So we enter Week 3 locally just as the US case number surpasses any other countries worldwide, and end the week with triple that number. Yikes. It was a scary week for us personally, too, as both Jason and I got sick. Both illnesses were short-lived and mild. I have no idea if it was corona or not – this is the time of year that so many people get sick with major allergy season and all – but either way it was scary!

To repeat from previous weeks: If your mental health is at a point where you cannot bear to hear more about quarantine stuff, skip to the bottom of this post for a list of positives and highlights and Nice Things. We all need some of that right now!

–Friday, March 27th
Local count: 120, 5 deaths. One of the weirder facets of my anxiety is that it’s relieved by organization, especially data-organization. So on this morning, two weeks into quarantine, I decided to put together a spreadsheet of cases and deaths in my local county. This way I can watch as things progress, and hopefully see a flattening of the curve over time. I don’t know why it calms me to gather this info and follow the progress, but anything that relieves my personal anxiety is okay in my book. Anyway. In local news today, the mayor closed city playgrounds and basketball courts because they were hotspots of people refusing the shelter-at-home order. They want to keep the parks themselves open for people to get exercise, but there are signs up all over the place with social distancing guidelines as well. Our city also began a daily televised live update. I rescheduled my upcoming well-woman and twice-yearly physician exams from April to July/later. No need to go to the doctor’s office for check-up stuff while the Virus is prevalent! The day ended on a positive note, with my first virtual Happy Hour with my hiking group. (photo credit: Lindsey)

–Saturday, March 28th
Local count: 140, 5 deaths. The city website added zip code info to their COVID page, and so far my zip is in an area with 1-4 cases (ie pretty low). This was mostly a good day, spend on Marco Polo with my hiking ladies or on Facetime with Stephanie. It was a very social day even though I didn’t get out at all. On the other hand, Jason began coughing and got short of breath while out at the grocery store, and spent about six hours sleeping in the afternoon. After that, he felt better, but we’re keeping a really close eye on it. We suspect it’s allergies and stress, because Jason’s body reacts to stress with extreme sleeping.

–Sunday, March 29th
Local count: 157, 5 deaths. Unfortunately, Jason started feeling unwell again during the afternoon. He took a self-test for COVID and was told to self-quarantine (100%) for two weeks. That evening, he began to get body aches – not a good sign. Additionally, I developed a mild fever by bedtime. So…not good. Right now, the plan is to shelter at home and try to keep from passing this to the boys. If necessary, we can call in to a nurse line through our insurance for further direction. Hopefully our symptoms will remain mild. But keep our family in your thoughts, please. No matter how often we wash our hands and disinfect the house, it’s difficult to contain an illness when it’s already inside.

–Monday, March 30th
Local count: 168, 6 deaths, 44 recovered. Today was the first day we heard about local recoveries. Additionally, the city began to put a ton more information on their COVID-19 site, which is great. Plus, we got the word that the Olympics will be scheduled for July/Aug 2021. Glad they’re not canceled altogether! On the home front, Jason continued to feel tired today, but was able to work a full day. He slept a few hours after work, and still has no fever. I felt perfectly fine and normal all day, though I did check my temp in the evening and have a mild fever again. Honestly, I wonder if the digital thermometer is a bit faulty. I miss the old mercury thermometers. They were so much more reliable!!

(quarantine cat snuggles)

–Tuesday, March 31st
Local count: 207, 9 deaths, 44 recovered. The governor ordered a statewide shelter-at-home mandate (finally!), and extended school closures through early May. We doubt the boys will go back to school at all this year. I feel so bad for Ambrose, who is missing all those senior year ceremonies and the last few months with his friends. As for health, I woke up in the morning with a weird pain deep in my lungs, like the bottom of my right lung was in some kind of cramp – not like anything I’ve experienced before with bronchitis or other chest infections. I also had a dry cough that I couldn’t shake, even though otherwise I felt just fine. The pain persisted through half the day, then came back in the evening. I also had a weird headache-like feeling in my whole head in the evening, like a painless headache that made everything tender. I’m probably just being hypersensitive, but it definitely feels like I’ve come down with some kind of illness, COVID or not. Hopefully not. But I’d rather be careful. I self-quarantined to my bedroom today and made personals ads for my cats because I was bored out of my mind.

–Wednesday, April 1st
Local count: 229, 9 deaths, 45 recovered. Woke up feeling just fine. So I don’t know. It’s weird and I want all the weird on-and-off symptoms to GO AWAY and leave my anxiety alone. Weird news, though – a semi truck carrying toilet paper bound for San Antonio got in an accident in Dallas and all the toilet paper burned… Otherwise, a pretty routine day, and happily got to participate in a virtual game night via Zoom and Jackbox Games.

–Thursday, April 2nd
Local count: 254, 9 deaths, 47 recovered. Sadly, this does not include the numbers from a major outbreak contained at a nursing home, which will include another 59 cases. All but 11 residents there tested positive, and there’s a high likelihood those 11 will eventually test positive even if removed from the facility. This is a terrible outbreak on a vulnerable population. San Antonio is working to shore up protections for other group facilities. The city leaders have also put out public pleas to religious facilities to voluntarily stay closed even though the Texas governor overruled the city’s mandate (grr!) Things are okay on the home front. I’m pretty sure the symptoms I felt this week were related to allergies, and that any fever was faulty equipment. I’ve been perfectly fine the last two days and Jason has recovered well. I actually went out running this morning (following all social distancing protocols of course!) and felt no difficulty with breathing or chest pressure etc. Thankfully, the boys have all stayed completely healthy as well so far, also.

(SA cases/deaths through Week 3)

So, a very scary week altogether. I’m really glad I have my support group online and easily accessible via video chat/texts. That’s been very helpful and necessary during this time.

Positives and Highlights and Nice Things
Every little bit of good news helps right now. Here are the small bits from my week.

• discovered Unsolved Mysteries is on Amazon Prime so I’m binge-watching now, and my youngest son was hooked from the very first show.
• virtual meetups: happy hour, coffee dates, game nights – Marco Polo is a wonderful app and gives me a lifeline to my support group!!
• discovered one of my fellow hikers is a published romance author!
• started an online book group via Marco Polo!
• finished Week 4 of Couch to 5K before I began getting symptoms (and yes, totally alone in social distancing protocols!)
• finished Week 5 of Couch to 5K (mostly because I skipped right to Day 3, heh) and hit a personal goal of mine (to run a mile nonstop on level ground rather than downhill). I ran further and longer than I’ve done since 2014 when I was 80 lbs lighter. Woohoo! My face afterwards –>

How were things with all of you this week?