… and it’s going to be glorious!
My wife is immunocompromised so we’ve remained super COVID safe/locked down. Have not set foot in a grocery store, Target, etc. in 3.5 years. Haven’t dined inside a restaurant in 3.5 years. I’ve been allowed to remain remote even as most of company is back in office 4 days/week.
But we had our first all-department work trip since before COVID this week. We run campgrounds and retirement communities and would annually get together to tour properties in different locations across the country and have some fun. This year, we went to South Florida. I traveled for the first time, saw co-workers for the first time, ate inside at a restaurant for the first time. Was an awesome trip, seeing everybody, living a somewhat normal existence for a few days.
But my wife doesn’t want me coming directly home after air travel and being around 50 people from 7-8 different places.
I was going to stay at my parents’ house for the weekend, get some of Mom’s cooking, hang out with my parents. Only they went to Europe recently, and Dad tested positive for COVID the day after they got back last week.
But they have a weekend condo downtown, so I’m chilling there for the long weekend all by myself. Just arrived and I’m getting ready to watch the Bears game with no 5yo demanding to watch Disney+. I’ll be able to sleep in, binge TV shows and read books, order in pizza and Thai for the next 3 glorious days.
OP is asked "so when does this end" and says:
Not sure… it’s been a game of moving goalposts (“after next booster”, “after current surge dies down”, etc) I’d be a LOT more pushy to resume normalcy if she was able to work or I could afford our lifestyle without her working. We need her to keep getting better and be able to get a job again.
We have slowly been doing more… Just way too slowly. It fucking sucks.
OP get's pushed again and says:
These are new symptoms of her fibromyalgia that came on a few months after COVID... when she was initially diagnosed about 10 years ago, her main pain issues were shoulder & neck spasms triggered by unexpected cold, like the blast of AC entering a building's vestibule or a too cold refrigerated aisle in a grocery store. Respiratory issues weren't a concern.
Someone remembers OP has a kid going to in-person public kindergarten. OP responds:
It's the flying, being in vans and meeting rooms with dozens of people who all just flew... seemingly everybody we know who's been on a plane recently got COVID immediately after. May dad last week, both her parents both got it in September the day after they flew home from visiting us (she made them test daily, mask for 3 days in our house upon arrival). And one of her friend's husband got it after a work trip about 3 weeks ago.
Kid obviously has to go to school... she gives him his bath when he gets home each day, masked him for a week or so when there were known outbreaks in his school even though only affected upper grades.
Overkill? Probably... on the other hand, her health hasn't allowed her to return to work in 3+ years and we need to get her healthy enough to do so.
OP pushed more and responds again:
Fybromialga that's been presenting with costrocondrtitis (rib cartilage inflammation that makes it painful to breathe deeply, let alone cough, lift heavy or bulky things), as well as extreme fatigue and brain fog. I agree it's kind of nuts, as she wants us even more locked down than cancer patients. On the other hand, she is a physical therapist who isn't physically capable of working since this flair-up that began a few months after COVID began. She was progressing well last winter, caught a cold our son brought home from pre-school, and that set her recovery back months. Another setback and we're financially fucked.
"We have slowly been doing more… Just way too slowly. It fucking sucks.", idk man, given that you start your post with " it’s going to be glorious!" I wonder why your wife feels 0 fucking pressure to adopt sane risk modeling. Kid can go to school, but can't go to store? Give me a fucking break.
