In late November, my Caregiver's Diary focused on how caregivers need care, too.
I didn't realize at the time how soon that would prove to be true, and in a much different way than I had imagined at the time I wrote that.
A week after Thanksgiving, I started to get a scratchy throat and dry cough. I wasn't overly worried because there had been times in the last couple of years when I had gotten that and it went away within a couple of days.
This one didn't, though.
There were two days of dry coughing, followed by a day of nose-twitching and then another day of sneezing combined with the cough.
I tested myself for COVID twice over the course of what I went through, and both tests thankfully came up negative.
Though I didn't go to the doctor, my Googling told me it was likely a cold or possibly bronchitis, both of which I've had before and both of which called for OTC meds, which I armed myself with as I prepared to do battle.
And quite the battle it was, made all the more frustrating by the fact that I wasn't able to perform full caregiver responsibilities for Mom.
In fact, the roles were reversed a bit as I had to rely on her more than I had in a long time because my body simply would not let me do the things I needed to do. It just wouldn't. This was hard for me as my mom has mobility and stamina challenges and I didn't want to put any pressure on her. Though she can still walk and get around, it's not something she can do for more than a few minutes at a time.
I quarantined myself in my room for about three days, only coming out for bathroom breaks, and also water breaks at night, the latter of which I would usually do after mom went to bed. She wasn't allowed in because I was terrified I'd get her sick, so any meals we ordered out for were put outside my bedroom door, along with with occasional soda or water.
Though I know she struggled some, she helped me as best she could, heating up chicken soup here and there and offering to do things for me that I knew she couldn't. But she put it out there anyway because as everyone knows, when moms want something to happen for their family members, they figure out ways to make it happen.
We're nearly two weeks out from when I first started showing symptoms, and though I'm still coughing (thanks, in part, to an annoying nasal drip) and my body hurts from it, I'm better enough to work again, do household chores, take mom to appointments, and try and catch up on Christmas decorating around the house, including the tree.
My recovery is slow going, and I'll admit the battle zapped some of the Christmas spirit right out of me. The illness took a lot out of me, as they often do to people, especially when night comes, when as we all know any lingering cough gets worse, making sleep difficult.
At this point, I still can't taste or smell anything. I get tired pretty quickly, too.
But though it was tough to go through, one thing it reaffirmed for Mom and me was to show her that she's still "got it" when it comes to the mom thing and that I need to stop trying to be EveryWoman and slow down.
Related VIP reading -->> Caregiver's Diary Part 1: The Pain
