Dad Contracts Covid

Word arrived Dad had contracted covid. Several other residents in his assisted living center did as well. Everything was shut down and Dad had to quarantine in his room for a week. He took the news very hard. I tried reassuring him over the phone but it didn’t seem to help.

A day after the positive test, Dad showed symptoms and the center’s care staff recommended he consult with his primary care physician about taking the drug that treated symptoms of covid. I arranged a video appointment through his Kaiser health portal, but the earliest one available one was in three days.

So we had to wait it out. I called him and dropped off newspapers and donuts.

On the morning of his appointment, I came over with my laptop and rigged everything up for the call. I ran him through how it worked. His symptoms had almost totally disappeared and he was in good spirits despite the terrible events unfolding in the world. Whenever there is news of war, Dad, a Korean War combat veteran, always goes into a brief funk.

The video call was right on time. The connection was excellent. I basically had to translate for Dad because of his poor hearing. The doctor was kind and efficient. The appointment lasted 15 minutes and concluded with Dad turning down the drug. He said he was feeling much better and was just anxious to get out of his room and back into the dining hall.

I packed up the laptop and prepared to leave for home.

But not before I poured us a mini, mini shot of Wild Turkey each and we toasted to his health and drank the kickin’ chicken down. Hellfire it burned!

“Now that’s the medicine I need,” said Dad.

I laughed and agreed.