By: Revanche

Living in the time of pandemic: COVID-19 (17)

September 22, 2020

If you’d like to join me in helping Lakota families and/or rural libraries this year, please read this post. Over 6 weeks in 2019, we raised $2669.94 for the Lakota families, touching 27 lives. What can we do in 2020?

Current total: Lakota, $1,797.23; Rural libraries, $321.62.

Week 27 of COVID in the Bay Area.

Week 27, Day 185: After the weekend we’d had, I didn’t have any hopes left that Monday would be better. And it was quickly confirmed 2:30 hours in with Seamus having another accident in the hallway. Poor Seamus had to pee 5 times before 8 am. We cleaned up the first mess together, then PiC took the brunt of it, getting up with him the last three times so I could get a little more sleep. It was much appreciated, though I woke up every time I heard Seamus going click click click.

I put in a call to the vet by 8:30 to let them know it had gotten exponentially worse, and luckily the lab was back already. They were able to confirm he has a wicked UTI. That could account for all of his symptoms, fingers crossed that it does, and was going to cost $300 of antibiotics but our awesome vet was able to point us to a much more economical option: $50 for the compounded version of the medication. AND they were able to get it done by midday. I simply couldn’t take another day of scrubbing beds and rugs so I implemented an outside-every-hour policy for Seamus to ensure as best I humanly could that he wouldn’t have another accident inside. Between his constant (and I mean, CONSTANT) insistence on drinking more water every 10-20 minutes, his hourly walks, and his back legs giving out on him every other half hour, on top of having a million of the usual life responsibilities, the question is: are we going to survive this day? Who. Even. Knows.

Topped that off with accidentally spraying hand sanitizer right into my eye. YEEEEP. It’s Monday.

I do have to hand it to JB though, they did an outstanding job (calibrated for a five year old of course) of adjusting to the change of plans when I noticed PiC was flagging. Instead of art time with Dad, I explained very carefully that he was just so tired from being up with Seamus most of the night and that he really needed some time to rest. I asked them to pick a book and do some quiet reading time and leave him be. Instead of stomping off and having a fit, they were willing to pick some books and have quiet time so I could get some work done, he could nap, and I could keep an eye on Seamus and his needs.

Week 27, Day 186: We planned ahead for another tough night and it helped a bit. I’m physically incapable of taking anything like a reasonable nap and functioning after, PiC took the night shift since he can nap during the day if we can find the time. I planned to cover the day shift but he insisted on doing at least half the walks.

We caught a good air quality day and that made an enormous difference for everyone’s state of mind, if not for our level of fatigue.

*looks around* It’s mid-September.

MID-SEPTEMBER.

That’s three months and two weeks left in 2020. I don’t know how to process this information. We’ve essentially spent 6 month indoors.

JB is a very different kid from when we started this mid March: they can ride a 2 wheel bike, they are a much more confident artist and writer, they operate much more autonomously for random chunks of time. They can do a regular rotation of chores, though they still have to be prompted.

As adults, we still don’t have enough information to make more than the most cautious decisions about COVID. We can’t trust any information out of the CDC or from the federal government. We can only make our best judgments based on what seems sensible. We’re being super cautious about exposure to other people, and who we can trust to be honest, because whoever they are around recently translates into people we’re exposed to as well.

This isn’t where I thought we’d be at this point in the year, if I think back to March, but I suspected we’d be in this for a very long haul.

Week 27, Day 187: Day four? of round the clock care for Seamus. Thankfully he started going longer between outings starting at around 1 am. He could hold out for 3-5 hours at a time before needing to go out, which is vastly better than the 1-2.5 hours range we previously had. He wasn’t perky but he was actively communicating more clearly, asking for water or to go out as needed, rather than getting up 3 times an hour and wandering aimlessly.

JB and I spent the afternoon together companionably while I worked. I’d bribed them with the offer of reading some of my cherished and off limits comics. They’ve never been allowed to touch my comics before so their silence was easily purchased. They delved deep, going from Mouse Guard to Secret Coders to Gail Simone’s Wonder Woman and The All New Atom. Some bits they read, most bits they just admired the artwork. We took a break and went for a long slow dog walk, happy we could breathe the air again, with the promise they could come back for more reading time.

They immediately disappeared into the office again once we got back, happily flipping through. I’ll be using this treat very sparingly since most of my comics aren’t kid friendly but I suspect they’ll be after me for expanded comics privileges soon.

Week 27, Day 188: Everyone (but me) had a good night of sleep!!

Sad for me but glad for everyone else. Lots of derailment today, sadly. Pain levels were high, JB’s kindergarten class was disrupted due to technical problems, Sera stole Seamus’s pain medications because they were wrapped in delicious pill pockets.

My brain fog was high too, which is really great for getting work done!

I gave myself a couple short breaks to clear out some parts of my office which was also mentally and emotionally cleansing. I packed up a big bag for donations, having decided that it was no longer worth my time trying to take good photos of clothes to sell on Poshmark. I just have standard basic reasonably decent stuff but I haven’t worn these professional clothes in eight years. Seems like it’s ok to let them go now.

Week 27, Day 189: It’s always a relief to get to Friday, even if we’re all battered, intact.

Another disrupted day between managing JB’s kindergarten lessons which were again interrupted by technical difficulty and then having furniture delivered. It went relatively well and we were excited to finally have enough space in the bed except… The sheets I’d bought were too small. Bummer. The product description said we had an extra two inches of depth but they weren’t long enough to stretch over the mattress. We had to let the lovely large bed sit for another night while we picked up new sheets.

Ah well. I took solace in the fact that my outlined schedule for shifting furniture around the house in preparation for the large bed to be set up worked very smoothly and we had plenty of time for each step without stressing or rushing or a single late night. Go me! This was quite the splurge upgrade but I think we’re going to appreciate it for years to come just like we did for over twelve years after we changed from the old double bed to the queen. Lifestyle inflation? Maybe. But my body needs the better mattress, the space to stretch out, and bonus, when I stub my toe on this bed it doesn’t hurt half as much.

Also our now extra bed will go on to a second life at a friend’s house so that makes me happy.

Given all the disruption, I was grateful to be able to buckle down to work in the afternoon and get enough done to mostly not look back over the weekend on my own account. I knew I’d have to work some because a staff person needed coverage but that’s a favor I’ll do for them.

:: Are you happy with your bed size? How did you pick it?

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