We've Been Hit (Covid-22)

 Welp.. we made it almost two and a half years, with our masks and paranoia, but those dirty germs finally caught us! Or at least it caught Michael (first). 

  On Thursday, June 16th, Michael went to work with a sore throat. He took a Covid test before he left the apartment just in case, and it was negative. But within two hours, he was back home feeling super nauseous. Later that day he had a bunch of symptoms, including a cough and bad chills that night. So I set up the blow up mattress and slept out in the living room space near Emma's crib. The next day, when Michael got up around Noon, he took another Covid test and that one was positive! He packed some stuff and stayed at a hotel. He planned to be there for at least a week and told me to take a test on Sunday. 

  Emma and I enjoyed our days and played like normal, aside from me closing off the bedroom and wiping down everything with Clorox wipes and Lysol spray every 30 minutes for a few hours. Michael was able to get a prescription for Paxlovid, and texted me frequently for updates. I assured him we were doing great and would tickle Emma to get extra happy faces out of her. Although, one night she was crying because she really wanted to sprint, but Michael told me not to sprint her because then she would be breathing the germy air in our apartment. But she wasn't crying, she was sobbing! So I sprinted her anyway. I sent the sad pictures to Michael, and he agreed that if I was the one with Covid, he would have sprinted her too. 

     When Michael was able to muster up enough energy, he came back over for a few things he needed. I ordered some stuff from Walmart delivery for him. He didn't come inside, but before he came upstairs I left what he needed outside the door. I also took a mini Polaroid of Emma with this heart garland and we made a little "Get well soon, Daddy/ we miss you!" sign for him. Even though he didn't knock on the door, Sasha could tell someone was there. I watched him through the peep hole and yelled, "I love you!!"

   We had fun snuggling on the blow up mattress at night, watching "Kevin from Work" (2015) on Hulu and eating popcorn. It was funny- I wish it had more than one season. Emma slept in her crib at night, but Sasha slept on the mattress, under the blankets with me, most of the night. We had a great time on our walk on Saturday evening! There was a fantastic sunset and a bunch of ducks came to say hello to Emma as we walked by. In another area of the complex, there were three tall cranes standing in the grass and I said, "Wow! Emma, look at those birds!" I laughed because she immediately looked up at the sky! But I thought it was so smart that she did that.

  The next morning I was a little nervous because I did wake up with a sore throat. In fact, I noticed that I had one when I went to bed, so I slept with my mask on on Saturday night. And as suspected, I tested positive Sunday morning, June 19th (Father's Day). The line was pretty faint, but I know that still means positive, so I took a different test to double check and it was the same. Once Michael got the news, it was decided that I would then go to the hotel and he would come back to take care of Emma since at that point he was less contagious, since I just got it.

  Michael was understandably upset for several reasons when he got back to the apartment. Mainly: 1- freaking out that Emma would get it, and quickly (me assuming) he worried the worst: she could die from this. & 2- the apartment was a mess and he likes things really clean and organized, but I wasn't expecting him back until Wednesday, so Tuesday was my planned cleaning day. We were having fun! Fun sometimes makes a mess. 3- worst Father's Day ever.

  I packed as fast as I could, but it took a while because I felt weird. I wasn't sure how much of it was really being sick from having Covid, or my body just convincing me I was sick and making up symptoms that I know Michael had. Also, I figured I would be there for a week, so I felt like I needed a lot of stuff, including food. I picked up my prescription of Paxlovid on the way to the hotel, took my first dose (Day 1- morning) after unpacking, then slept for four hours! I already had chills at that point. When I woke up I threw up in the bathroom. I had cold sweats and a shower sounded so good, but I didn't have the strength to stand up, so I got back in bed. 

   About an hour later, around 5:30 Michael called and told me that he tested Emma and she had Covid too. Uh oh.. But that meant there was no reason for me to stay at the hotel if we all had it. We could be together without needing to wear masks or gloves. Back to packing. I cried while listening to "prayers for sick children" on YouTube. I asked God to please take care of Emma and let her be okay. I didn't want it to be my fault if she got really sick. I didn't want her to get really sick. We always assumed that if she got Covid, that we'd be in the hospital with her for a while, hence our paranoia with the medical masks, extra hand washing, and almost never going out to eat anymore. 

Looking "really out of it" all day Sunday before being tested.

