Tuesday Tales - The Inevitable

It feels like just a couple weeks ago that I posted about the inevitability of catching Covid.

Welp, we did catch it.

No, not "we". Brett did. I'm negative (or I was when we got tested yesterday).

He had "a cold" for a couple days. It happens. Yesterday, when he mentioned that the chest constriction was different than he usually got, we decided to run out to a testing facility and "just check". It's the kind of thing we would expect others to do to be socially responsible, so we should definitely do it.

He's positive. I'm negative. I would not be surprised if I'm positive when we go back in a few days to test again. But all of my family members who have tested positive (three, I think) have had very mild cases, so I'm optimistic.

But the best part, or, the lovely element in this, is our neighbors. That amazing Vietnamese hospitality!

When we got home from the clinic, "Mom" - our landlady - was in the front portico of their house, watching her 2yo grandson. We waved from the fence and explained the situation, even showing her the papers of the test results. She speaks no English.

Then we went into our house next door and Brett got on his computer to update the people who needed to know. While he was in the back, "Mom" came to our gate with a grocery bag full of lemongrass, ginger, and limes, and a small jar of honey. She tried to explain (and later her daughter confirmed by text message) what to do with the items in the bag:

Cook the ginger with lemongrass (boil). Then add lime and honey. Drink it like a tea. They recommended that I drink it too. I'm sure it's overall good for health and good for the immune system.

Then another daughter came by later with a steam bath (face-steamer?) and said to cut into the reservoir garlic and ginger, and breathe it in until it stops. It's a small reservoir, so he didn't have too long to steam his face when he tried it last night. 

Later in the day, that same daughter came by with drugs - antibiotics and aspirin. 

I know that none of this is a "cure", but I have to say he slept better last night than the three previous nights. Also, he's drinking their tea when I make it everyday, even though he hates ginger. Something about people being so concerned for your well-being must light the "okay, I'll take your advice" fuse.

They added that if we need anything at all, to let them know. Fortunately, we're pretty well stocked up on groceries and things, because it was after the weekend and we had run all our errands.

When we first saw the results, we both agreed that I'd be doing all the running for a while. But then reality struck that as long as I am staying in the same house with him, we both need to be isolating.  It should be a fun week or so!