Our unwelcome turn of events

This past week did not end up at all as I had planned.  But first I'll start with the things that did go as planned.  

When we got home last Monday from our trip to Jeremy and Mike's in Portland I had a LIST of all the stuff I had to get done before Sunday.  Some of it was regular weekly stuff, some of it was catch-up, some of it was exciting.  

Destiny and Elizer came over after we were home and we went grocery shopping together, which we love to do.  We always have fun. Elizer is always so cute and funny.

On Tuesday I took a long time to update this blog and to work on the music choices and bulletin for Sunday's worship service.  

That day, after several unsuccessful attempts at buying a stackable washer and dryer from FB Marketplace (in Elizabethtown and Hershey, which was a scam!) Destiny found a set EIGHT MINUTES from their house for almost half the price of the others.  After work Dick met Alex and Destiny to pick it up.  I went to Sam's Club to pick up a rotisserie chicken and a salad and met them at the house.  

I took Elizer for a walk while they unloaded the appliances.  We walked on the trail behind their community to the playground equipment at the neighboring community.  Those sliding boards were slippery metal and he loved them.  

It turned out that the cord on the dryer had the wrong end for their receptacle, so the dryer sat on their kitchen table till the next evening.  

On Wednesday I cooked for Lori and Anthony and picked up Austin from school.  I love conversations with him on our ten-minute drive and I love seeing the progression of Spring as I go up their private road.  

Back home again I took a picture of these late blooming tulips along our side walkway.  

Dick and I went over to Destiny and Alex's place after dinner.  Dick had gotten the right cord for the dryer off their non-stackable dryer in the storage unit (which they are trying to sell).  While he was working on that I had fun outside.  The neighbor has a fun blow-up that Elizer was loving.  She also has two little girls.

After Dick got the right cord on the dryer, he, Alex and Destiny lifted it up there on top of the washer.    There had been bi-fold doors in front, but they had to be removed.  She'll probably hang a curtain.  She was eager to start her first load of laundry, but as we watched it we didn't see or hear any water.  She suddenly realized that they had not turned the water knobs behind the washer!!  Waahhh!   Thankfully Alex was skinny enough to wedge himself in there and turn them on! 

On Thursday morning I woke up before my alarm with a bit of a sore throat.  This happens from time to time and I always start my regimen of Zicam Rapid Melts and Ricola honey and lemon lozenges with echinacea.  

I had my six-week appointment for a finger prick (because I'm on warfarin) and I mentioned my sore throat at both the check-in and the lab.  No one seemed concerned.  I felt confident it would be gone by the next day as has always been the case in the past four years since I've had a cold.  

I had several exciting things going on!!  Weeks before I had scheduled our first choir practice for that evening!!  That afternoon I worked on choosing which easier songs we would work on.  We were going to be singing on Sunday morning and all of my altos would be missing for one reason or another.

The other big thing was the States competition in Florida.  Sophie had been so sick since Regionals the week before, and we had been praying so much for her.  They made the decision to not let her run the 400 which is always scheduled between the 100 and the 200.  That would give her more time between events.  

I got a message from Jenn that Sammy would be in his first concert that evening, playing his xylophone.  I so desperately wished I could be three places at once!!  I still didn't know how I was going to watch Sophie and run a choir practice at the same time!!

As it turned out her 100 was right before choir practice started at 7:00, so I ignored the chatter and watched it on my phone.  She came in fourth, which is unusual for her, but the competition is so stiff at this level, and her time was actually better than at regionals where she came in first!

George took this video and shared it with us.

Here she is on the stand.  So proud of her!

Her 200 was right after our choir practice was over, so we got to watch that too on my phone. She came in fifth, but again with a better time than at regionals.  Bless that dear girl!  She needed to go home and get well after all that! 

Meanwhile at choir practice we had a GREAT time!!  I wore a mask and told them that I had been using all my remedies for a sore throat and that I was sure it would be gone by morning.  It was so fun to bring out those choir notebooks which had not been opened since March 2020!!!  I handed out the easier songs I had picked and we went through all of them.  We chose "You Are Holy" which was made popular by Michael W. Smith about 15 years ago.  

After practice we went over to Destiny and Alex's place to give her the prescription I had picked up for her while she was at work.  We went in and were chatting.  I mentioned my sore throat.  She said, "Do you want to try one of the free COVID tests that I got?"  I decided to try it, feeling confident it would be negative.  She got it out, carefully read the instructions, and we did the test.  She told me to set my phone for 20 minutes according to the instructions.  About two minutes later she looked at the strip and yelled, "GRANDMAAAAA!!!  YOU ARE POSITIVE!!!"   I said, "You are kidding!"  

We left soon afterward and I tried to process all this implied.  I had just been with the choir, which this time included Pastor Lynn who is still being treated for cancer.  She also wore a mask, thankfully.  And of course Dick's diabetes makes him more vulnerable, so there was that concern.  Destiny texted her boss and he told her to not come to work the next day.  UGH!!!  All because of me!!  I felt horrible!!  I knew I probably contracted it on our trip home Monday.  It was such a long day of travel with the seven-hour layover in Detroit, and we couldn't wear masks all the time.  We had to eat and drink.  We had hung a long time when we ate that wonderful breakfast at the airport. And how did I get it and not Dick?  We were together all the time!  

