When COVID-19 hits home

This morning I got to eat breakfast with my dad. My dad spent 19 days in the hospital (seven of those days on a ventilator) due to COVID-19, so both of us are extremely aware of how special this moment is. He lost over 25 lbs in the hospital, so we are working on fattening him up. He still needs oxygen and now a walker as it takes all his energy to walk. I’m forever grateful for all the prayers for my dad’s healing and can’t get over how lucky we are. It’s going to be a long road to recovery, but we’re all ready for the battle and beyond excited to have him home!

These past few weeks have been a complete nightmare, as my whole family in Colorado got sick from COVID-19. Below is an edited version of my journal during this horrific time. I am sharing all this raw information because I was shocked at how different each of our symptoms were and thought it was important to share. I also can’t get over how many people are not taking this virus seriously. I KNOW IT’S A LONG POST so if you are not up for reading, please just understand that THIS COVID-19 IS REAL, AND IT'S SCARY, AND IT'S VICIOUS AND YOU NEED TO STAY INDOORS. STAY HOME TO PROTECT EVERYONE ESPECIALLY ALL THE ESSENTIAL WORKERS AND HEALTH HEROES! 

FEB 20: Made it to Colorado after a fun RV trip with my parents for the past two months. Looking forward to settling in a bit before I adventure off to visit Travis at his port calls. Can’t believe it has been over a month since he was deployed. 

FEB 24: My flight to Vietnam, to visit Travis at his port call, was canceled by Delta, because it was flying through South Korea, which has now been hit hard by the Coronavirus. Super bummed. Trying to find another flight through a different country so I can see Travis.

FEB 28: Monitoring Coronavirus, it is probably best to not visit Travis in Vietnam. I don’t want to risk getting sick and bringing back Coronavirus to mom and dad who are older and at higher risk. Will look into visiting him at other ports in March and April. 

MAR 5: Jackie is starting to freak out about COVID-19, so she went on a huge grocery store run to stock up on tons of meat and food for the next few weeks. Mom and dad decided it would be best to stop going to social events (oh retired life!). Travis’ ship still pulled into Vietnam. Don’t think that is a good idea with COVID-19 spreading throughout Asia. I hope everyone is safe and they don't get sick. 

MAR 7: Been monitoring CDC and WHO. They have not implemented too many travel restrictions and don’t seem to be concerned about the Coronavirus hitting the USA. I hope it stays this way, but with how connected the world is… you never know! 

MAR 9: Travis left Vietnam. He had a great time. So bummed I was not there, but it was the best move to keep all of us healthy. There will be more port visits! 

MAR 10: Made dad go to the chiropractor for the first time. It was like pulling teeth to get him there, but I know he will benefit from it since he has lower back pain. 

MAR 12: Dad is not feeling well. He has shivers and body aches. Could possibly be chiropractor, but shivers is a strange reaction. To be safe we will all quarantine ourselves until he starts to feel better. You never know with COVID-19 hitting the USA now. 

MAR 14: We put dad in the guest room as he still isn’t feeling well. Monitoring all his symptoms. Said he still just doesn’t feel well. GI issues and threw up. Slight fever of 99.9. All of this is definitely not from the chiropractor. Maybe he has the flu? Military has implemented a travel ban for all military personnel and spouses until May 11th. Looks like I won’t be leaving CO or visiting Travis at any ports now. Super bummed!!

MAR 16: Dad not getting better, just still very achy and not looking good. Got a phone call from some local friends that don’t feel well. Mom and dad had played bridge with them last week. These friends had been in contact with the 80 year old bridge player that passed away recently from COVID-19. She is the first known Colorado Springs death from COVID-19. CDC says symptoms could take 2-14 days to show up. Took dad to ER to get tested for COVID-19. They did a full workup and everything looks good, EKG, Bloodwork, Lung X-Ray. Tested him for flu and other viruses. Said we will get COVID results in two days. Recommended getting pulse oximeter to monitor his oxygen levels just in case. Don’t want it to go below 90.  

