COVID-19

(This time it’s personal!)

This post is separate from the series. The series will continue soon following alphanumerically from the previous post from the series.

We left the country for 3 weeks and my wife got COVID! Although initially it was stressful and looked like an awful situation, there have been many benefits. Although I’ve tested negative every day so far, at the end, I’ll detail my daily symptoms.

Background

We recently got back from visiting a country with zero COVID restrictions and I went to work the next day. We had been pretty careful while away (and in general for the past three years) and it was a relief to be back in a country where COVID is taken more seriously. After a day at work, everything seemed fine, however, my wife tested positive for COVID the next day.

At the time she tested positive, I was already at the office (before everyone else arrives as normal) and had tested negative. I had symptoms but initially thought these were allergies and then a cold (because of the negative tests and the fact we’d been in a cold environment for three weeks).

Upon learning the news, I was planning to either work at the office in another room away from everyone else or work from home, depending on what my boss thought, but then my wife and I realised that my son (who would be waking up soon) could easily get infected if my wife looked after him.

My wife ended up self-isolating and then officially quarantining in a separate room at home which meant I need to look after her and our son for the duration of her quarantine. By law, she can only leave her room to go to the bathroom and has to sanitise everything as she goes. Looking after my wife involves putting the things she needs by her door and sanitising anything she sends out of the door. We can’t stay in the same room. This means I’m off work again for another week.

The stress

There have been several stressful parts to the situation. For instance, I have already been off work for a few weeks meaning other people have been covering my job, there is likely to be a lot to catch up on and there are classes that need covering too while I’m catching up.

Additionally, there’s the stress of not having been infected by Covid before, not knowing how bad it could be for us, and the risk of infecting our child. Thankfully we’ve all been vaccinated multiple times, otherwise I don’t know how bad this could be.

There’s also the need to sanitise everything we touch or bring in/out of the apartment. Our family have been kind enough to help buy and bring shopping and medicine to outside our door.

Finally, there’s the potential financial cost of not working, especially as we’ve been saving to buy a house for a few years.

However, the stress is not as high as it could have been. Since we stopped watching the news months ago, our overall stress levels and anxiety about Covid have decreased dramatically. For more insight into my mindset during the earlier stages of COVID, see this post.

On balance, this situation has been a blessing in disguise (this reference always makes me think about a joke about a gorilla wearing a vicar’s outfit) as I’ll explain in the coming sections.

The relief

Part of the ongoing training at work is positive framing (think, When life gives you lemons, make lemonade, or Jocko Wilink’s Good philosophy). This way of thinking has helped relieve the initial stressors and fears:

• my boss has been very understanding about the whole situation and told me to prioritise family, which I am.

• so far, the symptoms for all of us have been minimal, probably due to being vaccinated.

• we’ve accepted that we’re doing the best we can to protect each other and our child and that the rest is out of our control.

• we have family who are willing to support us and help do the shopping and pick up medicine.

• I’m able to apply for leave to take care of family. I don’t know if this is paid or not but if it is it helps!

The benefits

The way of thinking I described above has also shown me many benefits to the situation:

• my wife wants my child to stop breastfeeding and because my child is not able to go to mummy whenever they need comfort has proved that they can do it.

• me being around 24/7 has developed my relationship with my child and they now listen and follow my guidance a lot more. They even fall asleep by themselves now with minimal effort. This has helped me to realise that I want to develop my leadership skills so I can be a solid leader for my child and family.

• I’ve had more quality time with my child than I ever have before. It’s been a joy to be of service looking after them, chatting, and playing together. I love it! We’re deepening our relationship every day on a level I hadn’t imagined. This in itself has been bonus R&R. Even though I’ve been unwell while looking after my wife and family I feel I’ve gained more energy than I’ve lost and that’s what it’s all about.

• I’ve had some (limited) insight into my wife’s full-time mum/housewife position. There are several parts I haven’t or won’t end up doing but it does help me appreciate the hard work she puts in every day for no pay, managing a home while giving attention to and looking after a child!

• this situation has given me further clarity on what I want our lifestyle to look like as described in R&R 2.

I would also go so far as to say that the way of thinking I described previously has helped to lift much of the depression and anxiety in my life. I’ll talk more about this in detail in the coming series posts, but for now, let’s have a look at my symptoms during the situation.

Symptoms

I’m still testing negative, but because my wife tested positive and I have symptoms, I thought I’d share my symptoms with you for each day in case you haven’t had COVID before or if you have, to give you a comparison. For reference, my wife and I have both had four vaccinations and our child has had two.

My wife described generally having a bit of a runny nose with sneezing and then dry mouth and throat. My son generally had an occasional runny nose and sneezing, but that has mostly stopped,

Day 1 –during the flight back to where we live

Runny nose, felt like my usual reaction to air conditioning (allergies, sensitive nose).

Day 2 – went back to work for a day

Headaches, fatigue, and runny nose. General feeling of having a cold. NB Fatigue is normal for me but this was a whole other level where I just crashed and switched off with little warning.

Day 3 – at home

Runny nose. Extreme fatigue/sleepiness whenever not moving. Wife tested positive and began quarantine. Had to leave work before everyone else arrived to go home and look after our child.

Day 4 – at home

Dry mouth and throat, chest feeling weak and strained (like after heavy cardio).

Day 5 – at home

Dry mouth, throat. Extreme fatigue. All energy depleted, even walking from one room to another was challenging. Better after a nap.

Day 6 – at home

Dry mouth and throat, a little tired. Still testing negative – maybe it’s all psychological? But my symptoms began before my wife tested positive. Strange…

Day 7 – at home

Same as the previous day.

I’ll update this page if anything of interest happens…

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Reflection

What’s your experience of COVID? Has it made you re-think any parts of your life?

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References

Jocko Podcast – Jocko Motivation “GOOD” (From Jocko Podcast)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IdTMDpizis8

Monochrome Glasses – Mental Health – A spike in cases, threat of lockdown: my feelings https://thejourneyx.com/2021/05/18/mental-health-a-spike-in-cases-threat-of-lockdown-my-feelings/

Monochrome Glasses –R&R 2
https://thejourneyx.com/2023/02/12/rr-2/