   While I was at the hotel Michael had called the hospital where Emma has her pulmonology appointments and was able to speak to a really nice woman named Dr. Green (different from the Dr. Green in Michigan who did Emma's airway surgery when she was six months old). She was able to prescribe two different medications. One was an inhaler (we give her the puffs through her trach) called Flovent and she told us that Emma should have never been on the QVAR inhaler, which she has been on for at least four years! The second one was a liquid that we gave through her G-tube called Dexamethasone, which we later gave 2mLs of for 10 days.

   I was home by 7pm, and even though I was only gone for half of the day, it was so good to be able to hug and kiss her again. (Michael had the apartment sparkling by the time I got back!) That night I took the second dose of Paxlovid (Day 1- night), but I had a hard time sleeping because I felt nauseous again. Around midnight I threw up again. After that I decided not to take it any more. Michael took most of his because he wasn't getting sick from it, but he did have a cough and sore throat for a long time. So did I- my cough lingered for a long time (maybe two weeks?) and I even took medicine for it at night. 

   More importantly about Sunday night was that Emma spiked a high fever of 103.7! Michael's dad is a doctor, so it's so nice to be able to call him at all hours of the night to ask questions. We alternated her between children's Tylenol and Advil (both liquid, of course) every five hours. Michael and I kept a chart, writing down the times to make sure we never gave her too much medicine, and writing down what her temperature was each time we checked it. If it reached 104 we had to give her a cold bath, but that never happened. And Dr. Green, the woman who works here, in St. Petersburg, told is that keeping her home would actually be safer and healthier for her than bringing her to the hospital. And there really wouldn't be anything they could do for her except monitor her, which is exactly what we were doing. We did keep her foot probe on more during the day to watch her saturations and heart rate.

  That first night when Emma and I both tested positive, Michael was.. what is the best adjective for "amazing"? He was incredible, astounding, more than perfect!! "Unbelievable" comes up in the search, but I could believe it because that is the kind of husband and father he is. Exhausted and still sick himself, he always puts his girls first. Since I'm writing this a month and a half later, it's starting to blur, but I think this was the night that he gave up trying to sleep when Emma's alarm wouldn't stop sounding. Her heart rate was really high. Maybe from a high temperature? He got two wash cloths and put them in the refrigerator, then alternated them on Emma's forehead. That way she always had a cool one to help bring her temperature down. He brought me one from the freezer too. He moved the big swivel chair so it was right next to her crib. Her probe has to be silenced every two minutes, and also then he was close so he could hold her without her cords getting pulled. Finally around 3am she fell asleep, and I assume Michael did too. It was quiet.

  Until suddenly.. BEEP BEEP BEEP - BEEP BEEP!!! BEEP BEEP BEEP - BEEP BEEP!!!
In my mind, from the cozy queen bed on the other side of the wall, I could picture Michael almost falling out of the chair in the living room, as he exclaimed, "Jesus Christ!" Emma was fine. Sometimes she just moves her foot a certain way and the sensor doesn't like that. He came to bed and asked me to take "the morning shift". I felt rested enough at that point and was happy to, after everything he had done the night (and whole day!) before. 

  >> The next three photos were all from Monday, June 20th. 

Morning. Looking pitiful.

6pm- playing, content.

Bedtime, laughing already!

   Tuesday morning and already wanting to sprint again! We definitely said no to sprinting during the week of recovery. We told her that her body was sick and it needed to hold on to as much energy as it could. Sprinting would make her body extra tired and her body needed to work on making her healthy and strong again. Then she could sprint as much as she wanted next week.

   For the rest of the week all three of us felt really tired and napped a lot. I felt achy and each time I took Sasha outside, felt like I was using so much energy to get back up the stairs. We didn't have much of an appetite either and basically had to force ourselves to eat a little bit each day, but we didn't mind the weight loss. We made sure that Emma stayed on her formula feeding schedule. She also got extra nebulizer treatments during this time, mainly at night. Usually she goes from 10pm-9am without any.

   We're not exactly sure when or where we caught Covid. We possibly got it from the pool area specifically at The Fountains in Orlando on my birthday just a week before tested positive. I only guess that because my parents didn't go to the pool with us and they didn't get Covid. And they were at The Fountains for five days. But my best friend, Alana, and her family were in the pool with us and they got Covid a few days after us! Or maybe Michael caught it from someone at work since he says he is basically the only person who still wears a mask, and he wears it 99% of the time that he is around other people. Usually he works alone in his office or in the mold room.

   *We are SO THANKFUL TO GOD that Emma did not need to go to the hospital for this virus!! And that her little body (with one working lung) handled it way better than we always imagined it would. *