Tag: covid19

A Double Negative!

Jane 2 Comments

We got two pieces of good news today, and both involved negative results.

Do two negatives make a positive? Or is it that a double negative cancels out and makes a positive?

Whatever. All I know is that we had good news.

First Negative: No Breast Cancer Gene!

Now this is good news, in that I am relieved that I do not feel like I need to fear my own body.

However, it’s true that this is no guarantee that I will not get breast cancer. In fact, my mother was also negative for the gene indicators, and she did get breast cancer.

So while it is not a get-out-of-jail-free card, it’s still a relief.

I wrote earlier about there being an expiration date stamped on my butt. Well now, it feels like instead of an expiration date, perhaps it’s more of a sell by date.

Everyone knows you can keep stuff waaaaay after that sell by date, right?

Second Negative: No Covid!

This evening, Chico and I both got our results for the nasal swab test we had yesterday.

We are both negative for Covid! Hooray!

We are, however, still required to quarantine as the Bear was in contact with a positive case only last Friday. We’ve got about 9 more days of quarantine to go.

We’re watching him like a hawk for symptoms and we’re taking our temperatures daily.

Going Forward

Winter is coming. Cold and flu season is upon us. We’ve had our flu shots, (GET YOUR FLU SHOTS!) but I feel like in this, The Time of Covid, any symptom, no matter how mild, is going to make us think, “COVID!”

With that in mind, we have some hard thinking to do, and some decisions to make.

We may withdraw ourselves into our own family lockdown again. Or at least, stay all four of us at home so that we feel more comfortable expanding our bubble to our close family members.

You know: the people we’ll want to see inside when the weather really gets cold.

Meanwhile…

We’re having days like this:

One had a soft landing. The other did not.

The Risks We Run

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It’s called a pandemic for a reason.

Over one million people have died worldwide (that we know of). Over 200,000 have died in the United States alone.

Just because we’re tired of social distancing, doesn’t mean the virus is gone. People are still getting sick with Covid-19. The coronavirus gives precisely zero craps about how fed up we are with things.

And So, We Choose Risks.

First, we carefully consider how much risk we are willing to tolerate. Do we get together with a limited group of family members?

Then, we consider the kids. Do we keep them at home? Or do we take the risk and send them to daycare and school?

We kept social distancing, but we returned the kids to daycare. They thrived. We kept up our hand washing routines, health checks. Everyone was fine.

When it came time to make the choice about distance learning vs. hybrid, we opted for distance learning, before the school board reversed its decision to offer a choice and went for only distance learning.

And Then… We Got Used to It.

Pandemic procedures became part of daily life.

The weather was good, the boys were happy. We were spending time outside, so we saw people outside, and it was easy to forget about the pandemic.

We kept wearing our masks, and the children’s teachers were always masked. It all came to seem so normal.

Yesterday, A Child Got Sick.

Yesterday evening, we got a call that a child in the Bear’s daycare class had tested positive for Covid-19.

I cannot imagine how terrifying the situation must be for the family. I’ve since learned that the child is only experiencing mild symptoms, and I pray that continues to be the case.

For me, it’s been a real wake-up call. A reminder that this is still real, and it can happen to us.

Quarantined

So we’re in quarantine. The Chico and I are experiencing mild cold symptoms, so we got ourselves tested for Covid-19 and should have results tomorrow.

Whether we have “the dreaded lurgy” or not, we’ve been given a stark reminder to take this seriously.

If we do have the lurgy, then we’ll see you after quarantine.

If we don’t have it, well, we’ve still got to quarantine at home.

Either Way, We (Won’t) Be Seeing Ya!

Because we’ve got to social distance.

Well that went quickly

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And here I thought that being in lockdown would give me plenty of time to write!

Turns out, there’s lots to do when the entire family is at home.

Who’d have thought it, right??

The end is still far…

Our state continues to operate on lockdown, with no word about reopening before the originally projected date of June 10th. At this point, it almost seems like June 10th might be too soon.

We’re currently in week 8 of staying at home, and while some of the days drag by, on the whole the time has gone quickly. As I’m sure is true for everyone, some days are better than others.

Some days we have lots of fun. Other days we struggle to pull ourselves together. Some days we cook. Some days we warm up something frozen or order take-out. Some days leave the house. Some days we don’t.

I’ve written before about tedium and child-rearing. It’s a thing. With the added factor of having to stay at home, some days it has gotten to nearly unbearable levels.

The pressure to keep brain cells active

Aside from reading and activities with the kids, I haven’t done much in the way of keeping my brain cells active.

At one point, I had plans. I thought this would be the opportune time to practice and perfect something. Anything, really.

My Instagram feed has been full of ads for Master Class, spinning tutorials, different crafting hobbies (which conveniently would require me to buy equipment and online tutorials from these advertisers). I could learn Arabic in less than a month (!), or perfect my piano skills using an app!

It’s true that these companies have something right. It is important to keep the mind in shape, not just the body (not that I’ve been keeping the body in shape much, but let’s not go there).

But at the same time, it’s hardly productive for me to put yet another kind of pressure on myself.

And yet…

And yet, I do feel the need to do something. For my mental well-being and to remind myself that I am better at more than laundry, cleaning and cooking.

For those who have jobs that challenge them mentally, this might not feel as critical. But for those of us who stay at home anyway and were already suffering from lack of stimulation, I think it is especially important to activate the brain cells now.

Where to start?

A simple Google search should do it. I can easily get overwhelmed by all the information I find on Google, but a little time to focus and some perseverance should give me some ideas.

I’m thinking of creative writing classes. Has anyone done any? Got any recommendations?