My father tested positive for Coronavirus

   About 3 hours ago, my brother called me from the hospital to tell me that my dad has tested positive for the coronavirus.  

The Rehab Center

   It all started on October 19th.  My 80 year old father fell down some stairs at our cabin near Laurel Mountain State Park. He had dislocated his shoulder and he was in a lot of pain.  The neighbors called 911 and he went off to the hospital where they performed some surgery.  After he recovered from the surgery, he went to Twin Lakes Rehabilitation and Healthcare Center in Greensburg Pennsylvania to recover.

   He did not like being cooped up at the rehab clinic and he wanted to leave because he was afraid of covid.  There were two other patients at the center that had covid, but we were assured that they were in negative pressure rooms and any staff that treated those two patients were not permitted to leave the area where those patients were staying.  On November 2, we were informed that 20 patients had tested positive for covid19.  I am unhappy that the rehab center had not informed us earlier.  It seemed like they went from two isolated covid cases to 20 in one day.  (I think there were around 70 patients in the center.)  We were also told that there was only one positive case in Dad's wing of the rehab center. 

   My 21 year old son has had many serious lung problems.  He was even on the lung transplant list for around two years, but he was kicked off the list for being too healthy several years ago.  Consequently, I have been very concerned about the possibility of my son contracting covid.  My son and I had been staying at my parents place with my mother while my father convalesced at the rehab center.  As soon as I heard about the 20 covid cases at the rehab center, I drove my son up to my house so that he would not be around my dad.  The next morning, I drove back to the rehab center to pick up my father and bring him to his house.  We isolated him in his bedroom which has an adjoining bathroom.  Right before he left the center, he had a coronavirus test.  Two days later, that test came back negative, so we were a little less concerned. My bother, the ER nurse, decided that he should fly up to my dad's place from Arizona to keep an eye on him.  He has been an amazing help to all of us during my dad's illness.  

Coming Home

   My father was lethargic after leaving the rehab center.  Even when he was in the center, he had difficulty walking the 150 yards from his room to my car.  When he was home, confined to his room, he got very little exercise, and he seemed to become slowly weaker.  After being home for a week, he got a fever one evening of 101.  The next day he had no fever, but he was even more lethargic.  He would cough occasionally, but he never coughed more than three or four times a day.  My brother decided to test my dad for coronavirus again the evening that he got a fever.  

   That was four days ago and we have been waiting every day for the test results.  We had set up an assisted living apartment in State College Pennsylvania near my house and if the test came back negative, we were going to drive my parents up there.  We thought that my dad was going to need some assistance to move around while he recovered from his shoulder injury and the assisted living complex could supply the help he needed.  

Today

   This morning my father needed help going to the bathroom.  This is about the third time that I helped him go from the bed to the bathroom.  He was very unsteady on his feet moving one foot at a time no more than 6 inches.  Once he got to the toilet, he was breathing heavily.  After he was done, I help him walk back to a reclining chair where he could look outside and surf the internet on his ipad.  Mentally, he had been quite slow for several days speaking somewhat haltingly.  

   We were waiting for the covid test results.  At noon, my brother and I had a meeting and we decided that my dad was ill enough that he should take him to the ER.  Shortly after they arrived at the ER, they put him in a room and found out that the test which had been administered on Wednesday, four days ago, was done processing this morning at 9AM and it was positive for covid.  

   We were all a bit shocked, though we had suspected the possibility of covid, we thought that is was unlikely because there had been only one other positive in my dad's rehabilitation center wing.  My dad also was coughing rarely and he only had a fever for one day.  I feel stupid now realizing that, though my dad was isolated in his room, we could have done a lot more to prevent the infection from spreading from him to my mother, my brother, and I.  We three feel fine now and hopefully that will not change.  

   My father did seem stronger today than yesterday, so I am hoping that he recover quickly.   

  

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