MAR 17: My chest feels tight and I feel super fatigued. I slept all day. Jackie said her chest feels tight too. It is sort of like someone is standing on my chest. Is it just the emotional stress of dad not feeling well?

MAR 18: Dad was feeling better yesterday and had no fever, but is feeling a bit worse today. Giving him Tylenol as we read if it is the virus, ibuprofen makes the virus symptoms worse. Flu virus tests came back negative. They said COVID-19 test results are delayed and it could take up to a week. Looks like we will be staying indoors longer than expected. Praying it is not COVID-19, but getting nervous since the other test results came back negative. He is still in the guest bedroom. Mom enters to listen to his lungs twice a day. We sit outside the door and have conversations with him. He doesn’t have much energy and doesn’t want to eat anything. Not sure if he is even drinking any of the fluids we have been giving him at the door. Hope he is staying hydrated. Kaya is acting super strange. She won’t come near me or come downstairs. Her ears are down and she seems lethargic. They say dogs can’t get COVID-19 so I hope maybe she is just sad from dad being sick. 

MAR 19: Couldn’t sleep last night, super worried about dad. I have an annoying headache and my neck and chest ache. Perhaps it is stress induced? Just feel strange. Dad now has a cough and shortness of breath increasing. He denies it, but we can hear him having to take deeper breaths. Oxygen fluctuates around 93 and 90. Small fever of 99.9 to 100.3. Tylenol helping. Forcing him to sleep sitting up and he’s not happy about it. Sudafed helping with congestion. Still has no appetite. 

MAR 20: Travis was able to get a SAT phone to call me this morning. It was so nice to hear his voice and give him updates over the phone vs. just email. Dad got worse overnight. Coughing a lot. Sudafed not helping with congestion. He doesn’t look good. He won’t eat. Says he just can’t swallow and he feels nauseous. How was he feeling better three days ago and now took a turn for the worse so fast?? Mom listened to his lungs and confirms they are getting worse. Oxygen dropping to low 80’s when he gets up and walks from chair to bed. Decided to take him to ER. Mom and dad were there for four hours. Hospital was debating on admitting him as his lungs didn’t look much different than his previous X-Ray on Monday. Once they saw his oxygen drop from moving around they decided it would be best to monitor him for the night. So dad is officially in the hospital. I know they will take good care of him. Took Kaya on a walk and when we got back in the front door she ran to the guest bedroom where dad was being isolated. She searched all over for him crying and then jumped on his bed. We aren’t allowed in the room yet so we had to get her out with treats. I am thinking she is super sensitive to the fact that dad has been sick and that is why she has been acting strange. We gave both dogs a bath. CDC thinks the virus can be spread by touching your dog and then someone else petting the dog and picking up the virus. They also still don’t know much about this damn virus so who knows! 

MAR 21: Doctor called us to say Dad is not doing well. His lungs are not improving and they have him on a lot of oxygen. They need to move him to ICU and high possibility he will go on a ventilator. How is this possible? He is 73, but extremely healthy. I dropped to the floor in tears. Still have not received his COVID-19 test results. Doctors are confident based on all his symptoms he has it. May put him on trial drugs when they get his test results. This drug is used for malaria and they have seen great results with fighting the virus. WTF. This is an absolute nightmare!!! Visitors are not allowed in any hospitals now, but due to the fast deterioration of my dad, the nurse talked to the higher ups and made an exception for my mom to get gowned up and visit dad. She stayed for an hour as she didn’t want to chance getting sick. My dad is scared. We are all scared. I really don’t feel well. Overall just don’t feel normal… maybe the stress of all this and watching dad get so sick so fast. FaceTimed Jen to keep her updated on everything. She is thinking about driving out here to be with us. We told her no, that is a horrible idea. She needs to stay home and be safe. 

