@ghandigirl You did the right thing by saying no about meeting her. Not good for either of you really. I hope your after school job goes smoothly.
Today I woke up so very anxious about my little job and got a reprieve with the school district closing today.They called it a snow day (no snow) and also a staffing shortage with not enough subs due to Covid. Not sure why they are opening tomorrow but tomorrow, unless after school clubs are cancelled, I will have to go where it is very Covid-y. I am scared.
My school district is right next to yours. (I'm in CR.) I thought we too would close for "snow" (but really covid), but nope. They kept the schools open. Masks still optional. I decided to keep my kids home yesterday for a myriad of reasons. This morning I checked our covid dashboard and there are 141 cases for THIS WEEK ALONE. And these are just reported cases -- how many are not testing? How many are testing at home but not reporting positive results?
I am thankful my kids are finally vaccinated but I feel for our teachers and staff who must work in a district that won't require a simple mask to protect the health of the community. My district was long touted as an excellent one -- when I was a teacher a decade ago it was THE place to aim for a job -- but now it has become a laughingstock.
Sending lots of light your way because I'm just really disappointed in our community right now.
@jeanne-mayell hoping your son and you and your husband stay well. I can tell you that it seems those who are vaxed seem to fare well. Sending you light and prayers for complete and quick recovery.
I was able to get the twins their second shots today, so a great weight lifted off of me.
I wanted to share this story of the ride over.
Twin the eldest sat in the back seat and I happened to see she was crying from the rear view mirror while I was driving.
"Honey, what's wrong?" I asked her.
"These are happy tears." She angrily sobbed.
"What are they for?"
"After two years I finally feel some relief. You guys kept us safe but now I can let some of that worry go when you're not around, like at school."
And then I cried a bit myself. We like to think our "own" kids are special, but in actuality, mine are no different than yours. They're holding more of this in than they've ever really let on.
Of course the moment was spoiled seconds later when twin the youngest announced "We're going to miss lunch. I hope you have some ideas, because I did NOT pack a snack today."
I was able to get the twins their second shots today, so a great weight lifted off of me.
I wanted to share this story of the ride over.
Twin the eldest sat in the back seat and I happened to see she was crying from the rear view mirror while I was driving.
"Honey, what's wrong?" I asked her.
"These are happy tears." She angry sobbed.
"What are they for?"
"After two years I finally feel some relief. You guys kept us safe but now I can let some of that worry go when you're not around, like at school."
And then I cried a bit myself. We like to think our "own" kids are special, but in actuality, mine are no different than yours. They're holding more of this in than they've ever really let on.
Of course the moment was spoiled seconds later when twin the youngest announced "We're going to miss lunch. I hope you have some ideas, because I did NOT pack a snack today."
I am so glad you shared this with us.
Please remind us how old your twins are Dannyboy. This statement is beautiful and heartbreaking at the same time. Dang! I don't even have words for the depth her words spoke.
As for food, perhaps a celebration lunch is in order, even it is something from a grocery story. We should celebrate the small and big victories. The moments worth marking. Maybe even Starbucks. They should have a drive thru open and have actual food available all day, small selection but it works.
@lovendures the twins are 10 - they’ll be 11 on March 3rd.
theres a party store in town that sells pizza by the slice - all the HS kids go there for open campus lunch. We grabbed slices from there and they ate in the car. After the first shots (I didn’t have to get them back to school that day) we got sweet treats at our local chocolate store, and books from the local bookstore. Today we had a deadline lol.
the empathy in these two (despite moments where they do NOT show it) continually blows me away and my wonder is always how I got lucky enough to land easy kids because … I was… not lol ?
@jeanne-mayell My friend lives with her bf and her sister, both of whom recently tested positive (and have since recovered) and she's remained negative. Last year the same friend got Covid and her bf remained negative. So, people from the same households don't necessarily all get infected together.
Sending lots of love and light to your family and you home. xoxo
@lynnventura thank you for that reassurance. It means a lot. When my son tested positive I was certain, given what I have learned about the infectious nature of omicron, that We would get it. But so far we have tested negative! I also heard from two nieces who live with boyfriends who tested positive and they did not get it. Yay.
@febbby23 thanks for asking. Today my son is greatly improved. He even went for a jog. Then said he was exhausted. But that’s normal. We are all so lucky to have this vaccine.
@lynnventura thank you for that reassurance. It means a lot. When my son tested positive I was certain, given what I have learned about the infectious nature of omicron, that we would get it. But so far we have tested negative. I also heard from two nieces who live with boyfriends who tested positive that they did not get it. Yay.
@febbby23 thanks for asking. Today my son is greatly improved. He even went for a jog. Then said he was exhausted. But that’s normal. We are all so lucky to have this vaccine.
@jeanne-mayell Oh Jeanne, so glad to see you are all triple vaxed and your son seems to be doing well. Encourage him NOT to push it. He needs to take it easy for a couple of weeks. Lazy days of reading, movies, and sleep. Sending healing vibes for him and protection for you and your hubby. This is not a fact checked finding, but I have heard on the Twitter from a trusted scientist that if you test for Omicron you should swab your throat, not your nose. 5 to 7 days after exposure is the recommended time frame for vaxed folks. Then another in a couple days to confirm. Much love to you!
@jeanne-mayell This is why I love this forum so much! We are all wanting to know what the future holds until we DON'T want to know, because we're just going to power the hell through it. Such a beautiful human hopeful place. So great full for the humans here working through all of our human STUFF!
