Knock Knock . . . who's there? . . . Coronavirus. Can I come in?
Um, let me think for just a second. NO! Are you crazy? Now get outta here.
On Monday, Amber went running with her friend, Lyndsey, as usual. Later that same evening, Lyndsey developed a cough. She woke up feeling horrible Tuesday morning and got tested for COVID-19. It came back positive!!
Yikes! That meant that Amber had been exposed the day before, and would need to quarantine immediately. I discussed with my supervisor at the Election Office what I should do, and she said if Amber developed any symptoms at any point that I should stay home. Otherwise, they said it was okay for me to be there.
On my way to work on Thursday morning, I was literally 30 seconds from the office when I got a text from Amber saying that she didn't feel well. As I turned the car around and headed home, I called the office to let them know I wouldn't be coming in for a while. More on that in a minute.
Monday: I visited with Kylie during my lunch break. They have been struggling with their puppy, Koda, and his stubbornness and unwillingness to comply. The next step is a puppy training school there in Italy - in the hope of breaking his bad habits and instilling better ones. If that doesn't work, they are going to find him a new home. He is causing a lot of stress for Benson and Kylie.
Part of why they missed our family group chat last Sunday is because while they were out on a family walk with the doggies, and when they reached a secure area, Benson and Kylie unhooked all the leashes for some puppy adventure time. Koda decided to just bolt and run away! He made a beeline for a nearby FIRE and would not stop! Benson had to sprint about 400 yards just to catch up to him, and Koda was ignoring the fact that his name was being yelled the entire time. And this is just one example, apparently, of the shenanigans of Koda lately.
Here is Kylie, enjoying their little kitten.
Kylie said that Italy is experiencing a second wave of coronavirus recently, and because of it, the country is putting more restrictions in place again. They can't be outside more than 60 feet from their house and they have to wear masks everywhere in public. She was expecting more restrictions to begin in the coming days as well. I encouraged her to make sure they had enough food and supplies to last her a while. (She also mentioned on our Zoom chat today that no more than 6 people can be in your house at any given point. And if your family is over 6 in numbers, well, that is most unfortunate.)
Tuesday: After work, my young women's class was in charge of a large event that evening. All the young men and young women met together with their leaders so that we could distribute door hangers within our ward boundaries for an upcoming massive Food Drive in Idaho Falls. The proceeds will go to the Community Food Basket, our local food bank.
Originally, I thought it was just going to be the young women participating. But I found out the night before that it was all the young women and young men! Double the numbers! So I scrambled to order 5 dozen donuts to be ready by the next morning, and I put Amber in charge of making a large pot of hot apple cider.
In lieu of the fact that Amber found out Tuesday afternoon that she had been exposed to COVID-19, we ended up moving the location of the refreshments and meeting place to be at the church parking lot, instead of my front yard.
Scott helped me get everything set up and we served the refreshments from the tailgate of our pickup truck. I tried to make it look all harvesty and cute as best as I could, ha ha.
Wednesday: I was VERY tired at work all morning, but after a good lunch, I felt myself perk up for the afternoon. Amber was still okay at home at this point. I think I was just having a day where my body was trying to tell me that I was running faster than I should be. :) Later that evening, I felt myself get REALLY tired again. I also had a raspy and swollen throat along with a mild cough. I had already been beefing up on all kinds of vitamins and essential oils since the day before when we found out about Lyndsey. I did my best to get into bed a little earlier that night.
Thursday: I woke up feeling GREAT, so that was a joyful relief! And as I already mentioned, I was almost to work when I had to turn around and go back home. Once I arrived home, I immediately pitched in to help with the girls so that Amber could rest. Her symptoms were sore/scratchy throat, her chest felt a little tight, and she felt a little feverish on and off throughout the day. She rested as much as she could with me there to supervise. She also had a horrible headache all day long.
As the day wore on, I felt myself losing momentum once again. I wished that I could crawl into bed for 3 days and just vegetate.
Amber went over to Community Care to be checked and given a coronavirus test. They gave her what is called the "rapid test". They swab up inside your nose and then you've got results in about 15-20 minutes. Her results came back NEGATIVE. We were surprised, but relieved. The Dr. told her it was also possible that she came in too early and that she might still develop the virus.
Friday: I woke up feeling pretty lousy. My upper chest area (near the base of my neck) felt really tight, accompanied by a burning sensation. My throat was swollen from time to time, I had warm surges periodically (we didn't have a working thermometer in the house - but I have since ordered one from Amazon and it should be here in a couple days), and I still had that raspy voice. I even had a few minutes of nausea while I was eating my breakfast. I had to stop for a minute or two and see if I should even continue.
I decided that I should be tested as well. So I went over to Community Care, right down the street from our house, and got checked. The swab test wasn't as bad as I expected at all! The nurse had me step down from the exam table and sit in one of the chairs instead. She told me to just relax and lean my head back against the wall. I was so tired that I just closed my eyes. She counted quickly up to 3 or 4, then counted backwards down to one. And then it was all done!
After a 20 minute wait, the Dr. came in with the results: NEGATIVE. He said that there are a few viruses out there that seem to mimic symptoms that are similar to the coronavirus. He was confident that because Amber and I had both tested negative (and because we're in the same household, and we both experienced similar symptoms, and all of this was within a very common window to show symptoms after an exposure to the virus) he felt that we had confidently sidestepped getting COVID-19. If one of us had tested positive, that would be a whole different story. But with BOTH of us testing positive - WITH symptoms - he did not feel that the results were a false negative.