MAR 22: Very rough day. I have had GI issues the past two days and feel super weak today. This is how my dad’s symptoms started. I woke up in the middle of the night covered in sweat and had a low-grade fever of 100.8. Body is achy, it feels like I have the flu, but I haven’t left the house in over 10 days…how could I get the flu? Tried to walk up the stairs and my heart rate went to 176. Is this the beginning of COVID-19? I don’t have the main symptoms listed on CDC. Mom and Jackie dragged me out of the house so all three of us could get tested at a local military base. Fought my mom on this. Did not want to get tested…what is the point? Results are taking forever to get. I don’t need a test to know I am super sick. Mom says if we have to be hospitalized they can give us trial drugs and they are only giving them to those that are confirmed COVID-19 so as to not waste the drugs. While we were waiting to get tested, we got a phone call from the doctor that dad has to go on a ventilator. We all broke down in tears in front of the nurses. We were a hot mess. Doctor said that dad has a 50/50 chance and it is really up to prayers now. Still no test results on COVID-19, so they decided to re-test him and are starting him on the trial drugs. Thankful for the Doctor’s calm voice as he talked us through everything. I can’t imagine how scary this is for him and all the health workers who are seeing this vicious virus first hand. We were able to call dad and talk to him one last time. So hard not to cry on the phone. Want to stay strong for him. We can’t let him know I am feeling sick. Getting tested for COVID-19 was surreal. The nurse came in the room with a full gown, gloves and face mask with her own oxygen. They swabbed nose for flu and throat for COVID-19. Very uncomfortable. My heart rate sitting would not go below 150. I could hear Jackie bawling in the room next door from the news on dad. Nurses put us in our own waiting room afterwards until we were able to calm down a bit and they had a family psychologist come check in on us. How could so much change in a week?? They sat and talked with us about everything and the unknown of this virus. We tried to give them a list of all the symptoms my dad had and I now have. They are still trying to figure this virus out. The unknown is just so scary. I needed a wheelchair to get back to the car as my heart rate would not go down and I was too weak to move. I have to isolate myself in my room and stay away from mom, Jackie and the pups. 

MAR 23: Got another SAT phone call from Travis and told him I wasn’t feeling well. I debated on whether I should tell him as I don’t want him to stress. I decided it was the best decision as I would want to know if I were in his position. He is trying to see if he can maybe come home. I told him that is pointless as I am isolated and I don’t want him to get sick…he is the safest on the boat. Even without the test we know dad has COVID-19. It would be too much of a coincidence if not. I am now having all the symptoms dad did and fear I have COVID-19 as well as I’ve never felt so sick in my life. Travis’ voice made me feel better. Missing him a lot. Today is technically day three of my major symptoms. The body aches, headache, slight shortness of breath is debilitating, but now I have no appetite. I don’t want to eat anything. Mom and Jackie keep leaving me food at the door. All I want to do is sleep. Fuji comes to the door and cries to get let in. I wish I could cuddle him. I know I need to stay hydrated and tea is the only thing that sounds good. I have no energy to get out of bed, but I am feeling okay. Family psychologist from base called to check in on me. Told her we are doing okay, just a bit scared which is a valid feeling. 

