Tuesday, December 08, 2020

Day 4 ... not as positive as before

I want to walk the fine line between being honest and being an alarmist, but today was a setback in several ways. The biggest and most important thing is that I believe I have infected Elizabeth with Covid-19. Honestly, I knew it was going to happen, no matter how careful we have tried to be during this isolation/quarantine period. Not only did we sleep in the same bed the night before I tested positive, but she has been delivering meals to me and putting up my dishes. We have tried to avoid contact with each other, but everything we have learned is that this virus just doesn’t really care about how careful you try to be. We will hopefully find out for sure in the morning if she has the virus, and no matter the verdict, we will move forward.

Before Elizabeth’s symptoms began to show, though, things just didn’t start well. I had a miserable night of sleep. Let me be clear: I don’t feel terrible. I’m not trying to alarm anyone. But I am being honest. Last night sucked. I tossed and turned all night. I couldn’t get comfortable. Eventually, around 5 a.m., I flipped the mattress around and found a little bit of relief. I was able to get a few hours of sleep.

I woke up and attended my PLC meeting virtually this morning, and it was good to see those faces and interact with some people. I’ve enjoyed texting folks and chatting on Facebook, and I’ve been able to Facetime with Elizabeth, but hopping in a Google Meet with my co-workers was fun.

I spent a lot of time today editing students’ work. We plan to print the second edition of our newspaper on Monday for delivery next Wednesday and Thursday, so there’s a lot of work to be done between now and then. I saw some really good stuff today, so that’s exciting, and I’m expecting some more good stories to be turned in either tonight or tomorrow. My kids keep improving, and as a teacher, that’s enjoyable.

My symptoms got a little bit worse today. My chest congestion is stronger than it’s been. I’m coughing more than I have before. I feel sluggish and a little achy. But my fever still has not returned. It was 97.9 just a few minutes ago. So that’s a positive sign. But in the early afternoon Elizabeth began to complain about feeling poorly. She started running a fever, which by 5 was over 100, and she said she has that achy flu-like feeling (which is exactly what I felt on Saturday morning before I tested positive). She went to urgent care, but they were out of rapid tests and told her to come back in the morning. She’s planning to be there first thing to find out the verdict.

To be honest, today was a pretty depressing day on the whole. I feel OK still. I know I’m sick. I can feel it. But I’m not incredibly ill. I’m hoping it stays that way. But I’m way more concerned with the fact that Elizabeth is sick. She doesn’t run a fever. We can count on one hand the number of times she’s had a fever in the 15 years we’ve been married. She’s tough. She handles sickness way better than I do. But this isn’t a normal sickness. There’s plenty of evidence everywhere that Covid is unpredictable. Just because I seem to be having a mild case doesn’t mean she’s going to have a mild case.

I’ll be sure to share updates tomorrow when we have news. Hopefully, it’s good and I’m totally overreacting right now.

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