Avery was a week behind Emerson and Harper in receiving her COVID Vaccines. Ironically, the day that Avery was fully vaccinated (two weeks post her second shot), we were all exposed! Within days, Justin, Emerson, Harper and myself tested positive. Avery was the only one that was spared. We only tested with the at-home antigen tests and never did the PCR tests as not only was finding those appointments difficult, but also we didn’t feel we would do anything differently based on the results of those tests, which we anticipated would be positive.
Fortunately, besides Justin’s asthma and breathing (which were not great for a few days), our symptoms were pretty mild, mostly just a cough. Here is how it affected each of us.
- Justin: cough, hard time breathing, doubled up on his regular inhaler dosage, for 3 days pretty much sat on couch upstairs and watched TV as his breathing and heartrate would increase every time he stood up. He enjoyed the delicious meals that I was cooking from the comfort of the couch.
- Stefanie – hoarse voice for first two days and then a little cough, slightly tired a few hours during the course of the 10 days and took 2 naps. But overall, energy was high, even ran on treadmill one day, while walking on the treadmill other days. Spent days 3-5 cooking new recipes nonstop (beefstew, homemade crusty bread, pasta with ricotta pesto, and New York Strip Steak.
- Harper – persistent cough off and on for almost the full 10 days, other than that pretty normal. Was extremely upset upon hearing the news she tested positive and thought it would be a good idea to tell her classmates that she went to Sweden as the reason for her school absence!
- Emerson – cough a few days, lower energy a few days, other than that pretty normal
- Avery – complained of a headache, similar to her somewhat daily complaints so wasn’t sure initially if it was a COVID symptom or not. Being that she tested negative twice at various stages of the 8 days we isolated (5 days was the current CDC guidance with wearing a mask while going out on Days 6-10), we felt pretty she was the only one in the family who somehow escaped COVID.
The kids are finally able to return to in-person school tomorrow, though tomorrow is a holiday and it is snowing out currently, so virtual school is more likely this week than in-person. If that is the case, that means this will be the 5th week in a row of the girls being home with Justin and me. I have been assigning workbooks like crazy roughly 5 out of the 7 days a week and not only do I assign, but I review, require understanding and correction, which is feeling very reminiscent of our early days of COVID.
All in all, I am glad our symptoms were mild. I’m glad we were all vaccinated and boosted as I firmly believe our symptoms were mild because of such.