Seeing the world through Corona colored glasses.
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I couldn't sleep last night, not because I was worried about getting Corona, because our family has a strong suspicion that we've already had it.
Dave and I got very sick after a couple of our kids had coughs and fevers for a couple of days. We ended up with this cold that took about a week to develop and then turned into what we called the flu. Dave was coughing up blood (he didn't go to the clinic) and I knew I had developed pneumonia and did go to the clinic.
There was no test available then and I imagine if there had been, there might be higher numbers shown AND we probably would have stayed in quarantine longer, those of us who got sick.
I keep tracing my steps, what did I touch, where did I go? I feel so tender around those who are in a category where this virus is more devastating.
I will say, I have asthma and if we didn't keep inhalers around the house I would have been in the ER as I was struggling to breathe. Dave does not have asthma and he was much better.
We'll never know, but I am pretty certain, it was an odd sickness, something I had never been inside of before and from day 4 I was researching online and suspected. Dave and I kept saying it was the sickest we've ever been. About two weeks long.
What I do know is that we were not prepared. All 5 kids were home for Spring Break and I didn't have broth in the freezer or fresh lemons or garlic. One morning I drove my aching body to the grocery store with two teenagers, gave them a list and my card and had them go collect all the popsicles and cough drops and ginger ale.
I want to share what I learned from being sick and what I'm doing now to prepare for something like that again. It doesn't involve massive amounts of toilet paper, but I get it if that is helpful for you too.
In case of an emergency on toilet paper you can keep a stack of pre-moistened washcloths next to the toilet in a plastic bin and then have a closed bin to collect the dirty ones in. Wash these with the addition of Bac-Out or however you would wash cloth diapers.
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Freeze bone broth, simple broth soups or have some shelf stable broth in the pantry. More than you think you might need. To make bone broth I use the carcass of a roasted chicken or roasted chicken pieces. Huge pot of water. An entire onion, head of garlic, green onions, carrots, celery, any herbs (the entire bunch or just the stems you haven't used). Splash of apple cider vinegar, salt and pepper. Boil for hours. Strain, jar up broth to freeze or use for soups. Often I just collect scraps from all the veggies I've used during the week (anything goes, beets are great) and dump those in with the bones. My newest trick is adding two dates, it gives it a lovely sweetness.
Tea. Honey. Lemon. Ginger. Oils. This was a lifeline for us. You can boil pieces of fresh ginger in water and then add honey and lemon to taste. We wish we had Breathe Easy tea when we were sick, so stock up on that and Throat Coat and Honey Lemon Ginger teas, along with Peppermint. If you use essential oils, your oils will come in handy for this too. I now have a lemon juice bottle just in case, I would rather fresh lemons, but I want to be prepared.
Cough drops, throat drops, popsicles. We ran out repeatedly with 6 people (only one kid didn't get it) coughing.
Easy to prepare meals for the kids who weren't sick. Noodles, canned soups, grilled cheese fixings, frozen waffles, cereal, cheese and crackers, fruit. My kids don't really cook but they did a great job figuring it out because we luckily had a bunch of this around. I recently bought a ton of frozen burritos for just such an occasion coming up again.
Tissues. We ran out.
Period support. Nothing like getting your period as the worst of the sickness kicks in. I did just that. I was so grateful that I already had supplies on hand.
Juice, gatorade or homemade (lemon, agave or maple syrup and a pinch of salt in water), ginger ale, fizzy water. Don't judge yourself, if you need gatorade when you are this sick, drink it. Chloe had it for 48 hours and she wanted ginger ale, she never drinks soda otherwise.
Rice. Miso. Add ins for the broth. If you make the broth and freeze it is wonderful to keep miso in the fridge to go along with it. It lasts forever and is great for your gut. White rice was about all I ate for days. Rice in broth (congee) boiled for a long time is wonderful and soothing.
This is a way to prepare to nurture your future self if you get sick and are unable to care for yourself or have kids that will need support. Everyone's buying toilet paper, but I strongly suggest extra tissues tucked away!