Family Quarantined During COVID-19 Outbreak

My kids and I haven't left the house in 16 days. We plan to say home as long as it takes. Through this global pandemic, I feel fortunate that my kids are getting along. I see many parents posting daily updates about struggling being stuck home with their children. 

It's not easy. 

I have two early elementary-aged kids, and I work from home as a writer. Having my kids home with me for the last two weeks has dramatically reduced my productivity. My husband works in the power industry and is an essential employee, so we see him off to work every day. 

We are spending far too much time on screens, but we are also doing a lot of beautiful things as a family. My 5-year-old son helped me cook an entire meal, even sauteeing the chicken by himself, while I supervised. 

My daughter, who is in first grade, started reading Diary of a Wimpy Kid, by herself. We've painted, held Lego challenges, played far too many board games, and snuggled up to many family movies. 

I can't help but imagine how my children will reflect on this time when they are older. 

Quarantine and Rural Living

We live in northwest Ilinois, and our weather is still not the best, which is limiting our time outside. Last night, we spent an hour in our basement in the middle of the night while a tornado ripped through town a mile east of us. Nothing spices up a global pandemic quarantine like a natural disaster. 

My mother lives 15 minutes away from us, but we've had to stay apart from Grandma. She is vulnerable to more severe cases of COVID-19, and my husband has several employees who have possibly been exposed to the virus. 

We are doing our best to be positive during this uncertain time. All of our stores are out of toilet paper and cleaning supplies, but most other grocery supplies have started to stabilize. We are managing better than could be expected despite a prolonged shelter-in-place order in our state. 

School and COVID-19

Our kids have been out of school for two weeks. The first week home, the school supplied paper packets for home learning. This past week was their scheduled spring break. Our school district announced a switch to e-learning this week. As an educator whose not currently teaching, I am curious about what this will look like for a 1st grader and kindergartener. We've been reading, practicing our sight words, and trying to keep our bodies moving. 

COVID-19 and Doctors Appointments

Ollie's pediatric neurologist is in Chicago. The CDC thinks Chicago will be the next hotbed for COVID-19 after seeing what's happening to New York City. We have a scheduled neuro appointment coming up, and we've started talking about precautions to take or postponing the appointment altogether. 

We are not sure if we can postpone this appointment for her. We have discussed being prepared should Ollie need to see her neurologist for her epilepsy in the heart of downtown Chicago's medical district. The two best options we have are traveling to Chicago and using precautionary measures to try and reduce our exposure as much as possible or try and coordinate her testing locally. 

I hope that I can coordinate with our local primary care physician, and our neurologist, who is in Chicago. I want to have her EEG and bloodwork done locally and hold a virtual appointment with our neurologist, perhaps with our primary care physician involved. We don't have a pediatric neurologist locally, which is why we have to travel almost two hours to Chicago. 

This global pandemic is certainly raising many logistical concerns for routine medical care, especially for our vulnerable and rural populations. 

How are you staying busy? 

-Abby, Guest Blogger