I slept in the guest room that night and was sad to wake up with a sore throat again.  Dick and I each took a home-test.  Mine was again positive, his was negative.  His boss told him he could come to work.    Destiny did a home test too and was negative, but her boss said she had to go to a test site to get another one.  

I got busy informing all the necessary people.   First Anthony and Lori, for whom I would ordinarily be cooking on a Friday and also picking up Austin from school.  Also Pastor Lynn and the choir and the lady who subs for me at the piano.  Our plans for the choir to sing were scrapped. And for the third Sunday in a row I would not be at church.  I felt horrible, horrible, horrible.  

I called my primary physician.  She wanted me to get a monoclonal antibody infusion, for which the first available appointment was Monday in Bloomsburg, which is an hour-and-a-half from here!  When I was on the phone making the appointment, the person asked me if my doctor wanted this because I have a pre-existing condition.  I said, "I don't know.  I guess because I'm 70?  Or because I have A-fib sometimes and am on a blood thinner?"  She said, "OK."  Actually, maybe because she's well acquainted with Dick's diabetes.  

Anyway, after all that was squared away I found myself with time to relax.  I took a long bubblebath in our jetted tub. 

I continued my regimen of Zicam and lozenges and lots of hot tea, added more vitamin D, Emergen-C, an expectorant.  I was very thankful that I am vaccinated, but I admit I was terrified of potential chest congestion because of my brother's death in October. 

Dick went over to Anthony's after work to fix a mower blade and then did some mowing, so that was a good way for us to distance ourselves.  I put a mask on when he came home. 

I went to bed with a fever that night, still a sore throat and a headache. 

On Saturday Dick went over to Anthony's almost the whole day.  It's turkey season, so he spent a lot of time in his beloved hunting shack, which he calls his slice of heaven.  Later he finished his mowing there. 

  

I caught up on our banking and bookwork, enjoyed sitting on the side porch, and caught up on This Is Us while I folded our laundry.

I was feeling better when I took this picture in the afternoon.

But by evening I was coughing more, had a fever again, and felt burning in my chest.  And I did not feel great at all when I woke up Sunday morning.  I looked up ways to relieve chest congestion and one of them was putting a towel over your head while you breathe steam.  I had been purposefully breathing steam each time I drank my tea, but not with a towel over my head.  So I did that several times on Sunday.  

After watching our church service online, I took a long, hot shower and did my hair and put on makeup and got dressed, hoping that would make me feel better.  And I kept doing all the remedies.  About mid afternoon, while Dick was out in his shed doing some organizing, I decided to go for a walk around the house to look at our flower beds.  I had not been behind the house in weeks because of our trip.  

I found this big gorgeous hosta and some interesting tulips. 

I also found very overgrown everything.  The cool rainy weather in April, followed by our trip, followed by a busy week of catching up meant that all the flower beds were out of control.  Ugh!!!  I couldn't help myself.  I really was feeling better, so I got a clipper and got rid of all the half-dead tulip and daffodil stalks in the front flower beds.  It felt good to be in the sun.  

Actually it was one of those days of sun, rain, sun, rain.  For a long time afterward we sat on the front porch watching and listening to the rain.  It was so nice.

Later we went to fill up the gas tank in my van.  Dick drove and I sat in the very back seat with my mask on.  I told him I felt like a prisoner being transported, hahaha!

As we approached the Weis Markets gas station he kept exclaiming about the amazing rainbow ahead.  But I couldn't see it from the back seat!  As he pulled up to the pump he said the rainbow was right behind us, so he opened the hatch so I could see it and get a picture.  It was so vivid!

He got a few groceries then we stopped by Destiny and Alex's place.  They had just gotten home from running an errand.  We did not get out of the van, but had a fun little conversation with them.  How I wanted to kiss that sweet face!!!!  He looks bigger every time I see him!!

I went to bed last night and woke up this morning feeling SO MUCH BETTER!!!  I do not have a sore throat or a headache or a much of a cough or a fever and hardly even a runny nose!    I did another towel-over-my-head steam "bath" this morning just because it feels so good.  I think it must be a really good remedy.  I really think going for the infusion today is unnecessary.  But it's scheduled and Dick is taking off work this afternoon to take me and he really pushed for me to get it, so I will.  I'll be sitting in the back seat with my mask on being transported to Bloomsburg, lol!

And now Destiny just texted me that she finally got her results from her test on Friday and they are negative.  She missed three days of work because of me and I hate it.  She will definitely get paid for Friday, but still waiting to hear from corporate if they'll pay her for the other days.  I pray they do since they are the ones that told her not to come in until she got the results. 

So tomorrow morning it will be five days since the start of symptoms, which the doctor had told me was the length of quarantine.  I will be ready to break free, woohoo!!