This is a story about my 16-year-old grandson Zach and my 39-year-old daughter Tanya. On October 12th they both had an annoying cough and thought it was the start of a bad cold. A visit to the doctor on the 15th proved otherwise. They both tested positive for COVID-19. My oldest granddaughter Gabby (age 8) also had
symptoms, but her test was negative. I pray that she and her sister Savanna (age 7) will be spared! In addition to having a cough, Zach and Tanya also experienced varying degrees of fever, body aches, tiredness, headache, some shortness of breath, and a loss of appetite including their sense of taste and smell. Sound familiar? Yes, that list covers almost all the symptoms we’d been warned about, and it was an awful lot to be thrown at an otherwise healthy and active young man, as well as my daughter who is prone to sinus infections.
They were prescribed Dexamethasone medication for five days. My research indicated that this was a corticosteroid medication used to treat a wide range of conditions for its anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressant effects. The WHO (World Health Organization) had recommended it for patients with severe and critical COVID-19. The medicine sometimes kept them up at night and made them feel like they had lots of energy. As a matter of fact, one day Zach wanted to go out and rake leaves! Even though he felt like superman, I explained to him that he needed to take it easy and not put any extra strain on his body and his lungs! Grandmas worry you know! At the same time Tanya was being supermom making sure Zach and his two little sisters were doing their distance learning while isolating and in quarantine, which was not always an easy task. Once their five days of medicine had ended, they no longer felt like superman or supermom, and the burst of energy they had was gone. It’s now been well over a month since the onset of symptoms and their recovery continues. Zach told me the worst thing was his coughing, which
continued mostly at night for awhile. They both feel fatigued at times and still tire more easily than usual. I pray there won’t be any prolonged effects.
He was out of isolation as of 10-23 at 11:59 pm and was released to go back to school on 10-26. Gabby has also been released, but Tanya and Savanna remained home until November 9. My own quarantine went until October 30 and that’s another story in itself! I asked Zach how he felt about COVID. He said, “I don’t like it obviously—it doesn't feel good getting it”, “trying to fight this is probably the worst thing I’ve ever had to do”, “quarantine was hard because I couldn‘t be around people”, and “people need to do their part to help slow the spread by wearing masks and social distancing!”. On a final note he says, “I’M STILL ALIVE!”, and it goes without saying that our entire family is thankful for that! Tanya continued to experience body aches, a sporadic fever, and no energy. She says, “I never thought that taking a bath would be so much work!”. It was hard for her to depend on others to get groceries, to keep up on the kids’ distance learning, to get the rest she needed, and being away from work.
I treasure my family, and as a mother, a grandmother with pre-existing medical conditions, and an employee of ABLE, Inc., I implore you all to do your part! Please wear a mask if you can and social distance, as well as all the other things that are recommended! This terrible virus can find you or someone you love and sometimes things don’t end well! Kudos to ABLE for taking the lead early on to protect all of us. There have been tough decisions made and many sacrifices, but EVERYTHING WE CAN DO TO STOP THE SPREAD IS WORTH IT!
