Jan 25-Jan 31st, 2021

. Covid Shot 2

We ended this week with snow. So far this has been a fairly mild winter with not a lot of snow or ice. Not to say that it hasn't been cold. Before this snow storm blew in it was quite frigid and windy. It made walking Cookie a bit challenging.  Although my neighbor Gloria is going to try to come to my rescue. She has been off work since last summer as a traveling Cardiac Nurse OR Manager and is bored. She has volunteered to take Cookie for walks during the week. That would be terrific since I sometimes get home late and have to take a COVID shower before doing anything around the house. Including walking Cookie. And now Tom has been going into work a bit more frequently, so Cookie is home alone during the day again. Missing all the company. So Gloria was able to take her for one walk before the weather turned. And then she had to travel with her husband Dan to Ohio for a  family funeral, so it is a work in progress. 

And when Tom is not going into work he is at home in the basement working on his computer. He noticed the house seemed a bit colder the past week, especially down in the basement where he has his office. Turns out our furnace had stopped working. It did seem like the house was a bit chillier than usual. We also have a gas fireplace set on a thermostat so we weren't freezing, but there seemed to be a bit of a cool breeze moving through the house. Tom did a quick lookover but couldn't figure out the problem. He wanted to call a repair company that specifically works on Lenox, our furnace brand. Mainly to make sure they could get any parts necessary. Turns out there are a few Lenox parts stores in the area, so it really did not matter who we contacted. But I did contact a Lenox repair company on Monday night. I was able to take off Tuesday from work since my caseload was light. When I contacted the repair company though Tuesday morning they said they don't service our area anymore. Would have been nice to know when I checked their webpage and called and made an appointment the night before. No matter, we went with Plan B of calling the company that worked on our air conditioner 4 years ago. They did such a great job then, and did not fail us this time. I called Tuesday morning and the repair man was out by 10am. He was the same guy that fixed our air conditioner and he remembered the issues we had with that unit, better than I did. (like mice chewing through the wiring outside!). He quickly discovered that our furnace motor was burned out and he was able to locate a replacement part which he picked up and installed all before lunch. Unfortunately he reported that since COVID, the cost of parts doubled and are more scarce since most come from you know where-(China). He tossed around the idea of replacing the whole unit, although that would include both the furnace and air conditioner. To be fair, our gas furnace is about 24 yrs old, so it has held up pretty well. Even the guy that sold the part inquired about installing a new system. But as Tom said, paying less than $1000 for a repair is much better than a $12,000  replacement for now! And it seems to be working quite well. Just in time for the snow we had this past weekend. We also had a small snow and sleet storm blow in on Monday, but the roads were pretty clear by Tuesday afternoon. Waiting to shovel. 

Other big news this week was my scheduled #2 COVID vaccination on Jan 29th. CVS came in again on Friday. Turns out I was off on Thursday from work as well to work on Saturday. I was not crazy about working the day after my vaccination. I had heard the second shot could be more intense. I would agree, but it hasn't put me completely down. Unlike my first Pfizer shot, this one caused my arm to swell more with more pain/discomfort in my neck and across my shoulders although it did not last as long. The weirdest feeling is having my lymph nodes swell quite a bit with pain under my left arm where I got the shot to the size of a softball! It is listed as a possible side effect. Made working a bit uncomfortable the next day, but Tylenol seems to be really helping with the discomfort/muscle pain/headache and swelling. Hot shower feels good too!  

Although staff have now received both vaccinations, we continue to wear masks and face shields at work and get tested twice a week. I was surprised to see one of our nurse's aides at my facility tested positive for COVID last week. Turns out she did not want the vaccination. I thought everyone got the vaccination, even those that were initially hesitant. This info is difficult to know since I have to worry about my mom sitting in her apartment, not vaccinated yet, relying on nursing aides to care for her that may not want to get the vaccine. Especially since there are still staff members at my mom's place testing positive for COVID.  Not only that, but it brings up the question of where are these people catching the virus -from out in the community, at home, or is there still some traces of the virus in our building? And you still have to worry about new patients coming into our building and possibly catching COVID. We have slowly been taking in new patients, but not enough to keep all 4 of us OT's busy all day. And we are still not allowed to travel throughout the building to treat patients, so I have been primarily treating the residents in our Assisted Living wing. 

