When I wake up and can't taste my Diet Coke. Uh oh!

Just nine days ago, I wrote my Christmas post, in which I expressed gratitude that my immediate family had avoided the COVID19 virus that has wreaked havoc on so many this past year. 

I spoke too soon.

I awoke Friday morning to a text message from Seth, who was in his room down the hall. He said he had a sore throat and slight cough and had already called Chick-fil-A to say he wouldn't be at work. He also asked me if I wanted him to isolate in his room. Uh, yep! "Stay put, and I'll deliver food and drink outside your bedroom door. I'll also put a thermometer there, so you can check your temperature." 

He did not have a fever and felt totally fine other than the sore throat and mild cough. "Must be just a regular cold," I thought, but I started looking into COVID testing just the same. Because it was New Year's Day, I couldn't find a site that offered rapid test results until Saturday morning, so we kept Seth in his room all Friday just to be safe. Saturday morning, he drove downtown and waited in a long line of cars to get his rapid nasal swab COVID test, which we totally expected to be negative because he was barely sick at all! But before he even had time to drive home from downtown, the result came back positive. Eeeeek!

Here we are, three days later:

Seth - Still has mild cough. No fever or fatigue. Sore throat is gone. Lost sense of taste and smell. Chillin' in his room playing video games and watching Hulu. FaceTiming with friends, sometimes even with me when he's really bored. 

Isaiah - No symptoms at all. No test results yet. Hibernating in his room hoping to avoid this. 

Gerald - Tested positive yesterday. Low-grade fever, aches, cough, general feeling of malaise. 

Me - Well, here's the thing. I feel fine, 100% healthy in every way. But Sunday morning, when I cracked open a Diet Coke, it tasted, well....that's the thing; it didn't taste at all. It's like I was drinking carbonated water. Then I noticed that I couldn't smell anything either. Uh oh! I didn't escape this thing after all. Every day I wonder if this will be the day I wake with symptoms, but so far, no. I did a saliva test yesterday and don't have the results yet, but I'd be shocked if they weren't positive. Even my crazy anxiety brain can't dream up another illness that causes the total loss of taste and smell.

So this all sucks. For sure. It's triggered my anxiety in every way possible; worries for my family's health and my own are all-consuming. That said, as in all things, it helps to look for the grace, to find the reasons to be thankful, so here goes:

1. This happened now and not 10 days ago. We got to celebrate a lovely Christmas.

2. So far, everyone has manageable, non-life threatening symptoms.

3. We have been extremely careful all along about masks and social distancing, so the chance we have spread this to others is small. Most likely, Seth brought it home from Chick-fil-A.

4. I have a kind, online friend (we've met just once in person), who is a registered nurse in Pennsylvania and who recently had the COVID virus, herself. She has been chatting with me in the evenings, when my anxiety tends to spike, giving me solid, reliable information and advice. Thank you, Lorelei!

5. Modern technology provides a little gadget called a Pulse Oxygen monitor, allowing us to test our oxygen saturation levels regularly. This is wonderfully reassuring when we see our numbers up in the high 90s where they belong.

6. If my test results come back positive today, I can quit isolating from Seth and Gerald. That will make life a bit easier.

Stay safe and well, everyone.