2022 Life Logs, Day 99: COVID
Date: Saturday, April 9, 2022
Weather: Partly Sunny; High 57, Low 40 degrees F
Location: At Home in the Cottage, East Falmouth, MA
Last night I talked to my friend Lynne Kirwin who has been living in New Zealand for the past two and a half years. They had huge upsurge of Covid cases a month ago, but things are settling down a bit now. Lynne is the friend that always reminds me, “Judy, you can make plans, but then life happens.” Indeed. This morning I texted Heather to see how she was feeling, and she wrote back that she tested positive for Covid this morning. She has a low-grade fever and a mild cough and is hopeful that her bout with Covid will be mild and short-lived. But in the meantime, plans for the family vacation in Puerto Rico are on hold. The boys say they don’t want to go without Heather, so we will either all go or only I will go if I manage to stay healthy.
Heather went to work on Tuesday and attended an hour-long staff meeting. They were using social distancing by sitting in every other chair, but were no longer wearing masks. On Wednesday morning she found out that the person sitting next to her tested positive with Covid. So far only Heather and the person sitting on the other side of the infected person have tested positive. The people that were sitting on the other side of the table are fine so far. The good news is that the person with the initial case is already on the mend. Now we just have to hope that Heather can bounce back that quickly and hope that none of the rest of us gets it. It will be a wait-and-see game this week.
I found out this morning that not just Jonah and Sam are away at Scout camp this weekend, but Jed and Ollie are there as well. It was perfect timing for them to be out of the house this weekend. After getting Heather’s news this morning, I headed to Mashpee to buy an organic chicken to roast for her and to use the bones for making a fresh batch of bone broth. While I was in Mashpee, Heather texted to ask me if I could go to the drugstore to get “a boatload of Zarbees immune booster” for her. She had asked her primary care if she could get Paxlovid. It is an antiviral developed by Pfizer, but because she is not immunocompromised her request was denied. So Zarbees will have to do.
I went directly to a CVS and asked for Zarbees immune booster and they tried to put me in the line waiting to get a Covid booster shot. I explained again what I wanted and finally the message got through. I bought all they had—two bottles of elderberry gummies for Heather and one for me. I then headed home to take Shadow for a walk while the chicken roasted. By the time I ate lunch and got to Heather’s, it was time for me to head to the eastern side of the Cape for Jonah’s soccer game. But Heather’s weekly box of Misfits organic fruits, veggies, and meat was sitting on the porch. Since Jed will not be home until noon tomorrow, I decided that I was going to mask up and take the box inside and put things away. There was no way I was going to let Heather do that. Besides I got to see her from a distance and that made me feel better. Then I drove the 45 minutes to Jonah’s game.
It was fairly warm and sunny in Falmouth when I left, but when I got out of the car in Harwich, I thought I was going to be blown away. I still had on my windbreaker from taking Shadow for a walk, but almost left it at home as it had really been too hot. Sure glad I had it on because it was not warm in Harwich. I was very glad I had my gloves in my pocket. Jonah’s team lost the game, but he made the only two goals for his team.
He was disappointed that three other attempts he made did not result in goals, but glad that at least that his team scored. He and Jed then returned to Camp Greenough, and I headed home. It was after 6 pm when I got home, so I quickly deboned the chicken and took that and some kale I cooked yesterday plus a roasted beet to Heather for dinner. Then I rushed back home to make a big batch of chicken mineral broth. It is burbling away as I write.
Tomorrow afternoon the plan is for me to take Sam to his soccer game in Weymouth which is on the way to Boston. Jed is slated to referee a soccer game in Falmouth and can’t take him, so I offered as long as he agrees to wear a mask in the car and sit in the backseat. I will mask-up as well and hope it is warm enough to have the windows open partially. Learning to live a normal life with Covid constantly lurking around every corner is certainly a tricky business.
