Covid-19 (?) update

 So a totally weird thing happened!

Kevin, Isaac, Joseph, and I all had antibody testing for COVID.  And all the tests came back negative!

HUH????

Now keep in mind that of all of us, only Naomi had a positive COVID test.  The rest of us were too weary and sick to bother running off to the doctor for a COVID test in the early days. We just assumed since we had similar symptoms that we caught COVID from Naomi.

Now the boys admittedly were not very sick.  Isaac's toes got weird for a few days -- puffy and very red.  COVID toe. We thought.

Kevin and I were tired -- no, not tired, exhausted. Melt into the mattress fatigue. We had bad headaches. I had horrible body aches. I still have chilled feet off and on.

No fever or cough, and we didn't lose our sense of taste and smell.

So now we just don't know. Was it something else altogether? Was Naomi a false positive and she was sick with something else?

I really have a hard time believing that it was not COVID.  I mean, I wasn't just sick, I was WEIRD sick.  Some of the symptoms were downright crazy. The horrible pain in my back, the chilled feet!

But why would all 4 antibody tests come back negative? Did we do them too soon?

My doctor friend said ideal time is 4 to 12 weeks post symptoms and we were just beyond 4 weeks for me, at least, and Kevin was sick a little later. So yes, maybe?

I hate the uncertainty. I was happy that we had gotten COVID and were done with it. But...now I don't know.  But such is life. Life is uncertain at times.

We will continue to be careful, to wear masks, to wash hands, to isolate when possible.

Whatever it was, it was miserable and we are happy to be feeling better.

Christmas!

 When I was little, I was excited about Christmas because PRESENTS.

So I am realistic about our own younger kiddos. Of course they are excited about the PRESENTS and that is totally fine!

But, Jesus.  Jesus, King of Kings, Lord of Lords, came down from Heaven, made himself nothing, took on the form of a helpless infant.  Thank you, Lord Jesus.

Kevin graciously takes care of most of the gift purchasing and in particular, the stockings!  Aren't they marvelous?

For the first time in years, we had a white Christmas!  It was very cold and a great day to stay cozily inside.

Hmmm, not a great picture of the tree.  There were lots of packages.

The clan setting up for a rousing chorus of the 12 days of Christmas

Rose is thrilled with her plushies!

Lots of kids, lots of presents.

Naomi got a funny shirt!

Daniel got a plush cat, Steve, from Naomi in memory of the kitten we lost.

Kevin picking his way carefully through the piles of presents.

Frustrations and Thanksgiving

 I will start with the Thanksgiving. We all continue to do comparatively well. My back is better than a week ago though still not perfect.  I have a really hurting right hip which makes me naturally tend to walk strangely to favor it.  That in turn pushes everything else out of whack. BUT I am functional.

Kevin has been really tired off and on.  One day he didn't get up until noon and then went back to bed at 5 p.m. for a few more hours.

Our bodies are obviously still annoyed by the whole process of recovering from COVID but I do praise God for being in decent shape.

For a couple of weeks, I just was in survival mode. Bad headache, very very tired, occasionally other issues.  Now I am much better but I am still tired with serious back and hip aches.

So I have to balance my abilities with what needs to be done. I have a bunch of appointments to schedule for the kids (not to mention chiro appointments for me) but when I am gone from home, much less gets done here.  So then I come back and there is so much to do!

Today was like that; I took Joseph to get a filling for a tooth and then we went to the library.  We got home at 11 a.m. and the table wasn't cleared yet from breakfast.  Then Kevin and I sat down to talk and a child knocked Kevin's cup of coffee (FULL!) all over the family room floor and couch.  Fortunately said child was old enough to clean it up but it was another delay. So here it is, 12:15 p.m. and I feel like I've hardly gotten anything useful done today.

Of course I DID.  I ran a couple of errands.  That is cool. I am totally a homebody and I am "behind" here after all those week of COVID-19.

I am reading a book about a mom who had triplets and then had major complications which resulted in an emergency hysterectomy.  She was not in great shape after her babies were born, obviously.  She discusses her frustration at her own weakness.  YEP!

Ok, kids need me!

More COVID (sigh)

 It has been too long since I posted.

First, we are all fine. No one is having any horrible COVID symptoms, thankfully.  I mean, we are not necessarily happy campers but no one is having breathing problems, etc.

Kevin is mostly doing Ok though he has been more tired the last couple of days.  One of the fun things about this virus is that the symptoms come and go, apparently.  It isn't like we are just getting better every day.  

I have been dealing with significant back pain. Like, ugh!  Not all the time, but when I stand up there are muscles screaming in outrage at me.  Ouch!

I finally went to the doctor yesterday just to make sure I wasn't ignoring something important.  I wasn't.  It is just muscular pain from the virus, probably combined with me sitting around a lot.

So I am working on stretching and moving even though it is uncomfortable. My body is all out of whack right now.

But everything else is improving. I am not as tired and my headaches have diminished.  Yeah!

My feet keep being cold. That is a very odd COVID symptom -- chilled feet!

Here is something interesting -- they did a COVID test yesterday and called me within the hour to say it was negative.

There is no way this is not/was not COVID.  I have been at home for weeks, hardly venturing out at all. I live with someone who was COVID positive.  BUT it has been 18 days since I first had obvious symptoms and I read that the best time to test is within a few days of being symptomatic.  

So yeah, I guess I am over it?  Except the back pain tells me I am not. But lingering symptoms are a thing.

Nevertheless, we are OK!  I am so thankful to the Lord for that.  I prayed against major problems and the Lord answered.  I can and will whine about the back pain, but it is a minor thing in the grand scheme of things.