QUARANTINE.

In reference to my last blog, COVID has one again had an interesting take on my daily life. This is also why I haven't had the time to sit down and write daily, but going on.

As previously mentioned I have been helping with the screening of patients prior to the entry of the clinic. This includes a series of questions and a temperature check. Super easy right? Nothing can go wrong? THINK AGAIN. First off people suck. They would lie about certain questions and gain entry to the building only to start reporting symptoms and being checked out and referred for a COVID test. It was a very stressful time as we were just trying to avoid any possible exposure to other patients and staff.

Last Monday James woke up sick, initially nothing out of the usual. It started on Saturday as a sore throat and symptoms progressed. As a precaution his office allowed him the day to recuperate, no big deal right? As the day progressed we found out that a few other coworkers were also ill and placed in quarantine, so that's what came next for James. He was placed in quarantine immediately and per the hotline instruction he did not need any test until his symptoms increased. I was instructed to keep working. Tuesday, James was still not feeling any better and was referred to Urgent Care. Flu and Strep were negative, but they did not conduct a COVID test due to a shortage of tests. Again, he was not told there was no possibility of knowing whether he truly had it or not and was instructed to remain in quarantine. Once again I was told I was fine to work.

I continued to work as scheduled screening patients etc. It seemed as at least twice a day we were notified that some people lied we may have been exposed to a positive case. It was not a very comforting feeling.

Tuesday night I started to get a sore throat, however, I just thought it was from sleeping with my mouth open haha. It didn't go away on Wednesday but again didn't think much of it. After my shift Wednesday, I felt a little run down. Congestion hit, I felt warm, I was tired. I was off work a few days so I figured that I would have time to recover before my next shift Monday. WRONG. Thursday I was miserable, and finally decided to call the COVID hotline on Friday. After answering all their questions I was referred to an Urgent Care were I was tested for COVID. It was a unique experience the doctors were afraid to touch anything that I touched. They took a thin Q-tip and swabbed my nose for 10 seconds, not the best thing in the world but it was relatively painless. The test would take a few days to come back and I was placed in quarantine until further notice.

So what was quarantine like? Enjoy the pictures below. It included lots of dog snuggles, binge-watching the Chicago Fire, PD, Med series, books, games, and sleeping. Not to mention our sleep schedule is now trash. We would stay up until 2-3am wake up 1-2pm and not know what the date was or what day it was exactly. Judge and Ruby love the attention and I'm not sure how they are going to adjust to us going back to work. Due to quarantine and the shelter in place we haven't got out to the park much, but hopefully we will be able to get back to our daily walks soon.

James and I started working from home and even that was an adjustment for the pups because we weren't giving them all our attention. As you can see below Judge decided he was going to work with his Dad and hopped in the chair as James worked. Ruby gave me lots of cuddles while I read books and studied for grad school. It's been nice but we are all tired of being in the house and not having people over.

Fortunately today I received the news that my test results were negative for COVID, and I'll be back to work next week. It's definitely been a wild ride but just an insight to how this pandemic has effected the Bowers household.

One big takeaway was that all the individuals being seen and tested for COVID were all in health care. It opened my eyes to see how this whole thing has impacted those whose everyday job is to take care of people, and were also the most at risk.

So I would like to take this time to say thank a doctor, nurse, athletic trainer, any health care provider you know because we are all working together to fight this pandemic.