The story, we had Robin on 7/14/2021 and stayed in the hospital for 2 days. Robin had a slightly high bilirubin, so we took her to the emergency pediatrician for a Saturday visit. We took her to her 1 week and 2 week check-up. So, we basically had very little contact with the “outside world”.
On 7/26, my mom’s significant other Jim took my mom to get labs drawn for her final chemotherapy. She has pancreatic cancer, diagnosed in 12/2020. She spent the night with him and he took her to her final infusion on 7/27. He started to feel very ill while at the infusion appointment. My sister picked my mom up from Jim’s and took her back to her sister Rosa’s house. Afterwards, my sister came to visit and see Robin.
On 7/29, I picked my mom up to have the infusion pump disconnected. I was with her for over 8 hours. I exclusively pump (so my boobs hurt if I don’t pump every 3-4hours) — I took her to my house to pump and so she could visit her grand baby.
On 7/29, in the evening I started to feel bad and I made an appointment to get tested for COvid, flu, and strep. 🙄 I started wearing a mask indoors. New mom anxiety is real. On 7/30, I tested negative for all ailments and just assumed I had the “crud”.
On 8/2, my mom had a fever. I just assumed I had given her my “crud”. The fever continued through 8/6. 8/5, my Aunt Rosa asked if my mom could stay with either me or my sister for the weekend. My sister stepped right up and I asked RJ to take my mom to my sister’s because I was sick with what I thought was “the crud”.
On 8/6, my mom had a fever again. I called the GI department and they suggested going to the ER at MDACC to check for a secondary infection. My sister took her to the ER. While there my mom tested positive for COVID. I immediately notified Jim, Rosa and her husband HC. Jim let me know that he had feared that was possible because he tested positive, as well. Rosa and HC scheduled to get tested, luckily they were negative. My mom was admitted to the hospital because she has minor evidence of COvid pneumonia and they wanted to treat with remdesivir. R.J. and I chose to begin our 10 day quarantine. On 8/9, R.J. started to feel sick. 8/9-8/12 I did all feedings, pumping for Robin and dealt with trying to find food while my husband walked around like the walking dead! On 8/13, I was super sleep deprived and wasn’t getting any support from R. J. I told him “treating the symptoms” wasn’t working and that he needed to go to a doctor! I was going to my sister’s to get some help with Robin and some much needed sleep. I also went and got tested for COvid (PCR), which came back positive on the 14th. On 8/14, my mom was discharged from the hospital and she was suffering from delerium and had lost a lot of her mobility while in the hospital (toileting issues, walking issues and MEAN). I had to chase down case management and get home health, physical therapy, DME ordered — so I stayed with my sister because R. J. still sounded useless. My sister’s husband and children were at the River — we couldn’t have them come home with 2 people that tested positive, so I rented an AIRBNB until 8/24. They stayed there for the evening. Then we realized that the kids need to be home with their stuff and the bus. So while the kids were at the dentist, my sister packed up my mom and headed to the Airbnb and I disinfected all surfaces and headed home to figure out why my husband was still useless.
When I got home, we started working on seeing if he qualified for the monoclonal antibody injection. Also, I called to get his test result — positive. My boss ordered me an oximeter — it arrived on 8/17. I tested myself — 98. I tested R. J. — 82! 😳 I consulted Dr Google and called 911. The EMTs arrived and said we were better off waiting for the 7:30a appointment on 8/18. But, if RJ passed out definitely call them back. ☹️
On 8/18, I drove RJ to the infusion at Methodist — I didn’t think he should be operating a motor vehicle. He called at 9a for me to pick him up — I asked about his oxygen—it was 92 at the infusion. 😩 We returned home. He asked me to get him some anti-nausea medication — so I worked on figuring that out. Turns out Aetna has a telehealth line! While I worked this problem RJ took three hours to write down, ibuprofen, Flonase, mucinex and benedryl. Finally decided that I could call 911 again after talking to the teledoc. The EMTs came out and did an assessment, his O2 was 82. They said, but it looks like you can get yourself to the ER — I wanted to beat them up. So, of course Robin decided that moment it was necessary to eat and my husband worked on putting his shoes on. I finished feeding Robin and went to assist my husband with his other shoe. FYI: It takes about 30 minutes to feed Robin.