MAR 24: Three days of dad being on the ventilator. Four days of my own symptoms similar to dad. Four days of sleeping sitting up to protect my lungs and I can’t wait to get back to sleeping laying flat. No visitors allowed in any hospital due to COVID-19. We call the nurses station twice a day to get updates on dad. His lungs are getting worse. Nothing is improving. This can’t be real. I wake up in the middle of naps and tell myself this is all a nightmare. Travis did not call me today and I did not get an email from him. They turn off the internet a lot on the ship. I hope he is okay. I hope he is not stressing about me and dad getting sick. I am worried about him. Finally decided I needed to get in the backyard and get some sun this morning. Used all my energy to walk out of my room and onto a blanket in the grass. Feels good to get fresh air. Breathing is getting harder. I have had bronchitis numerous times and this is different. My lungs feel like they are on fire and I feel like someone is standing on my chest, but I have no congestion or cough. Monitoring my oxygen with the oximeter and it goes from 90-91. Need to take deep breaths and stay positive. Mom brought me grilled cheese. I still can’t eat. Had a full crying breakdown. Four days of this and I don’t know how much longer I can fight it. I am terrified I am going to go downhill fast, just like dad. We all saw it first hand and it is so scary. This virus is trying so hard to win. I am on the brink of giving up, but know I cannot give up. The moment you give up is the moment the virus wins. Am I really thinking all of this? I can’t tell mom and Jackie. I don’t want them to know. I am starting to lose my mind.  Hospital called to confirm that my mom has all rights to make decisions on the care of my dad and how to proceed if he does not get off the ventilator. I told my mom I only want to hear good news from the doctors from here on out. She wanted to know what to tell me if it is not good news and I said I refuse to hear it. I need to get better so that when dad gets better, I can help take care of him. 

MAR 25: So thankful for all our neighbors and friends leaving food and essential supplies on our front doorstep as we haven’t had any energy to cook. Turns out Travis may not be safe from COVID-19 on the ship. They have a few confirmed COVID-19 cases. They think the sailors got it from their port visit in Vietnam because 14 days after leaving their port people started getting sick. Now I am super nervous about Travis. I have seen how fast this virus can spread. My mom and sister now have symptoms too (I hope they are not getting sick). An aircraft carrier is a perfect breeding ground for this virus to spread with all the shared spaces and shared rooms. Had some energy to get on Instagram and FB and see that so many people are out and about, not worried at all about this virus. They should be extremely worried. I can’t get over how scary this virus is and how my dad got sick and it took me a week to show any symptoms. I am nervous about all the people out walking around who could be sick and are asymptomatic and don’t know and are spreading this. I decided to make a Facebook post to share our story so people start to realize this is real. I would hate to see any of my friends go through this. It is like having the flu + bronchitis x 2000 and I know I don't even have some of the worst symptoms. I wake up covered in sweat, which means I am most likely spiking a fever at night. My chest still feels like someone is standing on it and the shortness of breath is debilitating. My body aches so bad I just moan in pain. I can't walk from my bed to the bathroom without my heart rate elevating to 150. I have lost all appetite and don't want to eat or drink anything, even though I know I need to. I will try to eat and I just can't swallow. I feel defeated. I am constantly nauseous and my head feels like 1000 lbs. My eyes ache and itch and I am starting to get pink eye. Still having GI issues. All of these symptoms come in waves. I start to feel better and then I feel like absolute shit. It is beyond terrifying. I have been writing down all my symptoms each day in case anything happens to me the doctors can have a record of how this virus is affecting me and possibly many others. I asked my mom to find me anti-nauseous medicine and she said we can’t take any medicine as they don’t know how the virus interacts with medicines. Once again the unknown is making all of this beyond terrifying.

MAR 26: Travis pulled into port and I woke up to a text message from him. Deployment can be difficult sometimes, but add the stress of COVID-19 on top of it and it’s a whole different level of stress. Missing him so much and wish he was here. I can’t believe we are so far away from each other and both dealing with this virus. It shows how fast COVID-19 has spread across the world. Today I feel a bit better, but I can’t even get excited about this since I saw my dad get better and then get really sick. I have to make it through today and hope tomorrow I get even better. Mom and Jackie have some nasty coughs and they say they are tired. I still don’t want to eat. I sip on fruit juices and munch on clementines. I have been downstairs in my room, but if mom and Jackie get sick, I need to be able to move around and help them and cook food. Can I make it up the stairs without my heart rate hitting 176 again? I may need to leave my room soon to start helping. Neighbors have been reaching out and are starting to bring us some food. All of our energy levels are dropping and we all need to eat. So thankful for their help. Have had a lot of people reach out to me after my FB post. I have little energy to respond, but so thankful for all the positive energy and prayers. I can’t get over how many people care. It brings me happy tears. Got a text alert that Colorado is now on a Stay-at-Home order. THANK GOD. People will hopefully start taking this seriously and stay home. If anything to protect themselves, others and the health heroes.  It has been 14 days since we all decided to self quarantine. It has been seven days since my dad was admitted to the hospital. So many mixed feelings. My dad has to be one of the first COVID-19 patients to be sent to the ICU here in Colorado. Is that a good or a bad thing? Do they know enough about this virus to help him? Is it all just trial drugs and hoping for the best? How long do they give him drugs for? I guess the one good thing about this is they haven't run out of rooms or ventilators. I know that Italy has run into this issue and it is highly possible the USA could too. I can’t even imagine. All of this doesn’t feel real. My dad has to survive. 

