Summer approaches

Even without the kids going to school every day, you can kind of just get the feeling that summer is coming. Online assignments are coming to a close, items are being picked up from the school, and the weather is getting warm. High of 100 today! Not sure what we'll do in the San Antonio heat if we can't hit our regular swimming spots!

Health update: Since I last posted I still have not had 72 hours consecutively fever free, but the improvement to mark is that the other symptoms have subsided. I don't have all of my stamina back, but I am able to do much more around the house and have even started adding some exercise back into my day. I'm not able to do much for very long or very high intensity, but I'll get there. Tightness in my chest and aches and pains have gone away. The chills only visit me when my fever does. It's been so strange! So in past week I had fever Wednesday, Saturday and Monday. Today is day 47 of dealing with this!

Things around Texas are starting to feel a little more normal. Almost all businesses are able to reopen by next Monday the 25th in some capacity or another. It's been two weeks since restaurants and other places opened, and even though there's been one huge cluster of cases in Amarillo, San Antonio itself seems to have things well under control. It's still nerve-wracking to open back up, but so far things seem to be going okay virus-wise.

As a family we are finding ourselves bored and easily irritated. I'm sure we're not the only ones. We've been spending so much time in the house and doing things together that even the fun stuff isn't as fun anymore. We're gonna need to get creative this summer, that's for sure, or we'll all go crazy!

Here's the past week in pictures!

I took Cade driving! He needed a break from the house, and lots of parking lots are empty. Why not? He actually did a really good job.

The Thunderbirds did a flyover to thank the medical professionals for all they've done during COVID-19. That means we got to see them too! Unfortunately their first pass was beyond where we could see and the second pass happened sooner than expected so I didn't get my camera out in time. It was either snap a video and potentially miss it altogether, or watch with my own eyes. It was neat, and over in a jiffy.

Waiting for the Jets near our house

Home project! My piano bench needed recovering, and the hobby stores are open again, so I picked out some clearance fabric and got to work. I'm glad Dan helped though, or it would've taken me a lot longer!

Cade got some really good news this week. He auditioned for and made it into the top performing group as an incoming freshman! It was nice to see a big smile on his face, and I really look forward to him getting some good Texas Band experience in before we move. Now COVID, don't you ruin this for him! 

Trying to be creative and not just sit around every evening, we drove down to the Pearl (an outdoor market) and walked along the riverwalk in hopes to catch the bats underneath the Camden street bridge. It worked this time!

Loved this mam and her ducklings

Video of the bats

Carson finally got a hair cut!

Saturday the weather had cooled down a bit after some storms passed through, so Dan and I took a ride on the motorcycle out to Luckenbach. It's a fun little spot, I recommend all my Texan friends to go, especially when they're more open for music and dancing and shopping in their general store! :)

We packed a picnic lunch! 

That's one big tree!

There's a rooster on the premises that is sharing its lovely sound with everyone, all day long!

This coming week we mark the end of the school year and the beginning of our summer adventures. Here's to making memories and doing our best to stay sane and healthy!

One day at a time

Since I last wrote I have had 6 days with fever and 5 without, and only a few of the non-fever days consecutively. At some point last week I realized that I've been sick longer than not during this quarantine time. I just have to take it one day at a time and act accordingly. I've had a few days with a burst of energy and almost feeling human again! The rest I'm a bit more somber and tired. Regardless, I'm trying to still do what I would do on a 'normal' day. (Normal? What is normal?) I cook, clean, walk the dog, and I've started going out a little bit more now that I am having fever free days. 

Side thought: I spoke with my doctor the day after my visit to the ER and he looked at all of my test results. He was so glad I went in and was able to rule out a lot of things. He said he wasn't sure why they told me it was bronchitis other than if they were using the term bronchitis as an umbrella term to basically diagnose me with a viral respitory illness. My chest xray was clear. The thought still lingers, and many people have reached out to me to share that they think it must be the coronavirus. Maybe when there are reliable antibody tests, and once i feel fully recovered that will be the only way to tell. My doctor suggested that I may have a strain of the virus that is not showing up on tests because I am not the only one to be exhibiting such symptoms and test negative. I think I keep coming back to it because it's the only thing that makes sense and there are a myriad of online articles out there documenting people with mild cases that stay sick for weeks and weeks like me, and they only tested positive right at the beginning of their illness. 

Anyways, enough of that! Despite all of this I am really trying to keep occupied and create good times with the family. 

Cade's hair is getting way too long... good thing the salons are starting to open again!

Alex showed off his cooking skills twice this week with some awesome broccoli cheddar soup, and a coffee cake for Mother's Day!

This year Cinco de Mayo was on a Tuesday! Taco Tuesday! Dan slow cooked some pork belly and we had pork tacos and watched The Three Amigos :)

This week the weather was also mild which made for some beautiful evenings. One evening we pulled out the cornhole boards and had some fun.... until Cade threw a bean bag on the roof of our porch covering! Oops!

Thursday Alex's school organized a car parade as part of Teacher Appreciation week. Alex worked on a sign and we lined up with probably 50+ cars to drive through and surprise his teachers who were on campus to clean our their classrooms. Click here for a video of the car parade. 

