Say a prayer for Dani.  Right at dinner time she started struggling to get up/move between rooms.  This has happened, I won't say frequently, but I've often seen her struggle to stand up - banging into the French doors to get leverage, etc.  I tried to get her to just chill but she kept trying and tuckered herself out tonight.

As she finally decided to just stay still, probably because she couldn't fight more this came some whines/moans and heavy breathing.  I tried carrying her outside and she couldn't stand much less pee even with my support.

I have her set up with a bed out in the kitchen near the water in case she does manage to regain enough strength overnight to move and wants some water.  I've been dreading needing to decide for her, but especially now in the midst of all of this.  Ugh.

Wednesday (tomorrow) would be two weeks since I left the house in the car.  I've done my first round of 14 days.  I think this morning I'm going to pull the car out and Avery and I will go for a ride.  I certainly do not want the battery to die, so there is purpose there.  I'm not sure where we'll drive to.  I know I'm going to stay off the highways.  I can't tell you how often the thought goes through my head to be extra careful cutting something or when Avery is running that the last thing we need is something that warrants a trip to the hospital or medexpress.

I did get another grocery slot, this one for pickup from a local Aldi.  So I want to make sure the car is running before that pickup day!  Of course, Aldi uses instacart and they're striking at the moment (along with Amazon) so... yeah, this too adds to my anxiety because it makes me think about what happens when all of those workers start getting sick.  I'm going to have to cut out grocery shopping.  It would be hard to go without milk and fresh fruit, but I do have some frozen of each.  I've started looking around for a dairy around here that still has milkmen, but no success yet.  I'm hoping to hear back from one that is north of me.

I've seen pictures of long lines at banks and food banks lately.  That stuff all scares me even more, but yet I'm compelled to watch the news a couple of times a day just to check in.

This week I have one full day of support (tomorrow), so I got on top of things today getting 2 1/2 hours of work in this morning, another 2 1/2 hours while she napped, and 1 hour as she went down for bed.  That still means I need to average around 5 hours a day for T-S during her sleep schedule.  Can't complain yet.  I'll save that for next week when rough actually kicks in.  I know at some point I need to start eating into vacation time, but until I can see the light at the end of our tunnel I really don't want to.

The more news I watch the more I think that I will be trying to manage things as is well to July.  I guess I need to come at this from the right perspective here... if I and my family remain well and I remain employed -- and this is my biggest complaint I am still blessed beyond measure.  Remind me of that regularly, please.

My favorite egg brought daffodils and hyacinths cut from his yard.  My downstairs smells delightful and the bright yellow is soothing.  Trees are starting to bud.  At least we can keep walking the neighborhood.  Now if only the rain and crazy winds would chill out.

Yesterday before 4  my phone went off with a Tornado Warning.  It looked pretty clear but within a few minutes the dark was looming, so I rounded up the dogs and Avery and we headed to the basement.  From there I could hear the hail pelting the windows.  There isn't really a great place to 'hide' here.  Maybe the half bath on the main floor is an option too, but it would be mighty hard to get the dogs in there with us.  Fortunately, things passed us by.  The hail a few miles away in Cecil was the size of the palm of an adult's hand.  Here from what I saw they were smaller.  Thank goodness I haven't filled my garage to the brim (like so many neighbors) and my car gets to stay hidden away - have I thanked God for that usable garage lately?  Time to do that again.

Finally my cough has subsided to the point I am willing to say I am over it.  I did go to my ENT appointment, he went up through my nose and looked around, stating that my larynx was ticked off.  His diagnosis/belief is acid reflux that would normally not cause me issue until you get sick and then it keeps things a bit displeased.  He did prescribe me something, but I couldn't get it fully filled, so I haven't taken any of it.  My cough was already diminishing at that point anyhow.

While I was there I overheard the person who took my information (you know, before the doctor comes into the room with you) freaking out in the hall and I'm pretty darn sure it was about me given that I had just detailed my past month and a half to her.  Of course, the office hadn't really taken much in the way of precautions that I saw, so... what do you expect honey?

