Our experience with COVID

It's been a while since I have written a public entry...I have been doing a lot of internal reflecting and journaling, there are tons of writings in my drafts that I may publish or may not.

Anyway, a pandemic update:

Fall 2021..18 months after the first lockdown, and with 2 vaccine shots for the adults, it seemed like things were finally going back to the way they used to be. 

Chinami finally got the day full of fun and food with her friends for her birthday in July, and in August school and Japanese school was all back in session full-time for both her and little brother. 

We even had a small end-of-summer/Obon BBQ a couple weeks in, just with some friends from Chinami's class and their families. We enjoyed food, drinks, and bon odori outside on a Friday night. 

That Monday, we learned that one of her classmates had tested positive for COVID and had been out of school since Thursday. Her whole class was put on quarantine and Zoom links were sent out for Tuesday and beyond. 

What about siblings from the same household? If they are a contact of a close contact, aka in contact with someone who may have been in contact with a confirmed COVID case, they do not have to quarantine. Two degrees of separation. So little brother was cleared to keep going to Kindergarten. 

Until Wednesday night when Chinami came down with a fever and complained that her head hurt, her joints hurt, her stomach hurt....We ordered a test the next morning for Friday. On Saturday we got the results--positive. By this time both Yasushi and I had some symptoms ourselves as well--I was experiencing fatigue, weakness and body aches and Yasushi had a fever, chills and body aches. Kyle was in quarantine with the rest of us and his entire class as well until we could get test results for him. A few days later, on Tuesday, he tested negative so his whole class was able to return to school. 

And then on Friday, Kyle ran a fever and complained of body aches as well. We got him a second test right away on that Saturday, and he spent the weekend resting. Chinami and I had almost fully recovered by then and Yasushi still had some lingering aches and loss of taste/smell. 

All in all, we spent about 3-4 weeks quarantining as a family. 

At first I was crushed by the idea of having to go into quarantine after finally being able to enjoy social activities after a long 18 months of the pandemic.

However, I reflected on these feelings and realized that we could get through it because we have had those 18 months and two lockdowns. I knew what we needed to do to get through the isolation. And this time, we had our whole family together. 

We made a daily schedule, rested when we needed to, and took some time to clean and tidy in the home as well. After we all started to feel better, we did go out to quiet, isolated beaches to enjoy the sun and nature. 

So we did get through our quarantine and even enjoyed it. How lucky we are to have been able to do it as a family, and neither of the parents had to worry about the time taken off work, because I work at home almost completely now, and my husband is home on disability/workers compensation. 

And after we were all cleared, we had a belated birthday dinner at one of my favorite buffets, and I ate so much I looked pregnant! 

While this wasn't the best experience, I'm grateful to have had it because it taught us so much. Even though we had mild cases (thanks to being healthy, and being vaccinated) I could still feel that this was NOT just a cold or flu. The flu has knocked me off my feet before, but this felt bad in a different way from the flu. When I had COVID, my chest felt tight, and like there was something heavy on it. I felt weirdly fatigued and weak. So weak that at one point lifting a mattress, something I do on an almost daily basis, was impossible. The mattress did not move an inch, no matter how much I tried. My husband lost his sense of taste and smell. He says a mild onset of COVID felt similar physically to having severe pneumonia. 

Because of our personal experience as well as the experience of close friends with COVID(Delta variant) I know how important it is to be vaccinated. And how important it is to be going outside, getting exercise, eating healthy food, and taking care of your mind and body. Neither one is more important or effective than the other, in my opinion. So yes, get the vitamin D, drink lots of water and exercise daily...but also get vaccinated. It would have been a very different story I write today if we were not vaccinated.