No pictures of this, but Saturday was a fun day. I was feeling well enough and the weather was perfect so we resumed our Disc Golf hobby since the courses are open again! And Saturday evening was the first UFC fight card since the pandemic started, and Dan was particularly excited about some of the fights, so we made a whole lot of chicken wings and enjoyed a live sporting event for the first time in a long time.

For Mother's Day the boys, with Dan leading the way, worked together to pick, print out and assemble some awesome picture collages (because they couldn't 'picture' their life without me)! We had coffee cake for breakfast and smash burgers for dinner. We also explored around the Judson Nature Preserve area to further enjoy the weather and get me out of the house.

I know that the next picture just looks like a lump of black in the middle of the grass, but that's our puppy Carson. I took the picture because usually when we bring him to a park he is restless and never relaxes. I've been spending a lot of time in the backyard with the dog and I think because he's gotten better at relaxing out there, he was able to just lay down and rest while we played frisbee for a long chunk of time! Yay!

Lastly, I just wanted to share a few random thoughts on the pandemic. Because aside from being sick, a lot of things are changing around us and it creates a lot of mixed emotions. Like, is anyone else just tired of the words 'social distancing'? Or how much do you just HATE all of the commercials catered to these 'trying times'? I don't know, maybe it's just part of my denial or resistance to admit that any of this even really happened. I just kind of feel like we all hit a giant Pause button and one day we'll press Play and go right back to where we were. That isn't going to happen. It will never be the same. For some it's because of the loss of loved ones. For others it's because of how it affected their job, whether they were furloughed, fired, required to work from home, just plain couldn't work at all. Some stores will never re-open. Big events with large audiences may never happen again, or at least it will be awhile. Even here in Texas where most things are allowed to be open, people have chosen not to. And for the most part, people are more okay with staying home than they were before. Summer will be different. What will pools be like? Water parks? Amusement Parks? We've planned a few one day trips to state parks because it's not even an option to camp right now. (Remember Texas is mostly private land so you can't just go camp very many places) Dan can't even travel or take leave until at least July 1. But I'm sure once he can travel he'll have a lot of work to catch up on! What will marching band be like for Cade? Will they even have a football season in the fall? And what will school be like next fall? So much talk of different ways to do things and I just want it to be like it used to be. I fear for the arts, as they are the classes and organizations with the largest gatherings. Will any of my performing groups resume? Lots to think about. 

I've been trying to not let my mind go wild with all the uncertainty, so I'm focusing on my scriptures, some family history, blogging, and creating memories with my family. I'm so glad to be quarantined with them! Also, I have a saying that I turned into a sign for my wall quite a few years ago, and it means more now than ever! Much love to all who read this, and take care of yourselves in all the ways!

Health Update 5/1

Throughout this whole health issue my doctor mentioned that I should seek medical attention if my breathing got worse or my fever spiked. Well my fever has continued since my last post, and Thursday 4/30 my fever spiked so I decided to go into the base ER. Upon arrival my temp was 102! Given the fact that my doctor was presuming Covid and my symptoms match they had to screen me in a special Covid corner and they had a covid ward in the ER for treating patients.

They did an EKG, chest x-ray, urine sample, labs and a covid swab. I got an IV fluid bag while I waited for my results, which always is a nice boost to the body. Ready for the results? Negative for Covid, not a UTI, no elevated white blood cell count so no bacterial infection, but the chest x-ray indicated Bronchitis. Bronchitis! The treatment is Tylenol for the fever and rest and fluids, etc.

Don't get me wrong, I'm so glad I went in and was able to rule out a lot of things. Since I've had this fever for a month now I was always worried we were just assuming it was Covid when something else might be going on. However, I've had bronchitis quite a few times in my life and it has never felt like this. I barely even have a cough! Just a tightness in my chest and fever which brings its own set of symptoms. I'll be following up with my doctor as well to see what he says about this development.

So, again we wait, and take lots of Tylenol!

Thank you all for your prayers and thoughts and texts and emails during this time, they help keep my spirits up. And thank you Mom for the beautiful flowers! They're something bright to look at and smell when I'm feeling down.

Since we don't go out much and the weather's been nice, we've been having fun in our small little backyard. The boys camped a few nights (which was like a date night for us!) and we did some s'mores and games!

Dan humored me and put up our white lights around our covered porch area

Goofy picture of Alex, but I caught a Cade smile!

The first night we did s'mores over our korean grill flame. Then dan wanted to try using the charcoal chimney and placing the coals on the dutch oven. It sure made for some good marshmallows, but it was a little ashy getting it started.

Isn't he the cutest? He needs a haircut (like the rest of us), but he's still so cute!

Alex continued his adventures in baking and made a Butterbeer Pie to conclude our Harry Potter movie marathon.

I also decided to try a sourdough starter and used an old family recipe. The first thing I made with the discarded starter was some sourdough biscuits, yum!

And look who I found on the couch at like 5pm one evening. Guess I'm not the only one who's tired of all this! :)  And who said he could be that tall?

I know I'm not alone in having up and down days during this quarantine time. So many of us have sacrificed so much in a lot of different ways. Today Texas opens up its restaurants, movie theaters, libraries, museums and malls to 25% capacity. A lot of people feel like it's too soon and I guess we just have to see if there's a large spike in cases over the next two weeks. You can bet I'll be staying home until this fever is gone and keeping myself away from this virus- don't need to be sick again!

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!