I got paperbacks and COVID

Well, my luck finally ran out. Or rather, my precautions finally weren’t enough. I couldn’t hold off a callous, indifferent world any longer.

Also, conditions worked against me. My spouse had to go into the hospital for a procedure last week, so I had to be in the hospital (masked, but many of the hospital personnel were letting their masks hang under their chins). I had to take lots of public transit (Philly riders are awesome at masking, but there’s always someone pulling their mask down to talk on the damn phone). I was at a gathering of friends where, as I was walking in, a friend announced to me she had COVID the previous weekend but her doctor said it was fine to go to meetings as long as she was masked (I was masked, N95 as always, but I left immediately, went home, and attended remotely). I have been wearing a mask everywhere for over two years.

Yet all my individual efforts were unsuccessful, finally. I figured I was having seasonal allergies (that’s what it feels like) but just in case I tested on the 15th (negative) and today (positive).

My grandchild is unvaccinated. My spouse has stage 4 cancer. I have asthma. Right now, I am proud that I lasted this long, but honestly right now I am exhaustedly angry at people for being people. For everyone wanting the world to be the way it always was. For getting so annoyed about a face covering that they’re willing to let old and sick people die. For people I know going out in public when they’re infected. For scientists and doctors telling people they can go back to normal too soon after infection. For human beings spreading misinformation like air, just like infection, and for other human beings being fatalistic.

I’m fine, thanks. It feels like bad seasonal allergies. I can smell. I’m coughing, and will end up with bronchitis, but I always do when I have an upper respiratory infection. I just don’t want my husband to die and I don’t want to infect my grandkid, my kid, and my son-in-law.

There’s a limit to how much my individual efforts count, though. Obviously.

In nicer news, I got paperback copies of Dog of the Dead today. They look pretty good.

12 thoughts on “I got paperbacks and COVID

  1. Sandy says:

    So sorry to hear that you have Covid and that you and your husband are dealing with cancer.
    My prayers are with you
    Sandy

    1. DMT says:

      Thanks Sandy! He’s doing pretty well and tolerated chemo nicely. I hope you’re well too! I often think of what you had to go through while working full time!

  2. Alison says:

    I’m so sorry, particularly about your husband. I can’t imagine how that is for you. I agree with you about masks and people being too casual about them, but somehow in spite of taking care people get infected anyway. I’m glad that at least it’s not worse – from teh sound of it you have a mild case. I hope that’s true.

    All good wishes to you,
    Alison

    1. DMT says:

      Thanks Alison! That means a lot. His diagnosis was why I quit my teaching job—I figured I could either take care of him and teach, or take care of him and write, but not both. Yeah I seem to have a mild case so far.

      1. Alison says:

        Well, selfishly I’m glad you decided to take care of him and write. I was delighted when you reissued the earlier books, and have enjoyed the new ones very much. Take care of yourself and your husband and get better quickly!

  3. Kathleen P says:

    Your words resonate. It is so dispiriting that people act with so little consideration. I’m sorry it has affected you.

  4. Leslie says:

    So sorry to hear you’ve caught COVID, but I’m glad it seems to be a mild case so far. It’s not your fault, and you will get through this!

  5. Elizabeth Bales-Stutes says:

    I’m so sorry to hear of your health troubles. Not having been here for long, I hadn’t realized your husband was ill. Best wishes for his recovery, and yours.

    I wish people wouldn’t insist on behaving so selfishly.

    1. DMT says:

      I am much better, thank you! My husband is also improving, due to the procedure, and he didn’t catch COVID from me, thank goodness. It was eerie and unpleasant masking around him and sleeping on my study floor.

      Wishful thinking is powerful, isn’t it? I had someone tell me confidently that he won’t get COVID because he doesn’t get sick. Ever.

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