We opted to stay over Christmas night in NT so we could go to the outlets the next morning. Carter desperately needed new sneakers and Jacob always likes to look. The boys were lucky enough to get Grandma's pancakes for breakfast, and we made it to the outlets early, around 9:30. We actually did well. Carter found sneakers (in the men's section!), I found sneakers (my go-to pair is getting worn around the toes), Craig got sneakers, and Jacob got workout shoes and some pants.
We headed home immediately after that, and thank goodness because we had to drive through some crazy snow. The roads were mostly okay, but trucks would kick up snow, almost to a white-out, when they'd drive by in the left lane. It wasn't that slippery (aside from one lane change), but traffic was pretty slow. We got home to snow on the roads but not really on the grass, but within hours we had a solid coating, and by the evening we had 3-4 inches. Buffalo and areas south of us apparently got some ice after their snow. I'm glad we didn't! Yesterday we had a bunch of rain, and all day today was super windy. Our gusts were up above 60, but Buffalo had one at hurricane force! We had a tree go down in our woods, behind the neighbor's house, which took down another tree and a pole. A bunch of neighbors haven't had power in probably 12 hours now. There were snow squalls made worse by wind, and more snow is coming. Everything that melted yesterday and overnight was replaced pretty well today. Other areas are under blizzard warnings, so it's a bit of crazy weather to end the year.
Anyway, Jacob had practice in the afternoon once we got home, and I found myself wanting to take a nap after unpacking. I'd had a bit of a scratchy throat since Christmas Eve night, but figured it was probably a combination of lots of talking, my reflux, and a couple glasses of wine. It didn't really bother me, though--it was just there--and I felt completely fine. By the morning after Christmas, I noticed a little urge to cough, but again, I still felt fine. But by that afternoon, I was tired and noticed a little more congestion, and when I was done with my little couch snooze, I was pretty sure I was coming down with something. I was dispatched to the basement pretty quickly, and the congestion hit pretty hard that night. The boys got me a combo test the next day, and sure enough, I'm one of the latest in a record number of flu cases right now. Well, shoot, that's not exactly how I wanted to spend my post-Christmas glow.
The first full day was pretty rough. I was tired, progressively weak and achy, and congested with massive sinus pressure. My fever was low, but I definitely had the chills/sweats fluctuations. I was so out of it that when my TV viewing kept erroring or losing WiFi, I was taking tiny snoozes working up the energy to try to fix it. Fortunately, when I woke up in the middle of my second night downstairs, I noticed I felt considerably better. It was past the point of it being the medicine, so I felt like there was a good chance I was past the worst of it. I was, as of now anyway, though it hasn't been a completely straight line. I still had my cough and had to blow my nose a lot that second day, and my fever briefly came back at night. By today my congestion was still there, still annoying, but I could breathe more regularly and the cough was much better. But I haven't had to take Tylenol since yesterday morning, and I haven't medicated at all since this morning when I was trying to be more normal when I went for my biometric screening through work. It's a $125 incentive for both Craig and me to do them, and I had to cram them in at the last minute, not knowing I'd end up sick for it. But it's fast, I masked up, and it was fine aside from my BP being a bit high, which is probably the illness (or maybe the mask--I get so hot). Still, I was able to work a full day as planned and just feel like I have a pesky cold now.
I'm still stuck in the basement for a bit, considering there's an asthmatic, a germaphobe, and an immunocompromised kid upstairs. I have been spending my time catching up on TV and movies (new and comfort movies), and finally felt good enough yesterday to blog. I have been jumping between devices, from my phone to my computer to my new tablet. I've been trying to get that set up with some apps, and I did download my first Libby book on there. Might as well read while I have the time. I keep masking up to grab other activities to keep me occupied, like my bills to pay or my new calendar that needs things written in it. I had a lot that I wanted to accomplish over this break, but I can't do some of it while trapped down here...and what I can still do will only accomplish so much until I'm released. We'll see. I'm a little worried about the long list of things that I'll need to do in the house when I'm finally free. As it was I had to sneak up while Jacob was gone tonight to wash some dishes since the sink was full and Craig could only wrangle so much. It all happened pretty quick upon returning home, so I'm not sure what is left undone or is getting messy without my oversight. There could be a lot to do.
Of course, most important is that hopefully I didn't pass it along to anyone else--definitely not my immediate family, but also the many people that I interacted with throughout the holiday. I really had no idea until it truly hit, so I don't know that I could have really prevented it without being overly, weirdly, peak-COVID careful. I have no idea where I caught it, as it had to be before Christmas Eve unless the throat thing was unrelated. I didn't really have a lot of direct contact with people after Wednesday the prior week. I didn't work outside the house, and Jacob didn't have basketball. I don't know if I could have just caught it from a surface while running errands, or maybe from coughing people behind me in church? I didn't do much else, so I'm really not sure. My cousin called me when she saw me post about it, because she was worried she might be Patient Zero (although she didn't test for anything). She was congested on Christmas but assumed it was allergies because she otherwise felt fine until Saturday. But presumably I was infected far before I saw her Christmas night. Interestingly, my mom had some shortness of breath and higher heart rate right before Christmas, but the cardiac doctor didn't find any issues. I noticed when I was feeling terrible that my resting heart rate was high, around 110, which made me wonder if she had maybe been exposed (prior to me, clearly) and felt okay but still had those minor impacts. She did say she had a very minor cough, too, so who knows? I had that happen with COVID, where I was definitely exposed, never tested positive, but had some random symptoms and ended up showing antibodies consistent with an infection. Viruses get in and do weird things, so maybe? But the further we get away from when everyone was exposed, the more comfortable I'll feel. And truly, with this record flu surge, there were numerous possibilities for people who had no idea to expose others, so anyone really could have caught anything from anyone. It still sucks, but I'm doing what I can to limit the impacts now.
The biggest bummer is that I was supposed to spend the day tomorrow with Heather, Peter, and Mason at Strong Museum. We've postponed to Friday for now, hoping that we can sneak it in before the dollhouse exhibit closes. Heather's dad built them, so they hold a special place in her heart. It would still be fun to go later if we have to because Mason's going to LOVE it, but the dollhouses would be a bonus. Hopefully we can make it work.
So, not the week after Christmas I was expecting, but some forced relaxation isn't the worst thing as long as this flu actually exits the way it should. It was a nice holiday, though I'd like to get back upstairs to enjoy my decorations before I'm compelled to take them down. Wish me luck!
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