After my post on Sunday, I suppose this was bound to happen--COVID has hit our household. Craig tested positive this morning. Ironically, it didn't come from Carter, who's still coughing up a storm. Craig came home from his road trip Saturday night, and by midday Sunday he was showing very similar symptoms to Carter--congestion and a cough. Because the symptoms were so similar, I guess we didn't give it a second thought. We've had so many viruses go through here in the past six weeks or so and it appeared to just be the next one in line, once again passed on from a kid.
But he is so used to testing for work that he didn't hesitate to do one first thing this morning, and here we are. I was merely three hours into our new hybrid schedule in the office, but I felt weird staying knowing that I had been exposed (close contact in bed for the last two nights, at the very least), so I came home at lunch. My test was negative, but we'll see how long that lasts.
Carter stayed home again today because his cough is still really nasty. It didn't sound lung-related ,but we took him to the doctor tonight nonetheless, just to be safe. It turns out he has influenza A! Who knew? I never would have thought that was the flu, so I guess his vaccine did half its job. The doctor just said that as long as he's been fever-free for over 24 hours, he's probably okay to go back to school, but the nurse did say if it was still a hacking cough, which it is, we might want to wait even just so he's comfortable. Now that he's been exposed I'm not sure how I feel about sending him back anyway--in part because if he did start showing symptoms I'm not sure we could tell the difference between what he already has and COVID--but I HATE having him miss more school and spending all day with screens while I work. If we decide he stays home a fifth day, we may need to institute mandatory reading and toy time during the day and check in with his teacher to keep him up on things, just so he's not a screen zombie when he finally makes it back.
Jacob, of course, instantly started insisting via text that he didn't want to go to practice and school, but considering he's vaccinated, had COVID, and still masks, it's hard to keep him home. Given all that he's had to miss recently from illness and injury and the appendix scare, I can't justify it just yet. I should be the first to test positive since I have had the closest contact, so if I do, then maybe we'll talk. But I'd rather he get in his practices while he still can. If I test positive that might mean he has to miss his next tournament since Craig will, in theory, be able to work Saturday's Knighthawks game and can't take him, but if I'm sick at best I'd have to drop him off masked or he'd just have to skip it to be safe. Of course, he fell asleep on the couch at 9pm tonight, which never happens, so I'm sure we're in for some sort of delight between the two illnesses he could catch in the house, or all the rest he could still get anywhere else.
There's never a good time for this, but obviously it's already proving to be the chaos we've been actively trying to avoid for two years. Between coming home midday, testing everyone, figuring out how to get Jacob to and from practice and Carter to his appointment at the same time, plus getting an extra work project I didn't expect because my boss had her own family emergency, it's been a day. I had to do Wegmans tonight, too, partly because we needed stuff and partly because I don't know how long I'll be able to go there this week, and by the time I finished shuttling the boys, made dinner, did dishes, ran to Wegmans, put it away, Facetimed my parents to let them know, and got Carter in bed, I was spent.
It's ironic, of course, since in yesterday's post I talked about just wanting to get it over with. I actively wondered to myself in the car yesterday (after the end of the masked worship area announcement) if I should be changing my prayer to getting through COVID with no severe or long-term ramifications, rather than hoping to avoid it altogether. The stress of it all has been feeling unhealthy on its own, so as long as we can get through without problems, I think life would be significantly easier on the other side. But that's a giant IF. I can only hope at this point that the vaccines do their job and keep symptoms mild. Craig has enough lung issues after a childhood of asthma (although it's generally fine these days), and I just read about heart issues after infection and immunization (way higher after infection, of course), so it's all still pretty unnerving. But I am SO tired of being the only one masked in certain situations and maybe this is our out.
So far I feel fine. I've had moments of a sore or froggy throat today, my nose has had runny moments here and there, and my one headache lasted a little longer than usual, but nothing definitive. Craig's symptoms showed up on day 3 after exposure so that could be as soon as tomorrow for us, but especially me since we did quite a bit of close cuddling on Saturday night. I swear every time we've had adult time during the pandemic, one of us has come up sick or almost sick a day later. And it seems to confirm yet again that whenever we take a baby step and take off our masks, we get exposed. It was me a month ago, then Craig actually got COVID this weekend, and in turn I felt guilty for talking to my cube mate without one this morning when I heard about Craig's diagnosis. And trust me, it's happened plenty prior. Every stinking time.
It's weird to know I could wake up feeling like crap tomorrow. But I feel like so much of this is a lose-lose. If I get COVID, that will stink for a ton of reasons. If I don't, I'm no better off mentally. We will just have to go back to the wait-and-see game and keep trying to process my complex about being the only masked person most places I go. Either way, this is definitely not the Monday I bargained for!
We made it so long without COVID tracking us back down, and now those efforts may be for nothing. That's disappointing, and
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