12/27/2019

I’m here on Christmas holiday, taking care of 2 sick people. We traveled far from home to my wife’s dad’s area of the country. My wife had started out with a head cold, and was merely blah for the first few days. She was given a supplement that made her feel pretty good for about… oh… 1 day. Then came the real sickness. Someone in the family contracted a severe stomach virus, I assume. Soon, family members started falling left and right to this plague. My wife and daughter started in with the vomiting at about 5:15 this morning. I was lucky enough not to succumb to the pandemic of 2019, so I had to be the caretaker of these 2 sick puppies for the rest of the day, at least. It actually wasn’t so bad since we are on a no-pressure vacation. We are also staying at a place that’s so isolated that there is no cell or internet service out here. At least we have electricity and running water. (And hot water!) We are close enough to family that it only takes 15 minutes to get to someone’s house if needed, and close enough to a country store to get essentials on a day where we really don’t have anything important to do besides visiting. Visiting was not in the cards, though.

It started out in a cousin’s house down the road a bit. My wife walked into their house, but left as soon as she found out that she shouldn’t be in contact with them. I think we skirted destiny at that time. That was 5 days ago. By this morning, 3 of his brother’s family were sick, and 2 of my wife’s direct family members were sick, and my wife and daughter to boot. We’ve had get-togethers every night since we’ve been here, but last night seems to be the start of the actual pandemic. So we quarantined ourselves to our cabin, and I was here to help my ailing family.

I’m glad I was able to to help them. After the initial skirmish, I thought I might be having the same reaction, as well. After taking care of the situation, I had to remove myself to another room where I was able to settle down enough to realize that I was in the clear. I’m so glad that I was able to get back to sleep before the sun came up.

I spent the rest of the day cleaning up their puke, and trying to make sure my 7 year-old got her head all the way into the garbage can next to her bed so I would have less to clean. My wife was a true sport in being able to get to the bathroom every time she had an incident. I’m so grateful for indoor plumbing out here. If I wasn’t tending to one person, I was tending to the other. Or washing my hands for the nth time.

Everything finally settled down about 2pm. I was finally able to leave them together watching TV while I went to go run some errands. This was the only “me time” I had for the day, besides for writing this blog post later at night. I was surprised and delighted to find a Taco Bell at the same place where I got gas, so I was able to eat something besides soup and microwaved corn dogs.

(As I’m writing this, there is so much noise outside right now… If we were home I’d think there was a party going on in the neighborhood behind our house. But since we’re way out here in the woods, it’s probably a whole lot of coyotes in different areas of the forest. I’m just glad we have walls and doors, and that our dogs aren’t here with us.)

In all, I’m really happy that I’m able to spend an almost unlimited amount of time to take care of my family. They mean the world to me. I sure hope that they’ll be better tomorrow and that we’ll be able to go over to Dolly’s and eat some real food, and that Dolly is over it as well. I hope I’m not next on the list. And if I am, I hope I’ll benefit from today’s dedication to nursing.

Tomorrow will be another adventure.