I’m glad today is over. I hope tomorrow is better than today. I just don’t have any energy, and I spent most of the day sleeping. I took two lengthy naps today and feel like I haven’t gotten a wink. I’m heading to bed here soon.
The good news is Elizabeth tested negative, so that’s a relief. We will continue to isolate from each other in hopes that I don’t infect her. My fever returned today for the first time since Saturday. It was a low-grade fever and didn’t quite get to 100. More than anything I’m just tired and sluggish.
I was told Days 4-6 would likely be the worst. I just finished the fifth day since my symptoms showed up. Hopefully, tomorrow is better. If not, maybe there is an end in sight.
I’ll repeat what I’ve said from the beginning: I’m lucky. I haven’t once felt in danger or like I need to seek out a hospital. I’m just sick, and it’s not fun at all. Good night, everyone.
Wednesday, December 09, 2020
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.
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.
Monday, December 07, 2020
Day 3: It's back to work ... well, sort of
Today was Day 3 in isolation, but the first work day. I spent most of the day on my laptop, making myself available to students who had questions about their various assignments. A couple of students reached out about my Covid diagnosis with well wishes and/or questions about what that meant for them. I worked on some social media posts for Facebook and Instagram. I caught up on some yearbook work that I fell behind on. Because today was the deadline for my Publications students to turn in their stories for the next edition of the newspaper, a good chunk of the rest of my week will focus on editing those stories and getting the paper ready for print. The show must go on, even if I’m not there physically.
As far as how I’m doing because many people have reached out to ask, and I can’t express how appreciative I am, I’m still relatively symptom-free. The fever still hasn’t returned. I checked it a few minutes ago, and it’s 97.7. I haven’t been at or above 98.6 since Saturday. I did feel a little more sluggish today. I don’t know if that’s because I actually did some work, spending hours in front of my laptop screen, or if it’s just because it’s Day 3 of being cooped up in a confined space. I don’t feel sick. I just don’t feel great. I imagine it’s going to be a blah kind of experience the rest of the week.
I did take a nearly two-hour nap at the end of the school day. I was exhausted, but that’s really not anything new. Once I slow down on a typical day, I crash. I haven’t been a big napper until the last year or so. I guess getting to my late 30s has made me slow down a little. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that I don’t get an adequate amount of sleep on a regular basis.
My nurse delivered me a Pop-Tart (upon request) for breakfast and made me two turkey, ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch, loaded with meat and just a hint of mustard, exactly like I like it. And for supper, my mother-in-law dropped off some sausage-and-potato soup that was so delicious, as well as some banana pudding. So far, I’m eating well but also cutting down on my snacks and drinking a whole lot more water than normal. So far, through three days I have gone through 14 bottles of water. And my nurse refuses to deliver me any carbonated beverages. She says I need to hydrate with water, water, water. Even though I’m not able to move around much, I’m still hopeful to actually lose some weight during this quarantine because my eating habits will be so improved and my water intake will be so much greater.
I’m going to sign off for the night. It’s only 8:35 p.m. right now, but it feels so much later, despite that nap I had earlier. I’m sure I will be closing my eyes much earlier tonight and hopefully getting a full night’s rest.
As far as how I’m doing because many people have reached out to ask, and I can’t express how appreciative I am, I’m still relatively symptom-free. The fever still hasn’t returned. I checked it a few minutes ago, and it’s 97.7. I haven’t been at or above 98.6 since Saturday. I did feel a little more sluggish today. I don’t know if that’s because I actually did some work, spending hours in front of my laptop screen, or if it’s just because it’s Day 3 of being cooped up in a confined space. I don’t feel sick. I just don’t feel great. I imagine it’s going to be a blah kind of experience the rest of the week.
I did take a nearly two-hour nap at the end of the school day. I was exhausted, but that’s really not anything new. Once I slow down on a typical day, I crash. I haven’t been a big napper until the last year or so. I guess getting to my late 30s has made me slow down a little. I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that I don’t get an adequate amount of sleep on a regular basis.
My nurse delivered me a Pop-Tart (upon request) for breakfast and made me two turkey, ham and cheese sandwiches for lunch, loaded with meat and just a hint of mustard, exactly like I like it. And for supper, my mother-in-law dropped off some sausage-and-potato soup that was so delicious, as well as some banana pudding. So far, I’m eating well but also cutting down on my snacks and drinking a whole lot more water than normal. So far, through three days I have gone through 14 bottles of water. And my nurse refuses to deliver me any carbonated beverages. She says I need to hydrate with water, water, water. Even though I’m not able to move around much, I’m still hopeful to actually lose some weight during this quarantine because my eating habits will be so improved and my water intake will be so much greater.
I’m going to sign off for the night. It’s only 8:35 p.m. right now, but it feels so much later, despite that nap I had earlier. I’m sure I will be closing my eyes much earlier tonight and hopefully getting a full night’s rest.
