Covid: 3 years later

I am REALLY hoping this is the last ever Covid related blog I write ;)

My thoughts on Year 1 and Year 2 can be found here and here.

I don't have anything profound to say honestly. I'll give you my experience of having it for the first time in August below. It was nice to fly without masks when we went to Cape Cod in June 2022 (mandate had just been lifted in airports) and this January (2023) we went to Disney and weren't required to wear them thankfully.

I was shocked near the end of 2022 when I went to both the dentist and an orthopedic doctor's office and was not required to wear one. I thought any medical/dental related facility would make them pretty much permanent!

Plastic dividers came down at grocery stores. That seemed strange at first. The checkout lanes were so much more open. I go grocery shopping 2 to 3 times a week at multiple stores and for some reason this just really impacted my experience. I love grocery shopping. I was glad to see things back to "normal."

Kathy's and Ronald McDonald Houses obviously are still very impacted by the lovely Covid, among a zillion other viruses and germs I'm sure. Relief Squad volunteers will always honor these hospital guests houses' regulations. Always. We are here to make Caregivers jobs easier, not harder.

There are so many thoughts on vaccines. Get them or not, respect others' decisions. If providing Relief to Caregivers for the last 3.5 years has taught me anything, its that you don't always know the whole story. I won't go into this sometimes controversial topic anymore; just be respectful.

As far as my personal experience, it sucked. Period. I missed a week of working at my summer job: daycare. My kids then obviously missed daycare days since they come with me. My husband, Kyle had to work from home that week. It was during my daughter Violet's 5th birthday week. I had so many fun plans and treats to make and bring to daycare which didn't happen til the week after. Was it the end of the world? No. Did it suck in the moment? Yes.

I am a caregiver to two young children. It's a full time job that has no off days. Being sick while taking care of kids is no joke. It's exhausting and there was way too much screen time. Thank goodness it was summer and they could play outside a bit while I sat curled up on a lawn chair trying not to move so my body/head would stop aching.

The physical symptoms were like none I'd experienced. The worst headache of my life mixed with low fever, sinus/runny nose/ear ache issues, chest pain & shortness of breath...I could go on. I did lose taste/smell towards the end of it which was just strange. Very surreal. I'm super glad it came back about a week later and I don't seem to have any after affects.

I feel SO fortunate that my kids didn't get it. I'm also beyond thankful that I didn't get Covid during or after pregnancy in 2020. Having an infant is hard enough let alone throwing this nasty virus in too. I thought my family did pretty good staying healthy throughout that 1st two years of this and that maybe we'd be lucky and miss out. Not the case. But life went on. There are SO MANY people (Caregivers) that had it way worse than I did. Everyone deals with hardships. I've seen it first hand every time I get a referral and hear the story behind a Caregiver & their sick loved one. I am even more empathetic to those we serve after having Covid. Caregivers are Super Heroes in my book.