Covid Campers

We have all finally been caught by Covid. After a couple of days with a bad cold and generally feeling under the weather it turns out I had Covid. On Wednesday night just before bed our family’s PCR tests dropped into our inbox - four positives. Well, at least that explained why I had felt so awful on Monday and Tuesday but then not so awful to be the terrifying COVID! 

Looking back we had created the perfect storm. It all started on Friday. Husband picked us up and we drove to the house early enough to set up the tent and the campfire for the evening. Yes, Leia had a bit if a runny nose but she was so desperate to camp and really, it wasn’t that cold, this could be our last chance before spring. So we ate dinner in doors and then roasted marshmallows and made (overrated) s’mores by the campfire. It was fun. It was different. Even the skies cleared and the stars put on a spectacular show. All was good. We eventually drifted off in our cosy tent at about 11:00pm. All four of us huddled together cosily, breathing in that stale, virus infected air all night. 

The next day we all felt tired. Nothing new there, who has a proper night’s sleep in a tent? I’d even gone back to my own bed indoors at 4:00am but still felt like I’d pulled an all nighter! We were all in a lazy mood and Leia was definitely the most shattered. She’d lost her spark. She lay on the sofa that afternoon and eventually went for a sleep before dinner. So far nothing unusual. Everything had a logical explanation. The next morning Leia was fine and Amaia felt tired after lunch and also took to bed on Sunday afternoon. The rest of us felt fine. Amaia eventually went to bed without any dinner but awoke on Monday morning ready to seize the day. 

On Monday we had electricians in doing some wiring. It was noisy and very limiting to what I could do. However at lunch time they tootled off and I went for a run. Yes, I even surprised myself! But as the afternoon progressed I physically noticed how gradually a sense of unwell-ness was brewing. It was very surreal. I was fine and then I wasn’t. The girls were already being fed my mum’s chicken stock soup to boost them up and I made a quick flu soup (sweet potatoes, red onion, ginger and chilli) for Husband and I. We were snotty, congested and a bit achy. Hmmmm….

Tuesday was more of the same. I cancelled Pilates and my Piano teacher cancelled her lesson as she was feeling unwell. But by Tuesday afternoon, once the noisy electricians had left I noticed that I felt much better. I dressed. I put on makeup. I looked a picture of health! (OK, maybe a bit snotty but otherwise healthy!). Leia didn’t go to kick boxing, I didn’t want her spreading her snotty germs around her class. We headed home. The cold seemed to get worse at night and Husband and I were ready for bed at a shockingly early hour.

Wednesday… LAMDA. The LAMDA teacher wasn’t out off by our snotty family and despite my offering to cancel the lesson she replied she would come but wear a mask during the class. As a precaution I went to the pharmacy and took and Antigen test. It was all very easy. We discussed my new earrings, how I was snotty but otherwise OK. Yes, I’d look around the shops for 20 minutes and come and get my result. Well, you can imagine my shock when 20 minutes later I was told I had tested positive. This could not be COVID! And what was I suppose to do? 

After that it was all a bit strange, Husband got tested with the doctor, he was positive. He booked for us all to have PCR tests that afternoon and by bed time we knew the whole family was infected. This killer virus in our home. In my children. It felt dreadful. Unreal. And yet at the same time so much better than all my fears of COVID. It was bearable. It was manageable. In fact it was just a cold with a terrifying name. And so far we have been so very, very, very LUCKY. I keep pinching myself. I keep scaring myself with how it could have been. 

The doctor gave a medication that seems to be working. No more aches but the runny nose and general congestion continues. And sneezing. None of which are typical COVID symptoms. We came to the house yesterday afternoon. Friends delivered food supplies. We have space, fresh air and sunshine. It is, dare I say, pleasant! I have the energy to go about my everyday chores - someone has to keep feeding, washing, tidying, ironing etc regardless of COVID! Husband is merely working from home and the girls are pretty much asymptomatic so this is a holiday for them.

It is weird to have finally caught what we have spent so long avoiding! To have my experience of COVID as oppose to news reports, statistics and horror stories. Maybe we are the exception. Maybe we aren’t. But after twenty months of running from COVID, it finally got hold of us. And for now, I am well enough to tell the tale and count every single one of my blessings, Husband’s blessings, Amaia’s blessings and Leia’s blessings. I cannot take any of it for granted.