Knocked Down by a Rando Virus

I am signing out of January by reemerging from some rando upper respiratory virus that Forest brought home last week. Last Monday we were all almost ready to leave the house to go to work and school when Forest decided to cough and sound like a barking seal. We stopped in our tracks, looked at Forest and made a beeline for the bathroom and some cough medicine chased by an at-home covid test. The test was negative but knowing how those tests can be negative despite actually carrying the virus, I rearranged my day to grab my laptop from work and work from home. Covid or not, he was sick. The rapid test at the pediatrician was also negative but we ran a pcr as well in addition to flu and strep, the last two which were negative as well. We didn’t have the pcr results until Thursday but by that time I had developed symptoms as well as Chris’ mom who had come down to visit on Sunday for a few hours. I took a rapid test, which was negative and ended up taking a pcr on Thursday which came back negative on Saturday and Chris’ mom’s was also negative. We had eliminated covid, which I was thankful for because I already felt bad we had accidentally gotten her sick. No one had symptoms on Sunday! Which just goes to show…

That said, it was a rude awakening to remembering those pre-covid winter upper respiratory viruses that would knock you out for a week. Between muddling through with some work, attempting to nap, taking care of Forest, and mostly lounging on the couch watching Netflix and Amazon, I did not do much. I had hoped to read some books but didn’t do a lot of that. No focus. And of course there were days it was gorgeous outside but I did not feel like partaking in the great outdoors. Finally we are turning a corner and this week starts off with rain and flood watches and ends with some hard freezes. Thankfully we are out of the range for freezing precipitation this time around but I do question the state’s power grid because central and north Texas are supposed to experience some snow and ice and if theirs’s goes out, will ours too?

January and February are my least favorite months in Texas, though at least February will try to grace us with some early spring tree blooms. I’m just hoping to make it through the middle of the month and then maybe we can be home free and on towards warmer weather once again. I’m ready for some movement outdoors, getting back into some creative habits, and shaking off the winter hibernation mode.

Hope all is well with y’all out there!