He said we should continue to finish up our recommended 5 days of quarantine from the CDC (which would be through Sunday), and to just take it easy while we recovered from whatever virus we were suffering from. He told me that MOST people get symptoms of COVID-19 within 2-3 days of being exposed. Yes, they can still get symptoms as far out as 14 days, but it is very rare.
I told him that the Election Office would be wanting me to return if at all possible, and I asked him what he thought about that as a possibility. He said that if I don't get any new symptoms or feel worse, but if I feel better and better, then he would be okay with me going back to work this upcoming week.
I called the office and let them know. My supervisor, Brenda Prudent, was so happy! She said they have a lot of bodies coming to help during these final days, but not very many bodies with experience. We made plans for me to check in tomorrow, Monday, and if all is well, then I will return to work on Tuesday.
As for the rest of the day, I did a lot of resting. And that was awesome. The girls came and joined me in bed to watch "Mowgli", the live-action remake of The Jungle Book.
At one point in the afternoon, Scott's parents stopped by to deliver a gift bag for Gwen, since it was her birthday recently. Scott started to invite them in, not even thinking, and I hurried to tell them it wasn't a good idea to come in! I didn't want to make them stand outside in the cold, but I didn't want to compromise their health either! Coy opted to come in anyway and sit on the couch briefly with the girls. I kept a large distance and I put my mask on as well. (Amber was downstairs in the shower)
Phil sat in the rocking chairs on the porch with Scott and waited outside. They didn't stay long. And now that we know we don't have coronavirus, I feel better. But I don't want to expose them to anything, no matter what it is.
Coy had given Gwen a couple of darling puzzles. We had fun assembling them together after they left.
Before I went to bed that night, I was feeling better. In anticipation of the frigid, arctic cold that was on deck for the weekend, I hurried outside with Abby to pick the last of our kale under the apple tree. By flashlight and headlamp, we picked two grocery sacks full of kale. We weren't sure what we were going to do with all of it, but at least we picked it!!
Sadly, however, the next day I noticed a very funky smell as I walked back and forth through the dining room. Turned out....it was the kale. Darn. We threw it all away in the dumpster. How sad! I guess the cold weather earlier in the week had started the demise process already. :(
Meanwhile, Scott, feeling ever so spry and healthy, had come home early on Friday and set to work on a project of his own. He found a company in Utah that sells these wall heaters that are quiet and very efficient. He installed one in our bathroom, but to do that he first had to install a new electrical box.
He cut into the wall and placed the new box, completed the wiring, then mounted the new heater. He is always cold when he gets out of the shower, so he wanted something to blow heat throughout the room as well as on him, if needed, too. It has a remote and you can easily manipulate the temperature to your liking.
Soon we will be starting the overhaul of our master bathroom. We will be getting rid of the carpet (who puts carpet in a bathroom!?), building a walk-in shower, tiling the floor, and getting a new toilet and sink/vanity. I will paint the bathroom once the mess is done.
Saturday: Feeling much better, I sprang out of bed to shower, exercise, and scurry about doing a myriad of chores. I braved the cold outside in order to take care of a few more things before winter sets in permanently: I trimmed the raspberries, pulled weeds, removed our pumpkin plant vines, cleaned up the rhubarb plant, and tidied up the back yard. Inside, I swept and mopped, cleaned up the kitchen, and put away some clean laundry.
In the afternoon, I began working through the initial details of my Christmas project for my sister, Charmaine, and her family. We do a Snider Family Gift Exchange every year, with a rotating match-up. Currently, I have my older sister and her family. We basically do whatever we want, within our own means and preferences. There is no dollar amount minimum or maximum. We give what we can and that's it. Period. There is only good will and happiness as we participate year after year. I think we've been doing this for about a decade now.
Scott also had some "fun" doing a project out in the garage. He climbed up into the attic space above the garage and did some re-wiring of the electrical work up there. He installed a new recessed "can" light in a darker corner of the garage. It is very bright now!!
I finished the yard work just in time before the rains came. First it was rain. Then sleet. Then snow. Then snow/sleet for the rest of the day. The girls were so excited to put on their winter clothes and go outside to see the snow close up.
This is a picture story of Gwen, first licking the snow off her mittens, then taking them off and noticing the snow on the picnic table to swipe with her fingers, then running across the yard while singing and making joyful outbursts:
Orange swing? Nope.
Green swing? Nope.
Rainbow hammock swing? Jackpot!!
This is what we woke up to this morning. And at 8:00 a.m. it was a whopping 12 degrees.
It is supposed to rebound and get up into the 50's for the rest of the week. And what a lovely thing that will be!
Lastly, here are a couple pictures of our family Zoom chat today (Sunday). Jacob and Hannah are barely visible in the upper left window. And Benson and Kylie were sharing her phone screen. But this is when we were all playing a new game called Among Us. It's sort of like mafia where someone is the murderer/imposter. Everyone has tasks to perform on the spaceship, and while we are all scurrying around trying to get our tasks done, one at a time someone is killed. We have to stop and discuss where everyone was at the time, who did we see, etc. and then vote on who we think is the imposter. If we are wrong, the play continues until the next person is killed. It was chaotic, but I thought it was really fun, too!
It was good to see everyone's faces all in one place. Everyone is doing very well. :)
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