If Finally Caught Up with Us

Greetings from Georgia!

It doesn’t take much imagination to figure out the meaning behind the title of this post. Essentially, COVID-19 finally caught up with the household of the Recovering Legalist.

It’s quarantine time.

Actually, I had a test at University Hospital in Augusta, GA, just today. This evening I received the word that the test came back negative for COVID, for what it’s worth. Personally, unless the first Pfizer shot helped, I think it’s inevitable that I come down with it pretty soon.

Valerie was diagnosed this morning. I had her at the ER yesterday for an injured thumb, of all things. It was only while she was there and complained of chest pain that a CT scan showed evidence of COVID in her lungs. She is already having difficulty keeping her oxygen levels above 90 and this is only the second day with any symptoms.

No Surgery, Yet

Interestingly, as I type this I am scheduled for surgery Friday morning. However, as soon as I can make the call, I am going to tell the surgeon that I want to postpone the surgery. I feel it would be too risky and logistically insane.

What kind of surgery, you ask? Well, it’s called a thymectomy. To make a long description short, I have a tumor on the Thymus gland which is causing pressure on the aorta resulting in chest pain which mimics a heart attack. The tumor is 2 inches by 1 inch. No biopsy has been done, and the surgeon does not think it is malignant, but nothing’s for sure. All I know is that the pain is real and really uncomfortable.

But when it comes to my reasoning not to have the surgery, I simply think it would be insane to put myself through the following when you consider that I am living with a confirmed COVID patient!

“Depending on the type of surgery and on the condition of the patient, a ventilator may be required after surgery. Once the breathing tube has been removed, the patient will be asked to breathe deeply and cough repeatedly to clear the lungs of mucus. . . .The patient may have one or two chest tubes (small tubes in the chest attached to drainage bottles), which will be removed shortly after surgery.” – Northwest Medicine (nm.org)

Yeah, I think I’m going to do a little more blogging over the next couple of weeks, if you don’t mind!

In the meantime, prayers for my wife and son-in-law, Josh (he is suffering with COVID, too), would be much appreciated.