What a month!

 We have had quite a month in our house. This fall, after being sent for a couple of stress tests, it came to light that Allen had severe blockages in his heart. They gave him strict rules (no walks, no mowing, no going to the gym, nothing to stress him.....they even said don't wash dishes! LOL) as they were really concerned that he could have a heart attack. All this time they've been trying to figure out why post stroke fatigue was such an issue for him. Now we know. He heeded their warnings and went to emergency a couple times. The first time they ran a long list of tests to make sure he hadn't had a heart attack as well as check his heart. The second time he went in they decided to admit him until they could give him an angiogram. He was admitted on Wednesday, had the procedure on Thursday and came home on Friday. This was the first week of school. Teachers always talk about how there's no tired like September tired. Well, I now know there's no tired like September tired when you're dealing with school and covid and then you get to spend evenings at the hospital! ugh

The procedure went very well though and they gave him a stent in a vein that had 90% blockage. It was amazing when I saw him after the procedure. I could tell as soon as he started talking how much better he felt. We were grateful and excited about a new lease on life.

That excitement was short lived. The next Friday , one week later, he started to have a sore throat and runny nose and just generally feel terrible. I know from the workshops I've sat in at school that those are just the things to watch for. Peirce and Allen and I booked a test for Sunday morning (his birthday). We had our results by that night at 2 am. They text them to you. I was negative but Allen and Peirce were positive. Jill also got tested later that week and was negative (she lives in her own place with roommates). She had been over the Monday before for FHE.

It seems like a cruel twist of fate that he would get covid in the hospital. Who would have ever expected that?! It turned out there was an outbreak in his unit. So far his symptoms have been mild and hopefully there won't be long lasting effects. Four people in that unit have died so we are taking it quite seriously. We have been quarantining all this past week. Peirce's main symptoms are gone but still has no sense of taste or smell.

When Allen was first in the hospital my SIL, Becky, rallied a bunch of friends to bring us meals - which was really great. Our RSP subsequently organized meals for us for this past week. It seemed kind of like we should be able to cook for ourselves, but it has been nice to have these expressions of kindness while we're hold up in our house. LOL It also helps to stretch out the groceries! Allen and Peirce are spending their time on the lower two floors of the house and I'm upstairs. I get the kitchen so there's a bit of a Romeo and Juliet thing going on.....they call for me to bring food down for them often. We also have great neighbors who do runs for chips and orange juice and just keep us well stocked in treats.

I've been working from home and setting students up online when they're absent. These days, if a student is absent, it's never just one day since they have to book a test and wait for results - it's usually four days. It's been nice to be able to keep them up on their work. Last week we had some days where there were 8 kids that I was working with. Just before all this happened, my vacuum broke so I've been a little miserable about my carpets that need to be vacuumed - but Auntie Shirley saved the day and lent me her vacuum. It's amazing how a clean house makes the world a better place! Thank you Auntie Shirley!

Allen and Peirce bust out of quarantine on Tuesday as long as they're symptom free, which I'm pretty sure they will be (and as long as not being able to smell or taste doesn't count). The rule for isolating is 10 days from the onset of symptoms for anyone that tests positive. I'm stuck here until Sunday because if you test positive, you have to isolate 14 days from the time you had contact with a positive case. I'm trying to make the best of it and looking at this as a great chance to read more and putter around my house....and sleep. I've been getting LOTS of sleep!

In the end, we're sure glad this happened AFTER Allen had his procedure. If he was living on 10% blood flow and a damaged heart his might be a whole different story.

Bentley gets to hang out with the boys downstairs.

When they did the angiogram, they went in through Allen's wrist. He had quite the bruise!

I think he's trying to turn my phone off here. LOL This was one of the trips to emergency.