MAR 27: Mom cleaned out the guest room where we had been isolating dad before he went to the hospital. She found food stashed everywhere and full cups of juice and tea. I now get it, going through this myself, how Dad just didn’t want to eat and drink. I have to keep forcing myself to at least stay hydrated. Dad finally got his test results back and he tested positive for COVID-19. No surprise there. Saw my FB post has been shared 1.5K times. Wow! The message is being shared to take this virus seriously. I want people to know how real this is and how you can be sick and spread the virus without even knowing it. I have had so many people reach out to me and my family. I am speechless. The prayers are coming from all over the world and these prayers are going to save my dad. I am staying positive. I can’t watch or read the news anymore, it is too devastating due to all the deaths and the spread of this virus. Young people are dying now. No one is safe. Mom is very tired and her cough is getting worse. Jackie has a nasty cough too. I have decided they are both sick now too, with the actual symptoms CDC says to watch out for (minus the fact that they don’t have a fever). I made the executive decision to leave my self-isolation in my room downstairs and had to walk around the house to the front door in order to avoid walking up the stairs. I just don’t have the energy to walk up stairs.  I moved myself upstairs on the same level of the kitchen. I am sleeping in the master bedroom. Mom is sleeping in a chair to stay upright and Jackie is sleeping on the couch. This way we are all close to each other and can spend less energy moving around getting food and staying hydrated. We have been checking our fever daily and sharing the oximeter to check our oxygen levels. The plus side of this decision to not self isolate is the pups get to sleep in my room again and I get all the pup snuggles. Wrote tons of positive words on sticky notes and have them on the wall next to my bed. Anytime I panic about all of this I read them and think about all the prayers we have for my dad’s recovery. Nurse said that dad is on a second round of the trial drugs, antibiotics, and steroids. They are monitoring his heart, as 20% of the patients develop heart issues due to this virus. He is stable and his x-ray is showing a bit of improvement. The nurse held the phone up to his ear so we could talk to him and tell him how much we love him. He is sedated and cannot respond, but she said he can hear us. 

MAR 28: Dad is still on the ventilator. Doctors say he is improving and needing less oxygen so they think they will remove it soon. Could this be the beginning of only good news? A nurse held the phone up to dad’s ear again and we told him everything we were up to and how much we loved him. He had more energy, was less sedated, and was able to ask for a pen and paper. He wrote he loves and misses us. I needed that so bad. He is fighting so hard to beat this virus. I am starting to feel better. I have enough energy to move around the house a bit and take the dogs out to go to the bathroom. I pass time by sleeping, drinking a lot of tea, and now re-watching Sex and the City on my iPad. My eyes get super tired fast and are hard to keep open so I spend my other extra time listening to podcasts and audible books. Still sleeping a lot. When will I start to feel like myself again? Travis has been moved off the ship and quarantined at a gym in Guam on cots. The Navy is still trying to figure out how to handle this whole situation. Pandemics are not in their handbooks. Not quite sure if that is a better place to be than on the ship?!? I am praying he does not get this. Mom and Jackie not getting worse. Mom said she woke up today for the first time not wondering if she will have to go to the emergency room. That was a delight to hear! Hopefully we are all on the up and up. Found out that Romel (Jen’s MIL) has been hospitalized with COVID-19. I can’t believe we now know another person with this virus. 

