A Quarantine Post

Like the rest of the world (or at least the U.S./Michigan), we have been completely homebound for weeks now, trying to protect Izzy from Covid-19 and help "flatten the curve". This mandatory stay home order is not terribly different than our typical, except Dale and I both stay home and work from home every day, Phin is always in the house, and my parents haven't visited our house in over three weeks. And like most things, after three weeks, we've got our quarantine life down to routine.

It's not been easy though. We are lucky that neither Dale nor I have to work directly with the public, so we do not have the fear of bringing the virus home to Izzy, but the virus is here nonetheless in our collective minds. Izzy has been so afraid no matter how much we tell her we are safe in our home and that we are prepared. She had nightmares frequently during the first couple weeks of school closures and social distancing.

After Dale and I were regularly home and the fear of us bringing the virus was less, the nightmares lessened, but Izzy has not been the same. She has been sleeping a lot more. She is taking naps that last 3-4 hours every day. Overall, it feels like Izzy has declined another step. It may only be her way of coping with the stress we are all feeling, but it is disconcerting. Trying to balance the stress of the pandemic, stay home order, economy tanking, working from home, the planning and effort just grocery shop, along with Izzy's decline has been ridiculous hard. The stress of it all is almost too much. Overwhelming seems too small a word.

Izzy has also been very clingy. She is so afraid of losing us now that she feels she's lost everyone else in her life due to the quarantine. Intellectually, she knows that she hasn't lost her extended family, her team of medical providers who can no longer visit her in person, her teacher, the princesses, but it feels like they are lost to her (even when they call or zoom). Because of these great losses Izzy has felt, she wants Dale, Phin, and I to be near always. Up shot of stay home order is that we are all here. Always here.

Couple Izzy's need to be near us with her extended naps, Izzy has wanted to be in the living room. The couch, while comfy for most sitters, is not ideal for Izzy's extended stays. She was having lots of pain from napping on the couch, but she didn't want to go to her bedroom where we have her hospital bed because it was away from us. We toyed with the idea of permanently moving the hospital bed downstairs, but we didn't want Izzy to lose her bedroom, privacy, stuff she loves, and we didn't want to lose our down place when she is sleeping at night.

Thankfully, Izzy's hospice social worker came up with a solution. Izzy now has her old bed in our living room. It's not as comfortable as her hospital bed, but after delivery of some foam next week, it should be a better solution for Izzy than the couch, yet keep her near us during the day. So far, Izzy loves it.

We have enjoyed going outside a couple times on nice evenings. Izzy loves flying in her swing. Izzy also loved painting and chalking rainbow pictures for Rainbows Over Michigan. She wants to bring love and hope to all of you. She longs to see everyone again in person.
 

We hope you all are fairing okay during these difficult times.

Stay safe,

Mel