It was day 1 return to work/school since last Friday and all of us at home. It felt like the start of the Pandemic, March 2020 when all of us were stuck at home during the hard lockdown. Our new setting is that Sofia takes studio for her class where the wifi signal is the best. Lizzy does it in the living room with daddy’s assistance, wifi so so. I work in Sofia’s room (transferred my monitor and chair) where wifi is the worst but I don’t need video call so it was manageable. I sit in her work for 9 hrs, only stepped out for lunch and get water. The girls sometimes come in to check me, but disruption was minimal.
I didn’t sleep so well the night before, was awake from 12 to 2am but eventually fell asleep again. The main reason was I couldn’t figure out why I tested positive while everyone else negative.Sigh… I discussed yesterday with few good friends and their answer was that it could be a false positive because the chance of 6 false negative is near zero. But I do have symptoms.. how can they explain that? They recommended me to get tested again.. but that seems too much hassle when I am a week out of the onset already. Will just endure the 2 weeks quarantine and be responsible friend to others.
My symptoms further improved: nasal congestion minimal, coughing occasional (didn’t take Vicks), no fever for most of the day, only 2 hrs after a busy morning 3 frustrating work related calls. I felt a bit warm, measured and it was 37.1. Few hours later, when I felt calm, it went down to 36.7. Energy level up. Did 1 hour exercise in the morning.
My mom keeps telling me I should up nutritious food. Usually I’d tell her I am already eating nutritious and healthy. But this time, either because I want to ensure her that I am taking care of myself or because this COVID thing made me wonder if what I thought I was doing was effective, I said yes and showed her this picture. It’s a rice congee made with black skin chicken and a lot of ginger. According to Chinese culture, black skin chicken is very nutritious and healing, usually given to sick people. I haven’t had congee for years until recently in Puerto Gallera, the family that went with us made chicken congee one day (the wife is Vietnamese) and loved it. Since I haven’t had much appetite since last Wednesday, I didn’t expect to like it as much. But to my surprise, I really enjoyed it and had two big bowls. 😀 Now I feel I’ve taken care of myself. hahahah
I haven’t told everyone in work that I have COVID, only those that I was in contact with and few close friends. They were all surprised and worried, which I understand. Yet, if I continue improvement as it seems so, my understanding of COVID also changes now that I’ve experienced first hand. it is really just a flu, not even a bad one. Maybe because I am lucky or because I am vaccinated. But if this is the majority of cases for vaccinated people, then we really should not be too scared of it, and make our long term decisions around avoiding the unavoidable. I do recognize that my life choices are more relaxed since our return from the US. I feel more comfortable to meet with others and let my girls play with other kids. I still chose to keep it a small circle, with those people that really mattered. Still, the risk did go up. Do I regret it? not at all! Will I change anything now that I know the risk is latent? Not at all. Life is too short to be too cautious all the time. We need to live and enjoy it in a responsible way.
I am grateful for Cookie (the cat). Maybe because she’s a kitty, she loves to be with us and so curious. Looking at her brings me joy. Looking at how Lizzy carries her around proudly (as she’s the boss to the kitty) makes me laugh. Looking at Sofia cleaning the litter and doesn’t mind it makes me proud. Listening to husband talking to kitty makes me smile. 🙂
Our New Journey 