With regard to the hunger games, I managed to get a delivery slot for Giant Eagle this coming Saturday.  Hopefully they'll have at least half of the things I tried to order - or at least more milk and fruit for Avery.  Time will tell I suppose.  I would have done curbside, but those appointments were non-existent.  Good news is the first delivery fee is waived!

We seem to be getting one day of rain followed by a day with blue skies and sunshine.  I'm extra grateful for those bright days so we can spend a little time outside.

Today is officially the first day of working two full time jobs.  Hence Avery doesn't want to nap.  She's been upstairs wailing since 1pm, which was really fun while I was on a client call until nearly 2.  Sorry kid, you gotta nap.

Stiiiiiill coughing.  I feel like it's not as bad, but the moment I think that I end up in a major fit.  My second use of the netipot didn't produce as much, so I thought I was clearing up, but still I'm coughing, so...

I do have an ENT appointment on Wednesday, providing it doesn't get cancelled.  Of course, I'll have Avery with me at that point because her daycare is closing starting on Wednesday.

Let's focus on what has changed since my last post.  I had to travel to Maryland for work last week, yeah, that's just what I wanted to do in the midst of the apocalypse.  Fortunately, I was able to back it off to a single day from the original three days.  It did however mean that I left shortly after 3am and got back at 10pm.  It was a long ass day, but it did buy me most of Friday off while Avery was at school.  That allowed me to do a little bit of time to hunt and gather.

I feel like I have enough to be okay.  Granted, if for some reason I couldn't replenish I won't be eating meals that I'd fully embrace on a normal day, but I have food.  My bigger concern is having fresh fruit and milk for Avery.  I did order another bag of dog food from Amazon that already arrived, so I have enough to cover them for a while longer.

All of this hinges on our supply chain keeps on truckin.  Is anyone else waffling between a sense of calm/rational thoughts and a burning desire to overbuy?

I admit, I've also been taking other steps, like locking down the house tighter and making sure other things are in order and ready to protect us. I can't help but think we're just one long power outage away from someone losing their mind.

On a lighter note, I can't help but think though the lessons learned from my faithful watching of The Walking Dead.  I wonder if I'll end up with a Governor or Rick.

Still hacking and coughing.  It's dry, it's persistent, and it comes on in fits.  I've tugged a muscle up under my arm pit as a result even.  Last week I did call my primary care physician.  After all, MedExpress told me to follow up with them and since I had only had 2 days without coughing after finishing the medications I was prescribed there before it kicked back up... it felt like the right thing to do.

They pressed me to use the flonase (as most every office seems to do).  I swear to you, that stuff, even when not taken at night gives me a sore/burning throat.  Telling me to take it to combat post nasal drip (which is what they want to blame this winter's sore throats and now this cough on) is a bit crazy to me.  They also gave me prednisone after noting that the steroid pack I was given at MedExpress was "crap".  I have one pill left and nothing has changed.

I'll tell you this, being out in public people do look at you a bit cross eyed with this whole COVID19 thing going on when you start coughing violently.  It comes on most often after I come up a flight of stairs or after heading through a parking lot in the cold air... but it also comes on when I'm just sitting here or periodically throughout the night.

I'm not the type to be crazy paranoid, but I have to admit that knowing my first symptoms were a sudden fever and cough (while we were away on vacation) followed by this persistent cough has me very curious.  Avery still has a bit of a lingering cough too.  I'm almost starting to wonder if I should take her to the pediatrician to see if we can work on my diagnosis through her.

FYI in 2 days this will be a month of this crud.

I am finally doing some cleaning.  I am finally feeling like I have enough energy to care to clean.  So much more should be done right now, but at least I can say everything is vacuumed (have I mentioned lately that I'm disappointed with the Miele's ability to pick up dog fur?) upstairs and down, the other flooring is hand scrubbed, the toilet bowls are all tended to, laundry is caught up (and away).  Even the glass on the french doors got cleaned today and some of the grime that I've been noticing on the basement side of the door to the basement stairs has been scrubbed.

