ashaw
Cathlete
I'm not sure if anyone here is going through a similar situation. My husband and I are fully vaccinated (but not boosted) for covid. We both had covid in August 2020, we're sitting on the fence on boosters, although I do have concerns for my husband because he got the Johnson & Johnson one shot vax a year ago and he has a lot of underlying conditions - overweight, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, stage 3 chronic kidney disease. He spent 9 days in the hospital with covid, was on supplemental oxygen, steroids and it took him about a month to fully recover. Thank God, he's fine. I wasn't nearly as sick, I would say I was more scared than sick because I was by myself while he was hospitalized and really didn't have anyone to call on if I'd needed help. Thankfully, I was never too sick not to get medication, food or walk the dog.
The thing I'm dealing with is my family. I've seen my mom and step-dad basically twice in the past 2 years- the first time was right as the pandemic began in March 2020 - the most recent visit was in June 2021, a few weeks after I was fully vaccinated. They live about an hour from me, so I normally would drive up on a Sunday morning, spend the night and come home Monday. I've been really careful during this entire pandemic, we contracted covid because we went to help our neighbor after neck surgery. We knew he tested negative pre-op, but didn't realize that because he had been taking Embrel for psoriatic arthritis it lowered his immunity as well as not being in good health to begin with, so he contracted the virus while in the hospital, his family believes it was during intubation for surgery. Sadly he passed away at the end of August 2020. He was a good man, husband, father, grandfather, friend and neighbor and will never be forgotten.
Even though the most recent CDC guidance is that most people can take off their masks, I still continue to wear mine anytime I go out and I still don't want to eat at an indoor restaurant. My husband is a little more lax, he pretty much won't wear a mask when he goes out, unless he's made to at the doctor's office, he meets friends of varying vaccination statuses at indoor restaurants and goes to some luncheons with several hundred people. I'm in a situation where I can't put him in a plastic bubble. I would love to be able to see my parents again, but I do understand that my mom too is very high risk. She's 74, has type 2 diabetes that is well controlled with meds, diet and exercise, she has heart disease and high cholesterol, is overweight and has an autoimmune condition called Sjogren's. I'm very thankful that my step-dad is on the same page with her about being careful. They too wear masks anytime they go out, they eat at two of their favorite restaurants twice a week, but they go at very off hours so its not crowded (something my husband would never consider doing) and two of my step-dad's sons won't get vaccinated and therefore they're not allowed in their house. I never have pressed my mom about coming out in fact, last summer when she let me know it was OK for me to come visit I was surprised and elated, it was totally unexpected. I was thankful that I got to visit because the Delta and Omicron waves slammed into the Houston, TX area. Cases here are supposedly on the decline although the Omicron subvariant is out there. Once again, I don't want to press my mom about coming to visit, but its getting to the point that its stressing me out because I feel like that if I keep being careful, I'll get to come out again someday. Meanwhile, my husband is ready to move on with life and I'm caught in the middle. I got really upset last week because all this was simmering and I was at the gas station and had pulled up to a pump, I didn't pull up all the way to the first pump because I thought it was one of those ethanol only pumps. So this guy behind me honks and asks me to please pull up. I lose it. I slammed the car in gear, laid a patch of rubber and went to the complete other side of the gas station. I told my husband the next day about what happened and why I was upset and that this wasn't good for my health. I was thinking about talking to a counselor, still contemplating it, but not sure about it yet.
So, I've floated potential ideas like a 10 day quarantine, literally masking up in the house around my husband, but that would also mean no good night and good morning kiss and no sex, again, its like my mindset is, if my mom sees me being really careful then I'll get to come visit. The problem is eventually, my husband is going to want to go out and do things again and I'm not going to have a choice about whether or not to go. Again, I have to keep in my mind the fact that my mom is very high risk.
Is anybody else in a similar situation where although everyone's vaccinated (and maybe boosted), they're still not getting to see their family?
The thing I'm dealing with is my family. I've seen my mom and step-dad basically twice in the past 2 years- the first time was right as the pandemic began in March 2020 - the most recent visit was in June 2021, a few weeks after I was fully vaccinated. They live about an hour from me, so I normally would drive up on a Sunday morning, spend the night and come home Monday. I've been really careful during this entire pandemic, we contracted covid because we went to help our neighbor after neck surgery. We knew he tested negative pre-op, but didn't realize that because he had been taking Embrel for psoriatic arthritis it lowered his immunity as well as not being in good health to begin with, so he contracted the virus while in the hospital, his family believes it was during intubation for surgery. Sadly he passed away at the end of August 2020. He was a good man, husband, father, grandfather, friend and neighbor and will never be forgotten.
Even though the most recent CDC guidance is that most people can take off their masks, I still continue to wear mine anytime I go out and I still don't want to eat at an indoor restaurant. My husband is a little more lax, he pretty much won't wear a mask when he goes out, unless he's made to at the doctor's office, he meets friends of varying vaccination statuses at indoor restaurants and goes to some luncheons with several hundred people. I'm in a situation where I can't put him in a plastic bubble. I would love to be able to see my parents again, but I do understand that my mom too is very high risk. She's 74, has type 2 diabetes that is well controlled with meds, diet and exercise, she has heart disease and high cholesterol, is overweight and has an autoimmune condition called Sjogren's. I'm very thankful that my step-dad is on the same page with her about being careful. They too wear masks anytime they go out, they eat at two of their favorite restaurants twice a week, but they go at very off hours so its not crowded (something my husband would never consider doing) and two of my step-dad's sons won't get vaccinated and therefore they're not allowed in their house. I never have pressed my mom about coming out in fact, last summer when she let me know it was OK for me to come visit I was surprised and elated, it was totally unexpected. I was thankful that I got to visit because the Delta and Omicron waves slammed into the Houston, TX area. Cases here are supposedly on the decline although the Omicron subvariant is out there. Once again, I don't want to press my mom about coming to visit, but its getting to the point that its stressing me out because I feel like that if I keep being careful, I'll get to come out again someday. Meanwhile, my husband is ready to move on with life and I'm caught in the middle. I got really upset last week because all this was simmering and I was at the gas station and had pulled up to a pump, I didn't pull up all the way to the first pump because I thought it was one of those ethanol only pumps. So this guy behind me honks and asks me to please pull up. I lose it. I slammed the car in gear, laid a patch of rubber and went to the complete other side of the gas station. I told my husband the next day about what happened and why I was upset and that this wasn't good for my health. I was thinking about talking to a counselor, still contemplating it, but not sure about it yet.
So, I've floated potential ideas like a 10 day quarantine, literally masking up in the house around my husband, but that would also mean no good night and good morning kiss and no sex, again, its like my mindset is, if my mom sees me being really careful then I'll get to come visit. The problem is eventually, my husband is going to want to go out and do things again and I'm not going to have a choice about whether or not to go. Again, I have to keep in my mind the fact that my mom is very high risk.
Is anybody else in a similar situation where although everyone's vaccinated (and maybe boosted), they're still not getting to see their family?
