The COVID Chronicles, Part Two

 I wasn't going to write a Part Two until somebody else tested positive...but there are some things I want to remember about these days...so here goes.

Martin COVID cases - holding steady at 2 (Colleen and Brendan)

The Highs

We're not that sick.  Very thankful for that.

The kids are all jealous that Brendan got it right away and have been trying to catch it.  It's funny to hear them saying "Come cough on me! I want Covid!" when we have been avoiding it and germs for so long.

My senses of taste and smell are coming back.  It's very weird not being able to taste.  I assumed that if it happened to me, I would just eat the most disgusting yet healthy things I could think of, but your brain doesn't let your mouth trick it.  I still wanted to eat chips and chocolate and all those things even though I couldn't taste it.  And I would taste things like "Can I taste this or am I just remembering the taste and what even is *taste*?"  I'm able to taste everything at like 60% so I still can't decipher between the flavors of my seltzer, but I'll take it. 

One of my sisters brought us over dinner last night!  Olive Garden's Gnocchi and Chicken soup with salad and breadsticks.  Perfection:

Not Covid related, but it did happen during the pandemic so it counts. 

We have a new addition to the Martin family.  

Another niece!  Introducing the beautiful Petra:

Trey Kennedy's Covid Variant video made me laugh so hard:

The Lows

Phil says it's no surprise that my extra cuddly motherloving 5 year old is the one to test positive directly after me.  He always has to sit next to me, if not on my lap, hold my hand when available and gives me so many hugs.  He is thee sweetest little boy and "physical touch" is definitely his love language.

What is surprising is that Phil hasn't gotten it yet.  We have continued to sleep in the same bed and also not sleep in the same bed if you know what I mean before I knew I had Covid.  I am the world's biggest mouth breather when I sleep so there's no chance that Phil hasn't been breathing in my germs night after night.  And yet, negative and asymptomatic!  Because he's vaccinated, he has been going to work, at a school where they all wear masks and socially distance.  But he's still around lots of people every day in an enclosed classroom.

JP is also vaccinated and asymptomatic, so he has been working at the grocery store while he's home on break, where they also wear masks and have a plexiglass divider thingie between him and the customer.  But he's still touching everybody's groceries and money.

I am also back at work, masked, because the rules were changed that say I can go back after Day 5 as long as my symptoms have improved, which they did.

Meanwhile the rest of my healthy, young, active kids are all stuck quarantining at home and can't go back until Day 13 (from Day 1 of the most recent positive test in the family) with a negative test.

Follow the science but the science doesn't make sense.

If both vaccinated (me) and unvaccinated (Brendan) people are getting Covid and spreading Covid - then why are there different rules for people based on vaccines?  If vaccines help the individual to potentially get more mild symptoms than unvaccinated people, then good for that individual!  But it doesn't affect anybody else's life if that individual is vaccinated or unvaccinated if they can still catch and spread Covid.  So there should be a set of rules for people who test positive and people who are close contacts and that's it.  OR if we're being real scientific, then there should be different sets of rules for everybody based not only on vaccinations but also the state of their health and age.  

Also, finding testing sites is literally a part-time job.  You hit refresh, refresh, refresh until you score an open appointment.  As one of my friends said, it's like the new form of gambling.  Then you get to take your kids out of remote school to sit in line forever to get tested.  

We have some at-home tests but are trying not to use them because that adds up real quick.  We are testing the kids every other day right now.  We don't want to test them so much, but since the clock resets for everyone else every time someone gets a positive, we want to find out as soon as possible when those positives happen.  Aaaagh! It feels very difficult to be told you need to get tested before you can go back to school but then you're on your own to get said test appointments.  The schools have Test and Stay programs but my kids can only participate if they were a close contact from someone at school, not from their mother at home.  For all I know, their brother could have gotten it from someone at school.  At this point who cares how you are a close contact, or from whom you got it EVERYBODY IS GETTING COVID!

Ok, enough of that.  I'm not a political person, but as soon as you're dealing with all this stuff in a big family, it gets really overwhelming really fast.  And I'm not saying that I wish I didn't have a big family.  I'm just saying things don't make sense.  We pray our family rosary for anyone currently dealing with illnesses, will you please add us to yours?  Thanks :)