Health Update 4/23

Thank you to the many people who reached out and offered their thoughts and prayers for me. Just wanted to give a quick update.

Friday 4/17- No fever
Saturday 4/18- Fever
Sunday 4/19- Fever
Monday 4/20- No fever (and I actually had some energy!)
Tuesday 4/21- No fever, but significantly less energy
Wednesday 4/22- Morning started with no fever but I could feel it coming back... and it did. Boo! I was so close to 72 hours fever free!
Thursday 4/23- Fever and oh so tired.

Through this whole thing I've been in contact with my PCM and Dan's brigade nurse. Upon hearing that my fever reappeared Dan's brigade nurse was concerned that maybe I had an underlying infection that we were ignoring while assuming it was Covid-19. So, I reached back out to my PCM today and he feels very strongly that my symptoms, and yes even my continued symptoms, are most definitely Covid-19, even with the negative test result. He talked to me about how they have daily meetings and talk about updates on the virus and how they are watching it pan out in our community. They are finding that most patients have a peak of symptoms at 10-12 days into the virus, not 4-5 like your typical flu. He said that it means the recovery should be expected to last about as long as it took for them to peak. That really means that I could expect to still exhibit symptoms for another week or two, and I should expect to feel at 50% strength when the symptoms relent. He still suggests I remain at home until I'm fever free for 3 days. The fatigue I am experiencing is what really has him convinced of the virus, since Covid-19 attacks the inflammatory parts of your body, it's just extremely tiring. I hate feeling so tired all the time, but it is so tangible and I can immediately tell when I have moments without it.

So... we wait.

Life in a Covid-19 world continues to move forward and evolve around us. Even though school has officially been canceled for the rest of the year, most states are doing some slow re-opening of businesses and parks. The country is divided on whether it's too soon or if we've been acting under tyrannical leaders that made us stay home in the first place. I figure that if businesses re-open and you don't feel it's time, then you can choose to stay home. Having caught the virus during the time of sheltering at home, I'm not sure you can ever completely avoid it. What's done is done and all of us are just kind of waiting and seeing what will happen as we all attempt to recover mentally, physically and economically as families and as a country. The world really never will be quite the same again, and perhaps that's just what it needed.

Announced 4/17/2020

I found our school year calendar on the side of the refrigerator and someone had crossed off all the days of school that were canceled. :(

We introduced the boys to the cult classic, Firefly, and put the Jane hat on the dog. So cute!

Dan makes some delicious Ramen!

Cade's last birthday present arrived. If you know Cade you know how much he loves socks, godzilla, himself, and our dog, so they were a perfect gift.

Alex has enjoyed stepping up and cooking while I haven't been feeling well. Talk about some delicious German pancakes!

Not an amazing picture, but one of the kids pointed out to us that we were wearing the same shirt. Both of us had gone all day without realizing, so I snapped a pic!

A presumptive positive

I definitely debated posting this, but in the spirit of honesty, I couldn't continue blogging about our life during this pandemic without including something that has impacted me greatly during this time.

Beginning April 2nd I felt feverish and a distinct tightness in my chest. For several days I tried to play it off as 'something else' and try not to jump to any conclusions about having Covid-19. However, after 6 days of fever, chills, body aches, exhaustion and the feeling like someone was sitting on my chest, I decided to be tested. We bleached the house, set up a room for me to isolate in and I limited contact with my family. (and it should be noted that as soon as I had that fever I haven't been anywhere public since) It took 6 days to get my results, and they came back negative. I honestly was a little surprised. In those 6 days that I was waiting for my results I had spent a lot of time in pain, asleep, exhausted, and just felt plain terrible. I mean, I've been too tired to even want to do things like play a game or watch a show.

Coincidentally I had set up a phone appointment with my doctor/PCM (primary care manager) on the day that I got my results. I talked him through my symptoms and he felt that I could pretty safely assume that I was positive. His reasoning is that they had tested several hundred people in their clinic for the flu and not a single person had come back positive for the flu. He felt that the likelihood of me picking up 'some other virus' was very unlikely. In either case, whether negative or positive, given the current climate, he strongly suggested that I still remain out of the public until I've gone 3 days without a fever.

So here I am on day 15 of this and still waiting to feel some improvement. I had one day last week without a fever, but so far that's the only one. My brother had a co-worker who had very similar symptoms to mine and was back to work in 10 days, but his wife was sick for 3 weeks. Time will tell.

