Continued from “Insulation Installation and more…“
Summer 2021 ended but October 2021 got scary.
In Novelty, Ohio.
September 29, 2021 – We had to get to Cleveland and help my mother who was coming out of the hospital. She is doing fine now. She is a tough cookie. Back to the story. Derek and I decided to take the trailer with us at the last minute. He had just put the insulation in June, but he thought maybe if we brought the trailer we could work on upgrading it a little more in the driveway at my mom’s house while there.
This is when it got scary.
October 7, 2021 – I started to cough just a little bit. My Mom was coughing but she had dealt with oxygen tubes in the hospital and then oxygen at home. So you are bound to cough, right? But that’s what we all thought.
On a call with a client, they told me that I should take a COVID test because they noticed I was coughing during the meeting. I even said, “Oh no, my mom picked up a cold in the hospital and I think I got the cold she got.” But then I thought, What am I thinking? I really need to check this out. Drove to CVS and bought four COVID tests from two different companies. I took three tests in the car. All positive, immediately. Then I took the PCR test, you know the test happens when the CVS worker comes out to your car in a hazmat suit and swabs your nose and walks away and says we’ll email you the results. That was positive as well. So I got COVID! It was the Delta variant. When I got home, I ran out to the backyard at my mom’s house and just screamed “AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHH!” with a nice potpourri of swear words as a teared up.
Derek tested my Mom and she was positive too. We think she got it from the hospital. Ugg. When Derek tested and he was negative! Thank God!! We couldn’t believe it!
Sequestering myself in my childhood bedroom and my mom staying downstairs in her bedroom, we buckled down for the worst. I remember coming downstairs and checking in on her by just staring at her. I startled her. We would meet in the living room during the evening and watch tv and talk. Poor Derek had to stay in the trailer, in the driveway. Derek bought one of those small Smokey Joe’s Weber Grills and grilled pork chops, steaks, and chicken for our dinners. He also made these great, arugula salads with lemon juice, olive oil, and parmesan shreds. My Mom and I could NOT smell or taste anything. But I know those salads brought us back to the living. Derek would leave the plated dinners on the porch and yell “Dinner is served!”, then he would quickly back away from the front door and I would come out to pick them up. It was so weird to do that. We laughed every time.
As I sat with my Mom reminiscing about my Dad and family, I thought I was so lucky to be here helping my Mom out or just being there with her sick together. It made it less scary in a way. It would have driven me crazy to be in Chicago while my Mom was dealing with Covid. We were also lucky that we brought the trailer for Derek to escape to.
It became a family thing.
October 8, 2021 – We find out my brother also got Covid the day after us. We hunkered down for the fever part of the sickness to happen. My temperature didn’t go above 99.7º. It only lasted two days with a mild fever, coughing, and headaches. But my Mom and I were both exhausted. I would call my brother and then tell my Mom how he was doing. He had to live in his pole barn for two weeks. He even ordered a bed on Amazon so he could have better sleeping conditions.
After 14 days we tested negative and we were released from confinement. Derek still didn’t get Covid and we all thought that was so unbelievable. We decided to stay another week because my mother was celebrating her 80th birthday on October 22. We wanted to celebrate with Wayne, Gigi, and Forest. So we had a cookout and sat by the firepit my brother built in a day. It was great to have an outdoor area to meet for an evening fire.
It turned out that so many good memories were made out of this bad situation. We went back home on October 26.
Talk about an adventure. We were almost gone a whole month.
