When Covid Calls

Do you have any idea how much time you'll spend on the phone when a family member has covid? I had no idea. 

Monday:

Talked to my pediatrician 5 times. 3 times to inquire about results and wait on hold to be told they'll call me when they have the results, once to be told Zara has covid and go over symptoms and the quarantine timeline and once to confirm I could bring Zara in the following day to be retested.

Talked to day care twice. The first time the infant teacher just called to check on Violet's rash not knowing anything about Zara. I told her both girls were doing well and we were waiting on Zara's covid results. The second time was after we received the results and the director and I went through the time line of symptoms and when the girls were last in care and who they would have been exposed to in the building and at home.

Talked to my boss. Dropped the bomb that Zara had covid and I would not be back to work this week as previously assumed. I hadn't been to our corporate office since the previous Monday but I did do a site visit last Thursday before Zara's rash presented. Had to sit down and go through my life the prior two weeks and come up with a list of everyone I could have come in contact with at work during that time frame so they could be notified of a possible exposure.

Tuesday:

Texted close family and friends. Talked to my mom at length. Talked to my dad at length. 

Talked to the pediatrician's office again. They wanted to make sure there were no new symptoms in the last 24 hours and reiterate that Zara had to stay in quarantine until 8/16.

Talked to the Director of day care. The Health Department asked her to have both girls re-tested so she called to see if that was possible. I called the ped's office and waited on hold for 10 minutes while the nurse tracked down the doctor. She said they could both come in for an exam and to be retested. 

Wednesday:

Received my first call from the Warren County Health Department. Learned Alex and I had to stay in quarantine until 8/29. Asked about exposure. She said most people contract covid 4-5 days before symptoms present but could get it as far as 14 days prior to showing symptoms, which is why Alex and I had to stay in quarantine for so long after Zara's "contagious" period. Went back through my calendar and realized I came in contact with the refrigerator delivery guy and the lady from Budget Blinds in the "exposure" time frame at our new house. Notified the Construction Manager of our neighborhood so he could pass along the information.

Talked to my mom. She was at our house two weekends prior. Told her there was a very minimal chance Zara had it at the time due to the exposure time frame. Talked to my boss. Decided to wait and see how the girls tested on their retests before making any decisions about work.

Went to the doctor and had both girls examined and re-tested. Only one parent is allowed to come to appointments now due to restrictions because of covid. Imagine holding one screaming child while the other screams in her car seat. Which child do you choose to hold? At least I had some cheerios to try to distract from the discomfort of having a swab shoved up their little noses. The doctor said a negative result on the retests wouldn't change our quarantine period and wouldn't prove a false positive. Called the current and new day cares to relay this information and ask about return/start dates. Was met with "I'll have to check" from both of them.

Thursday:

Walked to Warren County again. They called to monitor Violet's symptoms due to exposure. I agreed to receive a text message every day around 4:30 with a link to click on and enter Violet's temperature from the morning and evening and check mark any new symptoms that may arise during the day. The woman confirmed our address. It was the old address. I told her we recently moved but the girls were still going to day care in Warren County. She updated our address and said we'd be hearing from Butler County.

Called Alex and my primary care doctor's office. One of the nurses from one of the prior phone calls suggested Alex and I check with our primary care to see if we should get tested. The nurse put me on hold while she talked to our doctor and came back on the line to say he wanted to have an evisit with us before determining whether we should get tested. Set up the evisits for 11 and 11:30 the next day.

Heard back from both day care directors. The girls could not return/start care during our quarantine period. Sent the communication to my boss/HR. Knew in that moment that I was going to have to go on leave. Called my boss and discussed specifics. 

Friday:

Had our evisits with our primary care doctor. Determined we should both get tested even though we had no symptoms. Decided to go later in the afternoon to do that. We took the girls and went into the facility one at a time to get swabbed.

Talked to my boss about the list of stuff that would need done in my absence. Worked for a couple hours while the girls napped to try to wrap up lose ends. 

Video chatted with my parents so they could see their grandbabies and confirm they are in fact still smiling and jabbering and carrying on like toddlers do.

Received a call from the Butler County Health Department regarding Alex and I's exposure to covid. Went through the quarantine timeline again and discussed symptoms. Agreed to receive and respond to  daily text messages from them regarding Alex and I's health until 8/29.

Saturday:

Received a call from the pediatrician's office this morning. Both girls re-tests came back negative. Even though these results change nothing it makes me feel better to know the virus is no longer detected in either of them. 

I don't imagine we will have our test results from Friday back until Monday or Tuesday of next week. 

Hopefully we're done with all the phone calls from the various health departments and doctor's offices for awhile and we can just fill out the symptoms check list daily for Violet, Alex and me and in a few weeks life will go back to "normal".