That’s sick

I finished work early on Friday so I could reunite with DD after his recent business trip to the UK.

He called when I was at Narrabeen to check whether I’d left home already. Yup, almost there!

Little did I realise he was checking on my whereabouts because he was starting to feel crook as Rookwood and was going to warn me not to come.

Too late.

He looked very wan as I walked through the door, so I decided to play it safe and sit on the other couch rather than next to him.

We got takeaway suburban Chinese food and watched videos of elderly influencers on Norwegian cruises before DD called it a very early night and I slept in the spare room.

The next morning I popped down to the shops to get him a newspaper and coffee. He messaged to say he was awake at 7.45am and asked if I could take the coffee upstairs to him because he was too ill to get out of bed.

He looked absolutely terrible and asked if I could do a pharmacy run for him.

I collected his meds and bought one of those thingies that tests for COVID-19, RSV and influenza, then popped into Coles to get the ingredients to make his favourite soup – chicken & corn.

He tottered downstairs just as I was about to finish making the soup and did the test. It came back positive for influenza A. He had a little bowl of soup and went straight back to bed. He’s pretty much been there ever since.

I wandered down to the beach for a swim then scooped the dogs up and headed home, calling to let my mum know about the diagnosis on the way.

Talk about bad timing. My dad is very, very, very unwell. I should have gone to visit him yesterday as he has taken a turn for the worst. The nurses are not sure how long he has left.

But my contact with an influenza A patient means I am not welcome to visit the nursing home, which has just survived a COVID-19 outbreak.

I will test myself tomorrow and decide what to do.

Instead of visiting my ailing dad, I spent Sunday with the youngest, who didn’t want to see me either since she’s only just recovered from a virus she caught from her stepmother.

But she’s about to start working all weekend, every weekend, so it was my last chance to have lunch with her for the foreseeable future. She requested sushi train and no physical contact.

I was a bit sniffly during lunch, but I think it was the siracha on one of the sushi rolls.

Afterwards we had a dip at the beach on a very blustery, grey afternoon.

Then I hit the road home, which was an unexpectedly harrowing trip due to torrential rain then very thick fog … at 3.30pm in February. WTAF?

Everyone else on the road had their hazard lights on, but I couldn’t find mine. My car has 40 million switches and buttons and nothing looked like a hazard light. I eventually found it when I emerged from the fog.

Handy knowledge for next time.

I am not looking forward to this week. It’s going to be a tough one.

Song of the day: Paul McCartney “Let it be”