Progress

Yesterday I started feeling good enough that when I went to put my medicine back in the medicine cabinet, I instead started a project where I took everything out/off of the three shelves we have, tossed out anything extra expired or unneeded, and rearranged it.  Top shelf is the sick shelf; cough drops, cough syrup, cold medicines, throat lozenges, etc.  Middle shelf is the problem stuff shelf; sleep aids, digestion/stomach aids, allergy meds, etc., and bottom shelf is pain killers and daily vitamins. I have a lot of different pain killers. Motrin, Aleve, Tylenol, Advil, Excedrin.  Fortunately for me, I don't have to take as much of that stuff any more now that I have other options for headaches. But it still doesn't hurt to have stuff just in case. You never know when you'll need an anti-inflammatory vs a pain blocker, etc.  Plus I have a couple of big guns left, a little Tylenol with Codeine, and a little hydrocodone.  I can't really take the hydrocodone, but if something bad enough came along for any of us, it's good to have it. That stuff makes my mouth dry as cotton, actually GIVES me a headache, and makes me really queasy, plus makes me feel weird and not in a good way.  I guess we never have to worry about me abusing or getting hooked on that stuff. ;)

Anyway, it felt good getting all that organized, and I threw away a LOT of stuff. Some of the vitamins we had expired in like 2004. If I haven't taken them in the last 18-19 years, the odds are good I don't really need them.  And if I'd done that before I went to the store, I wouldn't have had to buy more cough syrup, because I had some. Of course it expired in 2019, but it had never been opened, so is it REALLY no good?  ;)  

Steve really liked that, so today he started in on one of our closets. It's a storage closet, and a place where I had all the artsy craftsy stuff we did for Kaylee's projects and stuff in school, among other things.  We also got rid of a lot of stuff from out of there, another almost full trash bag worth.  I won't be needing glitter or a "Happy Birthday" Princess banner again any time soon, and if I somehow do, I know where to get it, cheap.

Last night was my last night in the front of the house. I slept really well up there, actually, with the fan on. The only time I was bothered by outside road noise was on Trash Day, as they're louder than my fan.  When I moved out, I took all the bedding off and washed it, washed the pillow cases AND the pillows.  Took antibacterial wipes and wiped down all the surfaces I touched, lamp switch, fan switch, overhead light switch, bed headboard (don't remember touching that but hey, never know).  Took Lysol to the top quilt as it wouldn't fit in my washer, and after it sits for about 48 hours, any germies that survived the initial Lysol onslaught won't survive any more anyway.   I shut the door behind me, wiped down the doorknob, and felt Mission Complete. I moved into the bathroom up there, but I still have a couple things left to do in there.

Kaylee sent me a picture of her hotel room and hotel bathroom. So I sent her a picture of the up front bathroom and bedroom. She said "Stay out of my bathroom, sickie". I told her I was cleaning it, and she said "Oh. Proceed".  Your majesty!  :D  She is staying in a hotel for another two days, just to give us all a little extra time. She said everyone around her at school was getting sick, and she really doesn't want to get sick again.  Last time she had Covid it hit her really hard, and the vaccine hit her hard too. She's the sickie, she's been sick a bunch lately, with weird things. So she'll stay there a couple days, rest up, and then see how we're doing here.

As for how we're doing, Steve only ever had a sore throat and a light cough, he's more than 5 days post infection, no fever, and is probably not contagious any more. I had more severe symptoms, but it's been 11 days for me post infection, and according to the CDC, I should be in the clear as well as far as being infectious. I still have a cough, but with my crappy lungs I will probably be coughing for the rest of the winter (I hope not).  We're both feeling better, just weak. We haven't been eating much, we haven't been moving much, so we have some stamina to build back up. I started yesterday and today, we both did.  

We moved the treadmill out of the living room and into Kaylee's room, to open up space for the Christmas tree.  Then we actually went out to the garage and got the tree down from the 'attic' out there and brought it inside. I dragged it to the front of the house. That's as far as we've gotten so far.  I'll need to open the box and start assembling the tree. 

I came to the back of the house and washed all of our bedding and such from our room, and then I washed all the throw blankets that we have back here in the living room that we put over our laps to keep us cozy, three of them. All that took all day, but it's done, and beds are made and everything is nice and clean and smells good too.  :)  And it kept me moving most of the day.  I'd get sweaty and tired a lot more easily than normal, but I'd rest, and then go back to it when I felt ready.

Ann is on what, Day 3? She still so far just has a runny nose and a cough. No fever, her oxygen levels are still 97%, and she seems to be doing fine.  Cathy said her voice is a little more hoarse or froggy than before, maybe from the drainage.  She hates the cough syrup, but it helps her little cough.  :)

Cathy is going home tomorrow morning and Steve and I will take back over.  I will probably go out to get the mail and get some more drugs from CVS for Ann tomorrow. Although I *should* be non-contagious, I will wear a mask in public for a little longer.  

Steve and I both took our last dose of Paxlovid this morning. I'm so glad to have that done. That stuff left such an icky taste in your mouth, for hours. It tasted terrible and that after-taste. Yuck.  So we celebrated with our final dose.  Speaking of taste. I couldn't even taste and I could taste that stuff in the back of my throat for hours.  lol  But as far as taste, if I stick my nose right in something, I can smell it faintly. Like if I sniff a candle directly, or put soap on my hands and bring my hands up to my face. Something my nose isn't right in the middle of, I don't smell, like the cat when she poops in the other room, or my coffee brewing, or Steve cooking something that should smell.  On taste, if it's a mild flavor I don't really taste it, but if it's stronger, I can taste it faintly.  So like plain eggs, I can't really taste, but my coffee, or the sausage thing that Michelle dropped off for us, or even a Hershey kiss, I can taste that lightly. It's like it's there, just muted.  I'm just glad to have this much back already and I hope the rest comes back quickly. That's a weird and sort of unpleasant feeling.

So, we're all still alive, we're on the mend, we've gotten a lot done in the last couple of days, and we're looking forward to life actually resuming. I've had about enough of sitting on my butt for awhile, thank you. And I haven't flown in 11 days and counting, which is just wrong.  It's gonna be awhile longer, too, because my sinuses aren't quite up to snuff and no need to hurt my head.  ;)

Onward.