MAR 29: They removed dad’s ventilator today. It is a miracle. He is one step closer to getting better. Doctor said it is possible he may have to go back on it, but they don’t want to keep patients on it for too long and he is improving a bit. Praying he stays off of it and gets better every day. When we got the phone call, we all cheered and danced around the room. Fuji and Kaya ran circles around us. Perhaps they are feeding off our energy? I haven’t seen Kaya move out of her bed the past few days and now she has her happy ears up. Travis was tested for COVID-19 today. They are testing those quarantined in the gym, but still adding more people to the gym. Not quite sure the Navy understands what type of virus they are dealing with. If one person in that gym is sick it is going to spread very fast. They are monitoring everyone. I just hope the people that do get sick have very mild symptoms like Jackie and mom. Still overwhelmed with the amount of prayers and good vibes being sent our way. I know this is what is healing my dad. Never underestimate the power of prayer. 

MAR 30: We anxiously waited for my dad to call us yesterday, but he never did. We spoke to the nurse this morning and he said from his understanding, my dad did not want to talk to anyone yesterday. An hour or so later we got a phone call from dad. I can’t tell you how excited I was to see his name show up on mom’s phone. The little things. His voice was super raspy and he struggled to talk but he told us he missed us and loved us. We are keeping from him that we have all been sick with COVID-19. We don’t want to stress him out and want him to get better. He called us again at night to say goodnight. Travis’ ship has over 70 cases of COVID-19 now. They need to start doing something to protect these sailors or it is going to get out of hand.  

MAR 31: Kaya snuggled up to me this morning. She hasn’t done that since dad left for the hospital. Perhaps she knows we are all feeling better and can tell that dad is doing better too. It is the strangest thing how much dogs can read your energy. Dad called us super early and very confused. He said he was running out of time and had to get out of this hospital. We had to explain to him that he was in the hospital due to the virus and that we were not allowed to visit him. He said “Okay.” He said he couldn’t really breathe and only one lung was working. We had to calm him down and told him to get some rest so he could heal and get back home to us. I did some research on post ventilator recovery and they said confusion is a common side effect of being sedated. It can last a few days or a week. He must be so confused and scared. I can’t even imagine. Being in ICU and having no idea what day it is or what time it is and not allowed to see any familiar faces. Travis’ ship is now all over the news due to a letter the captain wrote which was leaked to the media. Pretty sure the Navy will go ahead and fire him over this one, but he is truly trying to protect all those sailors and somehow seems to be the only person that realizes how severe this virus is. Do they really still plan on quarantining Travis in a gym with tons of other people? They need to come up with a better plan and hopefully this will light a fire under some people’s butts to get them moving on a better solution. I had enough energy to cook a meal today and that was about it. Napped a lot. Just super fatigued, but shortness of breath getting better and all body aches are gone. This is also the first morning I woke up without being covered in sweat. Perhaps the night sweats are gone finally!

