ROUGH END TO A ROUGH YEAR

 

The end of our year 2020 can be described in one word: COVID.

ROUGH:

For the 6 of us who live in the house, only 3 of us got COVID: myself, Andrew and Stephen.  We were very blessed that all 3 of our cases were mild.  

In some ways it is a miracle that the other 3, Lydia, Ben, and Jonah, did not also get COVID.  On the other hand, we still have the worry going forward for the next few months that they are still able to get COVID.  

However, we are not quite as scared of them getting it considering they lived 24/7 with 3 positive cases and did not catch.  Perhaps those 3 are very resilient or had asymptomatic cases.  We are especially surprised that our little boys did not get sick.  Remember, Jonah's doctors did feel Jonah would be considered a high risk for a more serious case of COVID and yet so far, he has sailed through quite healthy.  Not at all what we expected.

The rough part of us 3 getting COVID was the logistical nightmare that happens in a big family when you have to isolate and quarantine from each other.  In the end, it was about a 3 week period of figuring out who could be with who.  

Our particular situation was a bit more complicated because of our 2 boys having special needs so they require constant care and supervision.  It's kind of hard as a parent to just completely step back and not be part of their daily activities.  Then it got even more complicated because Jonah currently has his suprapubic catheter which requires careful daily attention and care.  Again, not just something a parent can walk away from.  

Fortunately, we are blessed with amazing older kids who really stepped in and cared for our boys while Andrew and I had to be isolated in the basement.  They both took a crash course in catheter care and handled that like pros also.  Our Lydia also took on the cooking responsibilities for all 6 of us which was quite a bit a work for her to do.   And our Abigail who lives 6 hours away was our faithful cheerleader encouraging us we would make it through this difficult time.

The other issue we had to deal with because of our COVID was Jonah's 12-17 surgery (to replace stent and catheter tube) had to be postponed 6 weeks because of Jonah's direct exposure to us.  Fortunately, his urologist assured us that with Jonah being on a daily antibiotic to prevent staph infections in the catheter tube, he wasn't too concerned about the delay.

I would say the most difficult part for me of COVID was the anxiety I experienced trying to deal with all of the above.  It was a rough 10 days.

ROUGHER:

Another aspect of our COVID experience was both of my elderly parents also caught COVID and had to be hospitalized.  Obviously we were very concerned about them and felt very helpless since we could only get updates on them by phoning their nurses.  

The miracle was that my mom, despite her complications from her stroke in 2019, had a pretty mild case of COVID.  She only needed to be in the hospital 5 days and only required 2 ltrs of oxygen for only first 2 days of her stay.

ROUGHEST:

My dad also got COVID.  However, he had to be hospitalized for 18 days because of low oxygen levels.  

Our whole family felt so bad for him being all alone in that hospital room dealing with the anxiety of what COVID can do to a person as well his worry over being away from our mom.  It was a hard 2 weeks waiting for him to heal enough for the doctors to let him come home.  

We are so grateful and happy and relieved that he is now back home with our mom.  Lots of prayers were answered!

So 2020 has certainly promised to go down as a very memorable year for many of us.  What a strange and scary turn of events starting last March.  It's been a roller coaster ride for sure.

On a side note, the question that we get asked often is "How did we get COVID?"  The answer is I'm not absolutely sure because we were soooo careful and cautious all these months.  We wore masks and we really tried to stay home as much as possible.  

Despite us getting COVID even though we were very careful, I still believe wearing masks and staying home as much as possible can slow/prevent the spread.  Just my personal opinion, especially after seeing my Dad go through such an ordeal with his COVID.

Now for some photos from my COVID isolation in our basement for 10 days.  Quite the adventure!

In the middle of all our COVID craziness, our Lydia got her first college acceptance letter.  Right now, this college is sort of her first choice, but she wants to see if other options come through before she officially decides.  Exciting for her!

Can't complain about the bed I had downstairs.  This is the bed that Abigail uses when she comes home to visit.  Very comfy and cozy and warm.  

Grateful I felt good enough to ride the exercise bike several times throughout the day.  Please ignore the messy pool table in the background.

A few days into my isolation, Ben joined me downstairs because he ran a fever of 99.9 for one evening.  Thinking he may have COVID, we brought him down by us to keep him away from Stephen, Lydia, and Jonah who at the time were still symptom free and testing negative.  

In the end, Ben tested negative a few days later so the fever was just random and unexplained.  So ironically, trying to protect the others, we actually exposed Ben more because of being downstairs with Andrew and I.  However, by some miracle, Ben still didn't catch COVID.  We did wear masks down in the basement, and I tried to have minimal contact with him down there, although that was easier said than done :) 

In an effort to keep Ben as safe as possible, we decided we would not eat together.  So Andrew ate in Lydia's bedroom in the basement, Ben got to eat in the family room, and I was stuck in the unfinished part of the basement.  Keeps one humble when you are eating with a toilet plunger 2 feet from you :)

And the old saying that "not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse" was not true in our case.  My second night in the basement, before Andrew joined me, I woke up in the middle of the night to the sound of a critter rustling in the toy closet.  Andrew came down to "rescue" me, but he never did find the mouse.  But the next morning he set up several traps.  As of the date of this post, there has been on mouse caught.  Perhaps my COVID brain just imagined the whole thing....

For those of you who usually get our Christmas card, I never sent them out because I actually prepared them the day before I started with COVID symptoms.  Needless to say, I decided to just shelf that idea until Christmas 2021.

So that was our end to 2020.  What a year it's been!