Progress.

Cleaning also should take care of some germs, which is, of course, on the forefront of minds as of late.  I've heightened my caution a bit.  I know we should do this regardless of the state of illnesses going around so maybe it will become a more stringent habit, but as of last night if you walk in my house the first thing you need to do is wash your hands.  It's a good strategy for Avery coming home from school, returning from the grocery store, and even when my Favorite Egg arrives from his workplace.

I think I also need to ask about the practices at school with regard to disinfecting toys and hand washing as they change diapers etc.  It seems like a good time to ask what the practices are and perhaps nudge them to take a look at said practices to improve them.

Last night after Avery came home I stripped her down and did her load of laundry (including school blankets, coat, and hat).  Part of that was inspired by hearing that two classmates went home early with a fever.

Too bad now that I get to sit down for a minute it is likely that Avery will be up from her nap soon - because I sure wish I could close my eyes for a minute.

Sinuses and ears feel better, that is probably a result of the antibiotics.  Still coughing.  My chest hurts.  I'm wondering when the steroids will do their thing.

I've been trying to go to bed shortly after Avery does to help fight this off.  I'm still waking up with a desire to roll over.  It's been a week and 2 days now, surely it has to be coming to an end soon, right?  I've not been doing much around the house as a result, I haven't even put everything away from the trip.

In other news I finally bit the bullet and ordered a new upright freezer (to replace the 23 year old one).  I also went ahead and had them order me a new dishwasher.  The one that is here works, but not great.  I wanted the silverware back on the door, but he swayed me into getting one that has a third tray on top for the silverware instead.  Fingers crossed that I like it.  It is an LG, which matches the other kitchen appliances, if nothing else.

My previous post must have taunted mother nature, because she decided to try and hose us up pretty good.  On the 7th we actually had enough snow for Avery to go outside and get her first sled ride in.  It wasn't a crazy amount of snow it was actually rather pleasant.  Maybe I was just in a good mood - because we were supposed to fly out later that day to New Orleans for a cruise!

I say supposed to because our aircraft didn't come in from Denver and the cancelled the first flight after 1pm.  Begin the scramble - no other way to flight out of the burgh in the right direction that day.  Nothing super early the next day to get us there at an appropriate/safe time either, so we needed to drive to Cleveland.  *sigh*  We got a rental car since our flights back were into Pittsburgh and set off at dinner time.  After going through a few scary AF snow squalls we arrived and got to our hotel (oh yeah, couldn't get a refund on the NOLA hotel that we were supposed to have been at) and were in bed by about 1am.  5am on the shuttle to the airport and we were off.

After we had settled on this arrangement we received word that the ship, Majesty of the Seas was going to be coming in late on Saturday, that we shouldn't arrive at the port until 3pm-6pm instead of our typical noon.  We had some time to shop after dropping out bags and enjoyed beignets at Cafe du Monde before heading to wait in an obscene line.  They weren't ready for us until closer to 5pm.

We had a slow start, but spirits remained up, we're ready for fun.  I went down with a cough, fever, and sore body on Monday.  That lasted two days.  I felt a little better on Thursday but the cough has stuck around and it's way worse at night.  My favorite egg went down two days after me with the same and noted how horrible he felt - I guess I must have done a good job suffering silently or he just didn't hear me.

Flight back my ears gave me hell and then the sinus pressure set it.  Today I feel a bit dizzy and less hopeful than I was on Thursday.  I went to the med clinic tonight.  I now have prescriptions for antibiotics and steroids - or at least I will tomorrow, the dang pharmacy closed 20 minutes before I got over there.  *wah*

All sick aside the trip was still good.  We had a great time and Avery loved being with her cousins.  Our stops, in reverse order... Cococay is beautiful and I can't slam the major overhaul even though it means what it used to be is no more.  We spent time on South beach  and then went to the kids splash zone and the swim up pool bar.