 I also get continuous updates on my mom's health and her facility is testing the residents consistently as well. Especially if they were exposed to someone who tested positive for COVID which seems to keep happening on and off. Fortunately, mom got her first vaccine on Sunday, Jan 31st. CVS sent in about a dozen employees to get ahead of the upcoming snow storm early on Sunday morning. They had 100 residents to vaccinate as well as  100 staff!  

Besides having the furnace repaired, I spent my days off going through the Bozyk family photos from my mom's storage unit. I had planned on taking old video tapes and kodachrome 8mm film in to Costco to have it converted to DVDs. I checked their service online and discovered that they were closing down all their in store Photo Centers by Feb 14th. Granted I have not utilized the photo center in quite some time. I used to get all my film cartridges processed there(it was very cheap!).  But since everything is digital now, I don't have to drop off any film. And if I want any photos printed now I usually send them to Walgreens. Their prices are very good and they usually have discounts for prints or special projects like calendars or the quilt I printed for my mom. But Costco had better prices for video transfer. So I was busy looking through all the photos/videos and movie reels to drop off at the store before the deadline. Looks like I could still use their service after the deadline, but then you have to mail it in. This way I could just drop off the film at the desk. Should be done in a few weeks. Can't wait to see what I end up with! I was also interested in having some photos restored-colorization restored and tears repaired however it is about $30 per photo-a bit rich for my wallet. And while I was looking through photos, I was also trying to pick up names here and there for my Family Tree. I managed to add some more names and dates and discover some more family members. I also discovered that one of my Great Great Great Aunts on my mother's father's side(Borg) married into the Phillips family. The family had 10 children and one of them discovered oil in Oklahoma, establishing Phillips 66 oil company. Another of the Phillips boys had a very large ranch in New Mexico and donated a portion of the property to the Boy Scouts, known today as Philmont Boy Scout Reservation! Scott's BS troop scheduled a trip and trained for the long hike when Scott was in his last year of scouting, but we all opted out. Too much work preparing for the strenuous daily hikes. I also discovered a ceramic nativity set that my Grandmother Borg made which I had given up on ever finding! I looked through all of my parent's Christmas  boxes in two different houses and never found them. It has been 6 years since I moved my parents to Maryland, and lo and behold I found the statues in a small cardboard box at the bottom of a box of photos! We didn't have time to look through all the photos when we were moving, so I never came across it. Not sure why my mom packed them in that box, but I am glad the mystery is solved!

I also check in with Scott via Skype. He was still struggling with his online schedule and assignments-the school and staff seem to have a difficult time ironing out all the online issues at the beginning of the semesters including due dates for assignments and correct zoom codes to log in to live webcasts, but after a few weeks things seem to be straightening out. Looks like Scott will be all virtual however. We were hoping at least one of his engineering labs would be in person, but not for now. Scott also had to sign up for housing for next school year, so he chose a single dorm room on the same floor in the same hall right across from his current room. This one however has it's own bathroom which Scott prefers. No more sharing the one shower and one toilet! Here in Maryland, the public schools are still primarily online and the Governor has announced he wants to return to the buildings by March 1st. Looks like our county is still pushing for an April start date. Teachers are still hesitant to go back into the classrooms until they get their COVID vaccinations. Our state is passing out COVID shots to categories 1A and 1B-all hospitals, nursing homes, first responders, Group Homes and Assisted Living Facilities as well as those 65+. 1C will be essential workers like the postal service, grocery store employees, teachers. Even Tom and Allison in Manufacturing/Defense. Tom and Allison are still waiting to hear from work on how/where to sign up.  

Well, looks like I need to bundle up and do some shoveling. Not sure how much snow we are going to get but I want to be able to get out of the driveway on Monday to get to work!