Dear Readers,

It has been a long time since I have made a post. I think my last one was my annual New Years Eve post. Now, Spring Break is here, although based on the low of 35 degrees last night, you wouldn’t have guessed it. As I two weekends and the week in between with no work responsibilities, I thought I would take pen in and hand and let you know what is going on.

The year definitely started on a sour note for us. In January, after two weeks back at school, my wife contracted COVID. Like me, she was fully vaccinated and boosted. And, in fact, she got her booster a month after I did, so, in theory, she should have been more protected than I was. We know that she was exposed on a Thursday night after attending a very crowded event at her school (one that she had to attend. It was not optional). Though she was wearing a mask, hardly anyone else was. On Friday, she felt fine. Saturday morning, she woke up with severe allergy type symptoms and, thankfully, we had some COVID tests at home. Hers came back positive immediately while mine was negative.

We immediately put on N-95 masks and wore them around the clock, including sleeping, for the next seven days. We would go outside to eat our meals and to drink anything, as we could take off our masks and sit across from one another on the porch. Thankfully, the weather stayed nice that week. She tested positive the weekend before my second week of classes. Though the college said I could still come to school (in a mask), I opted to take some sick days and stay home that week. Partly this was because I was certain that I was going to catch it. And I did not want to expose my coworkers and students. Our house is small, as you know, and only has one bathroom, so we assumed there was literally no way that I would remain unscathed. Given my health conditions, which includes damaged lungs, my doctors have told me since Day One of the pandemic that if I got the virus, the odds are very, very high that I would not have a good outcome.

And that, Dear Readers, is the amazing thing. I was testing every other day while my wife was sick and never tested positive and never had symptoms. We were in close contact around the clock for nine days. On the one hand, there are those that say that my vaccines protected me, but remember, my wife was vaccinated too. So I can only attribute it to us wearing masks religiously during the week. And, of course, the protection of my guardian angel Maria Nikolaevna. On Sunday, nine days after her positive test, I tested negative again and went back to work the next day.

My wife recovered after a week, but even now, three months later, she still deals with a lot of fatigue and she gets winded easily. Vaccinated or not, you do not want this virus. It isn’t as “mild” now as they say on the news. Or, maybe it is, if your definition of mild is anything short of being on a ventilator.  

And speaking of recovering, I still haven’t fully recovered from the three surgeries I had in the fall. I have basically no energy and find myself having to push hard to get through each day. That said, I have rapidly put weight back on afterwards, so there’s that. In 2012, before I got hurt, I weighed 200 pounds (I am 6’4). Between November of 2017 and May of 2018, I lost 70 pounds due to recurring bowel obstructions and surgeries. When I got out of the hospital after that second surgery, I weighed 130 pounds and looked positively skeletal. I am happy to report that I have now hit the 200 mark again. Though I carry it in my stomach instead of my chest and arms like I used too…but that’s age for you. And the spinal injury that keeps me from being able to work out.

The prospect of a longer than usual winter hung over us from December through March as the baseball lockout stretched to 99 days, the second longest work stoppage in league history. My wife and I are both big baseball fans, though of different teams. She is a Cubs fan and I am a Red Sox fan. Still, with a delayed start to the season and the possibility of no season at all, it looked like 2022 would be a bad year indeed. Thankfully, the lockout eventually ended and the regular season will start one week later than originally planned.

And that brings me to where I am now. I started this post several days ago and I am finishing it today, on March 17^th. It is Saint Patrick’s Day. There is a pizza in the oven. March Madness on television. And the Red Sox on the radio (Spring Training game, but it is still baseball). For now, at least, life is good.

Until next time, Dear Readers, take care of yourselves. And each other.

L.H.