There is a well known story of a poor man who went to the rabbi for advice about his home that was too crowded and too small. The rabbi told him to bring his animals into the house. He went back to the rabbi complaining of the noise and the dirt and telling him that it was more crowded than ever. The rabbi then told him to remove the animals after which the man savored the peace and was grateful for the space he had.
Well, that recently happened to me: After 10 months of walking on egg shells, Corona came knocking at our door.
First, Dov was exposed by a child he interacts with outside our home. He had to quarantine in another part of the house. I was lonely, and although I had Maria's help with many household tasks I had to lift and transfer Yossi all by myself for those ten days. (It was especially difficult because Yossi is still recovering from surgery and not carrying his full weight.)
Around the end of Dov's quarantine, Maria started to feel like like she had a small cold and her back which sometimes bothers her was flaring up. She took two days off and then returned. During that time, I started to get a sore throat and stuffy nose. I didn't think anything of it because its normal to get colds in the winter. A few days passed, and Dov and Miriam Simcha weren't feeling so great so I decided to get tested as a precaution. Everyone tested positive including Maria as well as Yossi who had no symptoms at all. We decided not to test Miriam Simcha because she clearly had the symptoms. So, we began quarantine (Dov for the second time) without the benefit of Maria's help. Although our bout of covid was mild, it was difficult to work and care for the children, and do Yossi's teletherapy while both feeling quite unwell. The house was a big mess (Miriam Simcha is a good toddler emptying out every shelf and cabinet that she can get to) and Yossi's feeding tube came out of his stomach several times. Contact tracing called way too much (separate phone calls by separate representatives daily) until I discovered that we could opt out. Our amazing neighbor picked up groceries and we did our best to support each other through it.
Most concerning was the big increase in Yossi's seizures that is still an ongoing issue. Although his seizures have never gone away, recently, they have been well controlled. In the past 5 years, he typically has up to a handful of seizures in a month. Around Chanukah, we started to see 1-2 seizures daily but once covid hit he was having hundreds of seizures in an hour. We could not take him to the hospital or doctor's office so as not to infect other people and we are very fortunate to have an incredible neurologist, pediatrician and pharmacist to help us manage everything from home. We tried a new medication that didn't work . Its nearly a month later and Yossi is still having seizures so we will be trying epidiolex (a strain of medical marjauna) to try and stop them.
We each finished quarantine on a different day (based on the day of each person's positive test or first symptoms) but the fatigue extended well beyond that. As we started to resume our regular some of yossi's workers asked for us all to get negative tests before they return. Miriam Simcha's test came back positive and as it was her first test she had to quarantine again as a precaution even though she did not have symptoms. I'm happy to say that this week we are all negative and feeling well, Yossi is finally in school, and MARIA IS BACK! Our typical hectic routine feels so slow and calm in comparison to the last month and much like the poor man in the story, I'm grateful for everything I have in my life.
