYBODY has or has had COVID and that testing sites are maxed. I cannot find an appointment for him anywhere.

After an hour or two of scouring the internet, I find one immediate care that only has an hour and half wait, but the wait time is increasing with every ticking second. Ian wants to take a shower before he goes. He does not seem to realize the severity of the situation. I tell him to put on his damn pants and get his ass to that immediate care or he’ll be waiting for hours.

The Wait Begins

The constant refresh of his My Chart begins. In the meantime, his fever has broken and he is feeling a little better. Could it just be allergies? Our weather has been crazy. Maybe it’s mold levels. I pump him up with vitamins and allergy meds, but keep the mask on…just in case.

Results? Nothing. For hours. He starts feeling better and better and gets the call for jury duty the next day if there is a negative test. He hopes for that.

It’s Not About You, It’s About Me

When the results finally chime in he isn’t 100% sure what they means and he takes a picture of them and texts it to me downstairs. “Is this a positive?” Which is a question that already has the answer in it, but when I look at it and see the word DETECTED, that’s all I need to see. The boy has COVID. We’re both visibly annoyed. We have gone almost TWO YEARS without having any of those cooties in the house and here it is.

Life for the next few days would change in that moment. He quarantines in his room and bathroom, except for when he takes the dogs for a walk. We slide bowls of food across Ian’s floor so we don’t actually have to enter. Of course I’m kidding there – and that was done only once. But Mike does take on the role as hypochondriac and convinces himself that he has COVID now too.

Everything we have done this week has required an “extra layer” of thought. No visits to Mike’s mom. Actually no visits for any of us anywhere, just in case. He’ll go back for a retest on Friday and I might go too, just to verify that I am still negative. But then hopefully life will get back to “normal”

I Know We’re Not The Only Ones

I have heard of so many people that have had COVID over the holidays and early this January. And whereas it felt like such a foreign thing before, I’m right there with you. Transmission happens when you least expect it and no one is immune. I just hope that you are all vaxxed and have gotten your booster so that it’s all just more of a formality than major illness.

Stay safe and well out there!

LLM

Listen to the PODCAST FNBB version with Mike here:

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1822142/9888972