France is reporting a new variant, named IHU, with 46 new mutations. Not much is known yet, aside from it yet. The next couple of weeks should show whether it is more contagious than other strains and how severe IHU is.
Happy New Year (dear god I hope it's a new year ...), all!
We all have Covid. We did everything right for two years, went nowhere for two years, isolated as much as we could for two years, never left the house without a mask for two years. We let our guard down over the holidays (long story; I knew we shouldn't risk it but ... we gambled) and we all caught it. And because of that stress, my daughter had a couple of massive panic attacks, and I discovered she's been cutting.
The mental health toll of the past two years is going to be as endemic as the physical health toll.
Thankfully, we are all vaxed and boostered, so we have had fairly mild symptoms. My husband got it the worst, and he's the only one of us who was initially a J&J vax. However, first symptoms appeared the day after Christmas for him (possibly three days before for my daughter, but we weren't looking at diarrhea as a symptom), and both of them are still positive, as of a PCR test yesterday. My daughter can't go back to school until next week, at the earliest, and she has a medical procedure next week, as well (that I am having nightmares about, in terms of her anxiety. She needs to stay alert during the procedure and I can't shake the feeling she will have a panic attack during it.), that will cause her to be out for another week recovering. I'm so worried about what this will all do to her ... school has been such a struggle for her through Covid, as it is. My son desperately wants to get back to his apartment and finish his last semester of college ... I feel so much guilt that we let down our guard at the worse possible time and have caused so much disruption and stress to ourselves.
My husband is much more optimistic about it ... in his mind, we now all have extra immunity to get us through to fall.
It's a weird vibe around here right now.
@saibh I feel this 100% - this is essentially what happened to us at the end of October.
In terms of your daughter's mental health, My role at my school district encompasses some of the Tier I Social/Emotional Supports everyone can be providing students - always, but especially during these times. I would not understate breathing exercises right now and some guided meditations. You can get a 7 day trial of Calm on any device and their series on "coping with anxiety" has many great short meditations that really helped put my family and I back on track back in 2020 when the world seemed even more chaotic and uncertain than it has the last few months.
I also found Yoga to be incredibly therapeutic both from a "doing it" standpoint and from a "Oh my god, they expect me to twist like WHAT now?" standpoint for laughter. The Downward Dog app (again for most devices) has a free and paid tier - I never paid but was going to if Apple Fitness + hadn't offered such an amazing package that just made sense for me. The free tier is a little more limited but still amazingly functional for that. And if you've got any apple devices the free Fitness + trial of 30 days (might still be 90 - I can't keep up) lets you do amazing things. The yoga classes are great, and the dance classes have been my absolute favorite to bust a move when I get a chance (Warning: I find the 20 minute classes better because the choreo changes each song so if I'm floundering I only have to flounder for 2.5 minutes. The 30 minute class teaches you one routine throughout and if you lose your footing it's gone. I just "White guy" dance through those pieces and try to pick up the rest :P.
And the biggest ones - without pushing, let her know you're there for her and if she wants to talk about anything anytime you're open. Bake her some cookies and take them up to her. Crawl under the covers and watch a trashy television show like Bridgerton (I said what I said!). At the end of the day your daughter is going through the same things we're seeing almost universally in the youth right now. There is nothing more important right now than dropping what you can right now to acknowledge where you all are, that you're all there for each other, and that you're going through the same things in different ways.
Light and love friend. Light and love.
@raincloud Great article, and yes, I should get a HEPA filter before it is too late. He lives above our garage but comes down to use the facilities. I then open the doors to vent the air. I use masks from Well Before that someone here recommended months ago. I love these masks. N-99 and form fitted with the ability to tighten them to your face. But my family thinks they are hard to breathe through. I prefer safety over comfort. https://wellbefore.com
As I understand it (wobbly qualifications), a PCR test will remain positive even if someone is not shedding live virus after a COVID infection. Post-illness, rapid tests are more reliable. However, a medical professional who manages COVID for an institution says that post-illness testing isn't as helpful as one would hope and she doesn't advise it. Moreover, although a post-illness rapid test can be valuable, they are too scarce to be required, at this point. A ten day isolation should suffice if there is no fever. Five days is iffy, so if I were in charge, (I am not) I would choose a seven days isolation if ten days is too hard.
One can't help but wonder about the potential gift of this bout of illness in your family; if it led to the discovery your daughter's cutting, it will have been valuable.
Guilt is not your friend now. It is only human to want to connect with others over the holidays and this has been a looong stretch.
love and light coming your way.
Sending love to your family, @saibh. Regarding your daughter's surgery, a calming agent such as valium is often added to the IV of those who must stay alert during surgery. Obviously I do not know the specifics of your daughter's procedure, but I would hazard a guess that they'll plan for anxiety during it. Try not to worry too much (ha! Impossible, I know).
Meanwhile, here's a good one for all of you:
According to my district's covid dashboard, there are 275 confirmed cases in the schools. (The real number is, of course, much higher.)
On Tuesday, a health and phys-ed teacher at the high school announced to his class that he had tested positive on Sunday but school advised him he could come teach mask-free since he was asymptomatic. He apparently was wearing a mask -- under his nose.
This is what I'm dealing with around here.
SERENITY NOW!
(I'm just trying to release all anger and anxiety over this situation. My kids are vaccinated and wear masks to school -- I can't do much more than that given my options. But the lack of community-minded thinking is just very sad to me.)