Sunday, December 06, 2020
Day 2 of Isolation ... or a pretty typical Sunday
Today wasn’t exactly what I expected, and I mean that in a good way. I’ve heard many people describe their Covid situations as asymptomatic or having very mild symptoms. I would say I fall in the second category. I can’t describe myself as asymptomatic, obviously, because running a fever during the middle of the night that caused me to go get tested was obviously a symptom. But that fever is gone. It’s been gone for more than 24 hours. I sneezed once today, and I’m coughing up some stuff occasionally. Other than that, I feel fine. I don’t feel sick.
I’ve talked to several friends who have previously dealt with Covid and another who is going through it right now, and they have told me that typically days four through six are the worst. My friend who is battling Covid right now said that days three and four were bad for him. He called me today, and he sounded like he has been going through the ringer. So I know I’m not out of the woods. Covid is no joke, and it can beat me down any day now. Right now, I’m just trying to take my three medicines that have been prescribed to me, keep a steady dose of ibuprofen to try to keep any fever away, drink my Emergen-C nightly, and relax as much as possible.
My personal chef delivered me two bagels with eggs, bacon and hashbrowns this morning for breakfast, and we had an early supper from Chili’s that was delivered by Door Dash thanks to the generosity of an old friend who sent me a coupon. He’s not the type who wants acknowledgement, so I’ll keep his name out of it, but I told him how much I appreciated the gesture. It was unexpected, but knowing his character, it was not surprising at all. I’ve had so many people respond to my previous post on Facebook wishing me and Elizabeth well, and I really appreciate the well-wishes. Truly, I do. So far, things are going about as well as either of us could have expected.
I don’t have a TV in my isolation chamber, but I’m learning more and more about streaming online. I don’t have Netflix or Hulu or many of the other streaming services, mostly because we invested in a Tivo years ago and that continues to serve us well. I have streamed some shows online through the years when something happened such as a power outage that caused me to miss a show, but I really don’t watch much online programming. That changed today. I was able to stream the Saints-Falcons game as well as the Tech-LSU basketball game. The good guys won the football game, but the bad guys got the blowout win in basketball. Still, it was nice to be able to watch the games on my laptop. That gives me more options moving forward as I remain in a TV-less isolation. Who knows, maybe I’ll subscribe to Netflix before this thing is all said and done!
Tomorrow will be a weird day for me as school goes on without me. It’s not unusual for me to miss a day here or there. I’ve never been one of those “perfect-attendance” students or teachers. When you officiate as much basketball as I do, including games out of state, there are times when it’s just impossible not to miss. But I don’t typically miss often and extremely rarely multiple days in a row. But the show must go on, right? I’m planning to hold regular office hours throughout the day so I can be available to my students via email or Google Classroom, and hopefully I can use this down time to catch up on some of the grading that I’ve fallen behind on. Plus, we are putting out a newspaper this week, and that’s a big deal for me and my Publications students. It won’t be our traditional setup, but we will get it done!
I’ve talked to several friends who have previously dealt with Covid and another who is going through it right now, and they have told me that typically days four through six are the worst. My friend who is battling Covid right now said that days three and four were bad for him. He called me today, and he sounded like he has been going through the ringer. So I know I’m not out of the woods. Covid is no joke, and it can beat me down any day now. Right now, I’m just trying to take my three medicines that have been prescribed to me, keep a steady dose of ibuprofen to try to keep any fever away, drink my Emergen-C nightly, and relax as much as possible.
My personal chef delivered me two bagels with eggs, bacon and hashbrowns this morning for breakfast, and we had an early supper from Chili’s that was delivered by Door Dash thanks to the generosity of an old friend who sent me a coupon. He’s not the type who wants acknowledgement, so I’ll keep his name out of it, but I told him how much I appreciated the gesture. It was unexpected, but knowing his character, it was not surprising at all. I’ve had so many people respond to my previous post on Facebook wishing me and Elizabeth well, and I really appreciate the well-wishes. Truly, I do. So far, things are going about as well as either of us could have expected.
I don’t have a TV in my isolation chamber, but I’m learning more and more about streaming online. I don’t have Netflix or Hulu or many of the other streaming services, mostly because we invested in a Tivo years ago and that continues to serve us well. I have streamed some shows online through the years when something happened such as a power outage that caused me to miss a show, but I really don’t watch much online programming. That changed today. I was able to stream the Saints-Falcons game as well as the Tech-LSU basketball game. The good guys won the football game, but the bad guys got the blowout win in basketball. Still, it was nice to be able to watch the games on my laptop. That gives me more options moving forward as I remain in a TV-less isolation. Who knows, maybe I’ll subscribe to Netflix before this thing is all said and done!
Tomorrow will be a weird day for me as school goes on without me. It’s not unusual for me to miss a day here or there. I’ve never been one of those “perfect-attendance” students or teachers. When you officiate as much basketball as I do, including games out of state, there are times when it’s just impossible not to miss. But I don’t typically miss often and extremely rarely multiple days in a row. But the show must go on, right? I’m planning to hold regular office hours throughout the day so I can be available to my students via email or Google Classroom, and hopefully I can use this down time to catch up on some of the grading that I’ve fallen behind on. Plus, we are putting out a newspaper this week, and that’s a big deal for me and my Publications students. It won’t be our traditional setup, but we will get it done!
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