COVID-19

You may be wondering: What's happening at Casa Alitas? What big plans are being put in place to get ready for the lifting of Title 42? Well, I happen to be wondering the same things, because this week I was home with the company of our old friend SARS-CoV-2.

Still feeling slightly disheveled by the big news at work and a new tickle in my throat I decided to stay home on Thanksgiving. I had a lovely quiet day, something I did not realize my body was craving. And at the same time I was disappointed to miss out on a day full of hiking, games, and good food provided by our friends Cheryl and Nelson. That evening I grazed over the leftovers while my housemates began decorating our Christmas tree.

In order from left to right: Thanksgiving evening. A gallery of feel better soon cards from the Sunday school children. Watching church on zoom, a weird feeling when you're only across the parking lot.

Friday and Saturday I was completely out of it. Fever, sore throat, headache, and absolute exhaustion, but I was still testing negative. Finally, Sunday morning the bold little red line appeared on my test. This was my first time testing positive for COVID, so my first thought was: "shoot there goes my streak!" My housemates immediately sprung into action...

1. masks on

2. distance obtained

3. contacts informed

4. workplaces notified

We've been trained for this moment. It is always interesting to me how much that little line changes everything. A moment ago I had been keeping some distance not wanting to spread what I thought was the flu to my housemates, but now it was operation isolation. And I would take the week off of work.

I was actually quite surprised how out of it I felt. It wasn't until Wednesday that I felt like I could stay on my feet long enough to make a decent meal. But Wednesday also brought with it another reason for getting off the couch. My phone silenced a call from Yakima, WA midmorning, a few minutes later I got a notification that I had a new voicemail. My heart skipped a jump, this could only be one thing. It was in fact my first medical school acceptance! Now I have a voice mail saved to my phone from Pacific Northwest University (PNWU) of Health Sciences College of Osteopathic Medicine (oof that's a mouthful) offering admission to their program. What a relief it is to be accepted to medical school, and one that I am excited about! I cried a lot, called my parents, and jumped around a bit (until I felt COVID tell me to lay back down in the voice of a pounding headache and dizziness).

I made myself some chocolate banana bread and kept smiling to myself the rest of the day. Y'all are reading the blog of the future Dr. Landis. Gosh I tear up just thinking about it.

That evening Andrea presented me with a gift. A pint of Ben and Jerry's ice cream, "From a friend in Palestine," she said. You can see what happened in the picture below haha. Buy a pint of nondairy Ben and Jerry's ice cream for me and I will melt, an apparently easy way to tug at the heart strings of Jessie Landis. Thanks for all the love and support Allison Shelly, I miss you!

Other than getting accepted to med school, I did not do much this week. I watched some TV shows; including but not limited to Peppa Pig (in Spanish, because I have to stay sharp in my learning). I continued reading The Poisonwood Bible. I took many naps on our back porch in the sun. It was a week of resting. As miserable as I was, I was glad to have the forced sabbatical. I am feeling quite better today and will probably have a normal weekend before heading back to work on Monday!

George (Peppa Pig's little sibling) and I bonded over our shared experience of staying in bed all day because we felt sick.