Well it finally happened.
And not that there is ever a good time to get sick, but it happened at a really bad time.
Mark was feeling a little off a couple weeks ago, but I honestly just thought he was tired and it was catching up to him. My parents were coming into town the next day and we were all so excited. Lydia had a neurology appointment down in Denver and so her and I went to that and then we went and picked up my parents from the airport.
We walked into the house and the kiddos were THRILLED. I walked upstairs and Mark was resting in our bedroom and he told me that he took a COVID test and it was positive. We immediately put on masks and I made the uncomfortable trek downstairs to tell me parents.
I felt so bad. I felt so bad that we had exposed them to COVID. I felt so bad for the kids (and me too!) because I knew our planned time with my parents was not going to happen. It was the worst.
By that evening, Sarah, Lydia, and I both had fevers and were showing symptoms.
The next morning, my parents went back home.
The next several days were a blur. Mark and I had fevers for four days. Mark mostly just felt weak and achy. I had weak and achy symptoms, along with a sore throat and a heavy chest. Sarah had a fever for two days with aches and a sore throat. We thought for awhile that the boys might skip it – and for the most part, they did. Ben got a fever that lasted a little over a day and had a headache. Jacob never did get a fever and only had a sore throat one night.
Lydia was the one that got hit the hardest. We had tried so hard the last three years to keep COVID away from our family. Lydia had a fever for five days – at times getting to scary 103* temperatures. We knew she wasn’t feeling well and was probably experiencing the same symptoms the rest of us were having. Luckily, it didn’t seem to go too much into her chest (such a tender mercy), based on her behavior.
Mark held her all night on her worst night – and with RSV and double ear infections this last winter – we are becoming masters of home care. There is no way we could stay home with these things if she didn’t have her G-tube. Honestly. We can keep her on fluids and give her medication and it is such a blessing.
I am so grateful for all of the love and support we were given. I don’t know how it spread so quickly, but people in our ward were so very kind. We were given meals and people kept checking in on us. We are so grateful for the friendships we have made. People are wonderful.
The worst part of this was my parents did end up getting COVID as well. They are doing okay but we have felt very bad about passing it along. We are grateful it happened now when strains seem to be less severe and not three years ago when it was so scary. We are all a-okay now and happy to have it behind us!
