Seems as though an uninvited guest has arrived in our household again.
Evelyn and Karlyn had been feeling under the weather a little before the weekend (Aug. 12 – 14). When their symptoms persisted (coughing, congestion, nausea, etc.), I decided to give them each a COVID home test. Sure enough, the results came back positive.
Not wanting to rely on the home test alone I made appointments for them the next day (Monday, the 15th) at a nearby Curative center for rapid testing. That afternoon the results came back. Our worst fears were confirmed: they were positive.
As you can imagine, this immediately impacted Karlyn and her work commitments. Fortunately she has (so far) a very understanding employer. Of course, common sense would dictate that you wouldn’t want someone who’s sick going from home to home to visit vulnerable seniors. So she’s on a couple of medications, drinking as much water as she can, and getting plenty of bed rest.
Evelyn is dealing with sideline issues in addition to COVID. Her second primary concern has to do with the concussion she sustained in April. Since her brain injury specialist didn’t want to see her in person, he “telemed”-called to discuss further ideas for seeing if the injury is affecting her and, if so, how it’s affecting her.
Now, those would be the kinds of things one would not be surprised to find out upon learning that a household has been found to have COVID within its walls. There are other, more subtle considerations, side effects (if you will), that come with something like this:
1. We had made reservations at a local campground to spend the week there next week (the 21st – 27th). With Evelyn still not feeling all that great, we decided not to chance it, and I canceled the reservation. Additionally, leaving for camping would have left Karlyn on her own when she wasn’t feeling well, either. So that kind of took care of two concerns at the same time.
2. Because we were planning to go away in the RV I had also put a request in with the storage place to have them move our camper to their front lot so we could pick it up on Sunday. Now that we’re not going I had to call to cancel that request.
3. I had filled out a card for the post office to hold our mail while we were away. Fortunately, I hadn’t submitted it yet. So now I have a large yellow post card destined for the recycling bin.
4. I had contracted with a lawn service to take care of mowing my lawn while we were away. Rather than cancel him I think I’ll keep the commitment. He’s a friend who owns his own landscaping business, and so I like to help him out where I can.
5. Our van is due for inspection this month. Having next week available gives me more options for when to take it before the 31st.
I guess what I’m saying is that when a serious illness worms its way into a household, getting the affected people well again is just one side of the equation. It doesn’t even have to be as serious as COVID. Regardless of the infirmity, there’s a ripple effect that cannot be avoided. It upends routines and schedules and generally makes life more complex.
Best thing to do is focus on getting better any way you can. Pray hard for God’s healing Holy Spirit to surround the ill and then look forward to that day when everyone is well and healthy again. COVID may last for days. But good health is here for a lifetime.