Negative outlook

Rachel tested negative last week—on my birthday, on the 8th day of her illness. 

Alexander, who has been so touchy about being sick, begged to take a test, his little lips quivering. 

"Nobody's tested me lately!"

We explained that his test would likely be positive, since he'd only just tested positive a few days prior and was still likely sick, even if he was feeling better.

"But I do feel better!"

So we tested him. And the test was positive. 

"Benjamin did stand behind me in the kitchen!" Alexander sobbed. "This is all his fault!"

We had to talk him down from his anger. It's true that Benjamin was quite sick, but Alexander was already sick so the fact that Benjamin stood behind him in the kitchen had no effect on whether or not he was going to test positive. Just as Mommy's lullaby—to an already sick and feverish little boy—didn't make him get sick. He already was sick, simple as that. 

The next day—June 23, on my 8th day of illness—Andrew coaxed me into taking a test. I say coaxed because I knew it would still be positive. I still felt awful. But I took a test anyway and that positive line lit up before the control line even got wet. 

Andrew took a test on June 24—his sixth day of illness—it was negative. So we're thinking Paxlovid works fairly well! And I did my best to convince myself to stop feeling guilty for making him do so much while I rest because (honestly) I have just been much sicker. Unfortunately.

Zoë and I took tests on June 25. Her test had the faintest little positive line. Mine, again, lit up super bright. No question whether or not I was still positive. I was definitely positive.

And then today Miriam and I took tests. Hers was negative (day 9) and mine was...still positive (day 12). But not so positive anymore. I mean, I could still tell right away that I was positive, but the line was a little fainter. I don't know if that actually has anything to do with anything, but it feels like it might be the case. Fingers crossed this means I'll test negative in the next couple of days (though I'm still quite exhausted and am still coughing so who knows). 

Eventually we'll test Zoë, Benjamin, and Alexander again, too. 

Phoebe is too young to take a rapid at-home test so we just presumed she was positive when she came down with a fever. And I suppose we'll presume her negative when she's over her cough (which is already doing much better).

My sister Kelli had COVID around the same time that we did and she keeps reminding me that we can test positive for up to 90 days after having COVID. But I think that's for the PCR tests (which we haven't done) and "virologists say that’s unlikely to be the case for the rapid antigen tests." A negative test might be a false result (and that seemed to be true for the first few days we were symptomatic but still testing negative) but a positive test is certainly positive. So we'll wait for our negative tests before re-entering society (as much as we dare, which isn't much).

So things have been pretty boring around here, but are starting to get back to normal. We did a couple of less-than-stellar days of school last week and jumped back into schooling today with both feet—and had a wonderful day. The kids cooperated with our group lessons and made their way through their individual lessons without putting up any sort of fuss at all (which is unusual for us). The three little kids were completely finished by 1:00 and spent the rest of the day playing nicely together. 

Phoebe and I, meanwhile, took a lovely afternoon nap together. 

Here's hoping we'll all be negative and feeling better soon!