My stay in Mississippi was short-lived. I was there about a week, but I was mostly looking after the dogs while my wife and kid visited with family. My mom was at a point in her recovery where the doctors thought she would need to see familiar faces so that there weren’t only strange people around her during her entire stay at the hospital. My dad was already visiting her every day, but my sister could only be there a couple days a week because she lives too far away to go every day. This made the decision easy for me to come home early. We decided it would be best for me to drive home with the dogs, while my partner and child would remain for the duration of the planned trip. So that’s what I did. I drove for 4 days to get home.

We originally thought that my mom had hit her head when she fell in the bathroom. But as it turned out, she had a virus that affected her brain, which probably made her fall. The first time she went to the ER, the doctor sent her home. A day or two later, she wasn’t responding to any questions, like she didn’t know what to do. And she hadn’t been eating anything. On the next trip to the ER, they finally kept her there. It was touch and go there for a while. This virus could have killed her. She recovered from that and eventually started responding again, but not in a normal manner. She’s been moved to a rehab facility, where we expect she’ll spend the next few weeks straightening out her brain pathways and doing much physical therapy since she’s been in a bed the past 3 weeks. I haven’t gone to see her since she was moved, because my family came home and we suspect they have covid-19.

It’s always something with this family. We were so careful while we’re at home and around town. But leaving California, we found that most people in other places don’t mask up. All our family in Mississippi had been vaccinated, except for the little ones, of course. I think we know who patient 0 is in the family, but it’s unknown where she might have gotten it. We’re not 100% sure that it’s covid, but my wife has lost her senses of smell and taste, so we’re pretty sure. We went and got them a real test today, not one of those 15 minute tests, so we’ll know in a couple days. Either way, they’re both on the backside of whatever sickness they’ve had. And in the meantime, we’re wearing masks around the house. And I can’t visit my mom until I know for sure that it’s not floating around here. The wife and I are both vaccinated, so there’s a very low chance that I would end up in the hospital myself, but I still don’t want it if I can avoid it. And I don’t want to visit my mom if there is a chance that I have it.