November Journal: Illness and Recovery

 Mid-November color on a cloudy afternoon. 

When one is ill, or when a family member is very ill, days and nights recede into a blur.

I keep a small calendar on my untidy desk and most days note the weather or anything that seems important to remember, thus I have a record of our experience with covid, the brief notes calling to mind the frightening time.

In my previous blog post [November 1] I noted that J. had been cutting a dead tree for firewood. He came inside from that task feeling a definite lack of energy.  By the next day he was feverish and coughing, but announced that the trunk of the tree proving to be rotten had aggravated the lung damage incurred years ago when he got into black mold on a renovating job.

He reminded me [testily] that he had for some weeks been burning brush and inhaling smoke.

True, but as his cough worsened I suggested that covid testing might be wise.

If you've ever dealt with a stubborn spouse you'll not be surprised that it took four more days of incessant coughing before I drove us both to be tested.

I had a slight sore throat, the harbinger of a mild head cold, a low grade fever at night--the sort of thing I would have treated with tea, tylenol and chicken soup.

Both of us tested positive for Covid and arranged an appointment to receive mono-clonal antibodies the following morning. 

I have been taking an assortment of vitamins and supplements for the past year, I don't have lung damage. While my symptoms did not worsen, the stress and sleeplessness of caring for a very ill husband was taking a toll.

A day by day recital isn't necessary. None of us are likely to forget the strain of the next two weeks. Finally, a trip to the ER, where I  waited in the car for nearly three hours while a friend with 'connections' saw J. through testing [diagnosis covid pneumonia] and the prescribing of antibiotics and a heavy-duty codeine cough syrup.

 

Loyal family members arrived the following day to take over J.'s care. I kept up 'custodial' duties--the daily laundering of sweat-soaked bedding, the light cleaning necessary to keep the house in some sort of order. I walked outdoors when the weather was nice, then tucked myself on the downstairs sofa with favorite old books.

Our children and their spouses appeared daily to leave fresh fruit, juice drinks, other helpful items on the front steps. The medical pros of the extended family were a keyboard away to provide advice and support.

My DIL, Dawn, chose this beautiful begonia as a love gift--a glowing place to rest my eyes during a dark time.

Howard did some errands  for J. on November 24 that necessitated starting a recalcitrant truck. J. bundled up long enough to help.

Thinner and a bit wobbly but pleased to be outside for half an hour!

Life this past week has been slowly resuming normalcy. Lingering fatigue seems to be a common complaint post covid. We are realizing we have to take things at a slower pace for now. 

We've done small errands; J. has had brief sessions of using the wood splitter. 

On Friday--a lovely warm day--I finished pruning the rose hedges on the east and west sides of the house. I have yet to summon the energy to return to my quilt projects.

We are thankful to the family and friends who have tended us, prayed for us, encouraged us through this nasty bout of sickness and its slow--but steady--recovery.

I'll probably always feel that we 'lost' a month--but there is a fresh one ahead of us!