Nassau was also nice.  As a first, we took a taxi to a beach - Cabbage beach.  It is supposedly their nicest beach.  It was pleasant enough, but how do you compare it when you then go to Cococay?  Too many pushy vendors for me to say I loved Cabbage beach.

Key West was nice, but it was a bit of a short day, so we didn't have much time after the walk to the Southernmost point and a stop for a bite to eat.

Majesty of the Seas was in surprisingly good condition.  These way older ships are a bit wonky in layout and design, but once I re-familiarized myself with where I was going we were good to go. The kid's play space was a good size.  The room was a matchbox and she still has the clingy shower curtains instead of the plastic doors.  It was remarkably clean and I didn't notice a ton of things needing fixed.  The food was good.  The service was excellent.

The amount of sleep I got due to being sick and earnestly sleeping when Avery did actually had me feeling the most rested I've felt in months.  Too bad I'm losing it a bit now w/ the stuffy and restless sleep.

The heat has been turned OFF at my house for the past 24 hours, on February 3.  I just had to take a moment and celebrate that this was a possibility.  I'm loving this "winter".  I should have gone for a walk yesterday while the sun was shining and it was nearly 60.

It seems to be hard to post on this blog as much.  Many of my posts get routed to the other blog because, well, Avery is the center of most everything right now.  This post is hitting both.  Late Wednesday Avery's daycare texted indicating a need to get the kids ASAP - they had a sewage/plumbing issue.  It also kept them closed on Thursday and Friday as they made repairs and cleaned up.

I'm grateful that work is pretty darn flexible.  I'm also super grateful that our release was into smoke testing on Tuesday and I was just wrapping up the details of the release to test on Wednesday when that text came in.  *whew*

I hate to "waste" vacation time, so I tried to work a little before Avery got up each day and when she napped.  I also worked through today's nap. My days typically start at 6:30pm and finish at 8:30pm and admittedly I've allowed her to stay up a little later since they weren't 'school nights', but man those two days really have me tired.  I could have truly used her nap time to get one myself, but it wasn't in the cards.

The dogs had their yearly trip to the vet yesterday for shots.  While we were there we did a little blood work and picked up some heartworm preventative (can you hear the price tag climbing).

Saffy's bloodwork was due to the ticks that came back anaplasmosis positive.  She looked well, so no worries there.

Dani's bloodwork was to look at overall health since she's definitely starting to have some issues.  There was some signs of changes in her liver, but her kidneys are doing well. We left with some light medication to try and help her with pain/arthritis type issues - but I haven't gotten to start giving them to her yet. These pills are tiny... and I'm supposed to give her a 1/4 of one each day.  I guess I need to find a pill cutter that will work for these to give it a go.

I tried to get them both to potty before we went in.  No success for Dani.  But while we were sitting in the waiting area (she was lying on the floor) she pooped.  *sigh*  I think she didn't want to go there in their yard and then just couldn't hold it.  It really demonstrates her issues lately.

On a completely different note I've downloaded the Zero app.  It is for fasting.  I'm going to try and be more mindful of how large of a window in which I eat each day.  The 13 hour fast is pretty easy to achieve although I had to wait another 15 minutes before I made my coffee (yes, coffee even breaks a fast).

I ruined Saffy and Dani's year yesterday by giving them baths.  It's been quite a while since they've gotten one, other than an adhoc outside spray down due to them getting muddy or having an accident while in a crate - and even when they did get their last one it was probably with the mobile groomers and not at my hand.

I was pretty surprised at all the dirtier the water was, but it sure loosened fur.  My house will be a nightmare here in a few days when it really starts to come out.  Fortunately, when the plumber was here I learned how to open the drain on Avery's tub as to get glops of fur out of there.  Dani wasn't too difficult to keep in place for her bath as she's gotten much weaker.  It was sure stressful for her, as she grunted and struggled weakly with me while I tried to get her to lay calmly.  She even pooped mid-bath *sigh*.

That said the house has the lovely wet dog odor, but there are worse things.