I have to say, there are a lot of positives about getting sick now. I literally can't work right now because of the pandemic, so it's not like I can feel guilty about not subbing or not accompanying for so long. None of my performing groups are functioning so I'm not missing any rehearsals. The kids have nowhere to be so I don't have to worry about arranging rides for them or making Dan do all that taxi business. The kids are old enough to be self-sufficient and helpers. (they try to be helpers...) Dan is also forced to work from home which means he's available to do all the things I can't, isn't he lucky? And since everything around us is closed, it's not like I'm really even missing out on doing things in San Antonio. I'm also very thankful that my turn with the virus hasn't been as serious as those we've seen on the news. Some people have hardly any symptoms while others are fighting for their lives. That is not my story and I'm so so glad.

On the other hand, being sick for such a long stretch of time is exhausting in and of itself. When I do attempt to do something like go up the stairs, I'm pretty beat afterwards. When I come out on the other end of whatever this is it will take some time before I'm 100% again.

Well, I wanted to document this illness because when I look back on the pandemic of 2020 it's not like I'll forget getting sick. And if you've read this far you deserve a medal, or a few pictures at least! I haven't taken very many lately.

My sweet Carson came and hung out with me for awhile in my room

I played Zoom triple yahtzee with my mom, and won!

My first attempt at giving Dan a fade haircut. Not the best, but certainly could've been worse!

A few days ago we went for a drive around the Olmos Park area and looked at fancy homes. (Don't worry I didn't get out of the car) One of the streets we came across was Corona Ave! STOP CORONA!!

Until next time... and hopefully I'll have started having some fever free days the next time I write!

Turning 14 during Covid-19

In the past week we have still seen a lot of change, but for some reason it's just not as shocking anymore. What? School will be closed another week you say? Alright. What? Now the disc golf courses will be closed? If you say so. State parks are closed now too? Sheesh. I'm not sure that there's really much left to do except walk and run around our neighborhoods! Current stats are 1,430,941 cases worldwide with 82,026 deaths worldwide. US has 400,335 cases and 12,841 deaths.

Today, however, isn't just like any other day. It's Cade's 14th birthday! Before all of this stuff happened Cade was excited for his birthday because for the first time in a few years both parents would be home, AND it was his year to have a party. He was excited to do a BBQ and an outdoor hangout with his friends. However Covid-19 had other plans and we will have to save that outdoor celebration for another time. Instead we are letting him take a break from our routine and cater our meals and activities for the day to things of his choosing. We've had the traditional cinnamon rolls for breakfast, presents, guitar hero, riding bikes, and making his favorite dinner- kielbasa and noodles.

I always make them a birthday shirt, but this year needed a special statement, lol.

He loves using the website MuseScore to find arrangements of pieces, so as a gift he got a year subscription to their Pro services!

Smelling his mints...

I caught a smile!

Using his new wireless earbuds

His favoritest dinner ever...

And for a last minute surprise I ordered this awesome cookie cake from our local Great American Cookie company. Cade totally wasn't expecting it, he had requested a pazookie. I thought we needed something to commemorate this unique birthday, and support local businesses!

It turned out awesome, don't you think??

Here's a few pictures from our week since I last blogged. Dan decided to practice some social distancing by going out on a motorcycle ride. I got a call a few hours later that he had a flat tire! He was 90 minutes away and the tow company wouldn't tow that far without an extra charge, AND they wouldn't tow him back along with his bike. So reluctantly (because i've never trailed anything before) I got a motorcycle trailer from UHAUL and trailed it out to the middle of nowhere to rescue my hubby. Still working on getting his tire fixed!

We also finally finished the month of March which felt like an eternity. I got our April calendar all ready.....

Little did we know this would be our last time playing disc golf until they open the courses back up. We brought the puppy with us this time!

With a new month brought April Fool's Day! The kids had way too much fun planning pranks on us. Thankfully I've scared them enough that they didn't attempt anything that wouldn't leave us more upset than laughing. First were some cascarrones (confetti filled eggs) that Alex crushed on us.

Painters tape on Dan's wallet, our light switches, and even in our lamp shades to create bug silhouettes! They even put food coloring in our toilet.

We did a few pranks to the boys as well, including tying their doors together so they couldn't get out of their rooms. (Don't worry, we did this about 5 minutes before they were supposed to get up).

And this is what I found when I got in my car and hit the Reverse and my rear camera popped up. Good prank alex!

 I finished another puzzle, with Alex's help, and started another!

Now here's how we  have to do disc golf!

A cute Carson moment caught on camera. We sure do love our puppy!

We also spent Saturday and Sunday listening to General Conference. There were a lot of nice moments that were a source of strength during these unprecedented times in our history. And even though we had just done a worldwide fast as a church on March 29th, the prophet called for a second fast on Good Friday, April 10 for further healing and help for our world. We certainly need it! Feel free to join in, no matter your faith!

Well Happy 14th Birthday Cade! I loved that instead of sending you away to school and rushing through activities, that I got to spend the whole day with you. I know that's not necessarily what you wanted for your birthday, but we'll get you that party as soon as possible!