I was more irritated than concerned when the school nurse called earlier this year. Every time Connor coughs too loudly within earshot of particular people, especially in this era of COVID, he gets sent home sick… and has to have a doctor’s note to return.
My third-grader with allergies got sent home from school because of a cough and runny nose.
I understand the need for precautions, but it doesn’t make the experience any less annoying. This time, I decided to be extra thorough. Not only did I take him to Urgent Care to get evaluated, but I also requested the molecular (PCR) COVID test required by the Health Department for him to return to school. Even though they diagnosed him with an ear infection, so he had an alternative diagnosis. Even though he tested negative with the rapid test. Just to cover all bases.
Our path down the COVID flowchart took an unexpected turn when the PCR test came back positive.
Thankfully, our COVID quarantine wasn’t nearly as disruptive as it could have been… to our family, anyway. Over half of Connor’s class also had to isolate for a week, plus all the friends he plays with on recess, so that affected a dozen or so other families.
Connor was quarantined for a total of ten days from the onset of symptoms. His Dad and I were to isolate for another week beyond that, since Connor could technically still pass the virus on to us on his tenth day out from symptom onset.
(We both tested negative. Also, that nasal swab is atrocious.)
Connor and his quarantined classmates switched back to remote learning for the week, and one of Connor’s friends brought him his math book from school.
Nothing really changed for me, since I’ve been working from home during the pandemic. I didn’t get to go to Krav Maga class, and we didn’t go out for lunch as a family for a couple of weekends, but life for me was pretty much as it had been, outside of supervising Connor’s remote learning.
My husband, however, got an enforced COVID Vacation.
He’s considered an essential worker, so it’s been Life As Usual for him during the pandemic… apart from Connor and me being underfoot during the day, anyway. Thankfully, his employer has a contingency plan for COVID compensation, and the paperwork went through without a hitch, amazingly enough.
We also had to look into grocery delivery options. As it turns out, our supermarket of choice now offers a grocery delivery service for a nominal $10 fee (plus a tip for your shopper, if you so choose). Definitely worth the money for the couple of full-on grocery shopping trips we needed during quarantine.
In the midst of all this, our geriatric cat got sick.
Mei couldn’t keep any food down, and anything she had managed to eat went right through her. After a (patently unnecessary) night-time trip to the emergency vet, a visit to her regular vet, x-rays, bloodwork, prescriptions, etc., we spent over $1,000 on our cat’s GI issues.
Including $30 on prescription cat food.
(Thankfully, she liked it. It would be just our luck that we’d spend thirty bucks on special food that she’d end up hating.)
We’re still not sure what she got into, but at least she’s feeling better now.
If we were going to have COVID in our home, I’m grateful that we got to experience the mild end of the spectrum. No one was hospitalized, Connor didn’t even spike a fever, and we weren’t out any income during quarantine.
Even so, it’s a relief to see the light at the end of this pandemic tunnel.