APR 1: Finally got the phone call to tell me my test was positive for COVID-19. Duh! I could have told you that one after being that sick. Jackie’s test also came back positive. Health department called us to check in and see who we have had contact with in the past two weeks. They said we can technically leave our house if we have no fever for 72 hours or ten days from our first symptoms. However, I don’t plan on leaving anytime soon. They still don’t know much about this virus and I don’t want to chance getting other people sick. So thankful for all the at-home delivery meals I have been getting shipped to our house. We have no need to leave. I wanted to know if we are now immune to COVID-19. The answer is they still don’t know. Sweet…I haven’t been able to smell or taste anything for the past two weeks, but I was able to taste some soup today and it was glorious. Dad got moved out of ICU to a regular hospital room. They are going to start feeding him normal food soon as it looks like he will not have to go back on the ventilator. Thank you, God! Dad doesn’t have an iPhone so we weren’t able to FaceTime him, but he called us twice today to say hi and see how we were doing. He said he is very tired, but can breathe a bit better. He is using 45L of oxygen right now. He is working with PT so he can get out of the hospital ASAP he says. I am glad he is feeling better. I really feel like he is over the bad hump of this and that all the continued prayers are going to keep helping him heal. Travis’ COVID-19 test came back negative. He is still in the gym with tons of other people. They need to move them to hotel rooms and isolate everyone from each other. He says that is their plan and hopefully he will get a hotel room soon. A few people from the gym have been tested positive and removed to be isolated somewhere else in Guam. 

APR 2: Feeling much better today now that I no longer feel numb. I think it was safe to say I didn’t have cabin fever up to this moment, as I was so focused on taking care of dad in the beginning and then I got so sick I couldn’t do anything else but sleep and fight to get better. Today I have feelings back…strange to feel emotions besides just being sick. Thankful I get to text Travis every day and FaceTime him since he is in port. So thankful he does not have COVID-19. He was able to talk me out of all my emotions. So much fear of the unknown and so much worry about dad getting better. It has hit me how much we have been through as a family. It’s been a lot to deal with. Trying to stay positive, but sometimes it is really hard. 

APR 3: Dad is improving, day by day. He is using less oxygen and sounding more like himself on the phone. It is going to take a while for his voice to get back to normal after being on the ventilator. So nice to hear the good news every time we call the nurses. He is not a big fan of the hospital food. Another sign that he is getting better as dad loves his food. We put together a care package of sudoku, snacks, letters, pictures, crosswords and candy. Mom and Jackie dropped it off at the hospital for them to take up to his room. If we can’t be there, at least a few things that can make him smile can be. Mom and Jackie also told me that there were a lot of cars out on the road when they left the house. What could all these people be doing? Colorado is in a mandatory stay at home lockdown. I am appalled. They say Colorado still hasn’t hit the peak of this virus, which means more people will be getting sick and they are going to run out of ventilators and rooms if everyone gets sick at the same time. Also, can’t stop thinking about the whole healthcare staff working to help keep so many people alive. Argh, I could go on forever about this. I just hope our story is reinforcing how important it is to stay home. Maybe the Colorado people don’t get it yet. The captain of Travis’ ship got fired. They have an amazing video of everyone cheering for him when he left the ship. Travis also got moved to a hotel room to be quarantined by himself, away from other people. Thank God! Took them long enough to move everyone. I guess they had to reopen all the hotels since they were closed due to this virus. Travis has a nice balcony view of the water and gets food delivered to his room three times a day. I can finally sleep at night knowing he is isolated and will be okay. 

APR 4-6: Dad has been continuing to improve every day. Slow and steady. He calls to tell us he is more than ready to come home. His oxygen use has been decreasing every day. He is now on 10L, but when he gets up to move around his oxygen levels drop so they want to keep him longer. He had a heart issue last night, which they were able to stop with medicine. They are now monitoring his heart. They think it was a fluke moment. He is really fighting this and says he misses us so much. He also wants real food. We are hoping he gets to come home soon. All of us are feeling a lot better. I am starting to nap less and finally had energy to sit down and read a book. Travis is trying to not go crazy in full quarantine by himself. I am patiently waiting for the 14 day quarantine to end so I know Travis is in the clear. Romel is getting better in the hospital as well. 

APR 7: Dad is continuing to improve every day. He is now down to 3L of oxygen. OT signed off on his therapy and PT has one more session with him. Dad thinks he is coming home tomorrow. He has been thinking that every day for the past week. He is very determined. He is starting to stress out as the Doctor said he will need to be quarantined in the house again and isolated from us so that we don’t get sick. We decided it was time to tell him that we all already had COVID-19 and were really sick when he was in ICU. He was in complete shock. He couldn’t believe we were all sick and he was so thankful we didn’t tell him earlier as he would have been super stressed about us. He said he was excited to get better so he can donate plasma and we told him we were all looking forward to doing the same thing. The SECNAV made a dumb move of getting on Travis’ ship intercom and calling the pervious CO “naive and stupid.” Some smart sailors taped the announcement and released it to the media, so now he has resigned. I can’t get over all the drama around Travis’ ship and deployment. This is just insane. It looks like more people are getting stay at home orders across the USA. I love seeing and hearing from so many friends that have been home for weeks now. A lot of people are trying to flatten the curve and stay safe. I am starting to read the news a bit more and it’s horrifying how sick some people are getting. They still don’t know why some people get sicker than others. Everything is still very unknown. As we start to get on the other side of this, I can’t stop thanking all the spirits and angels and higher beings that have been taking care of my whole family. We are so lucky. The nurse says dad is doing really well and most likely will come home tomorrow. 

APR 8: Dad called us this morning to say he is coming home and he can be picked up at 4pm. He is now down to 2L of oxygen and will need a walker. Mom and I went out and bought him a walker as well as tons of candy to give to the ICU staff, his hospital staff, and the charge nurse that helped get my mom in to see dad before he went on the ventilator. We finished sanitizing the house and put up a “WELCOME HOME” sign. The nurses never called to confirm he was being discharged so we gave them a call around 2pm to verify my dad was not just planning an escape. They confirmed he was good to go so we headed over to pick him up. We anxiously waited for dad to roll through those hospital doors and when he finally did, I felt like my heart stopped. I have no words to describe how amazing it was to see my dad’s smiling face. He is very skinny now. He lost over 25 lbs after being in the hospital for so long. Two weeks ago I couldn’t imagine this moment; my dad in critical condition, fighting for his life on the ventilator. I had to change my mindset fast, pray, and stay positive. We got dad in the car and brought him back to the house. He is still on 2L of oxygen and walking is extremely difficult since he is so weak. We are using the walker for small walks and our rolling office chair has been a great fill in wheel chair when needed. We fed dad some homemade chicken noodle soup and gave him tons of snacks before he decided to go to bed. We all sat in the bedroom and spent time talking to Dad. He said he doesn’t remember two weeks of being in the hospital or any part of being on the ventilator. We told him that was probably for the best.

APR 9: I got to eat breakfast with my dad today. It wasn’t anything glamorous as he used his walker to get from his chair in the bedroom to the bathroom sink and had to stop to rest. His oxygen level goes down when he does any sort of activity. We hung out by the bathroom shower as I sipped on my espresso and he ate his toast. It is a moment I will forever cherish. I’ve never been one to take anything for granted and I know that this situation could have gone so many different ways. We weren’t all hospitalized and we each were sick on different levels. The unknown of this virus has made these past couple of weeks terrifying, but the support and prayers from all our friends and family has helped us get through this. I read an article that most of the population will most likely get COVID-19. I am so thankful that this is how our story ended up and that it didn’t get any worse. It’s going to be a long recovery as my dad works on gaining his strength back and his lungs get strong enough to not need the extra oxygen. We all look forward to donating plasma to hopefully help others who get sick!

I know that was a lot of information and I just hope reading how scary all of this was will open some people’s eyes to how dangerous this virus is. With so much being unknown you have no idea how sick you can get. As of today there have been over 16,000 deaths in the USA due to COVID-19. We started to quarantine ourselves in the beginning of March as a precaution before any of this became a "big deal" and we still got sick. PLEASE, PLEASE PRACTICE SOCIAL DISTANCING. BE THANKFUL FOR YOUR HEALTH. STAY HOME. HUG THE ONES YOU LOVE (VIRTUALLY).

APRIL 9th. Breakfast with dad. Remember to count your blessings <3