Catching up on me

A brief look into what I have been doing during the COVID-19 pandemic and how my life has been under quarantine.

Lila Shepard, writer| June 5, 2020

Depiction of a family wearing medical masks standing outside of their home during the COVID-19 pandemic

I’m sitting at home with my crazy family. I’ve been stuck here since spring break. This sense of being cooped up is a feeling that many people in quarantine know by now. I had volleyball tournaments over spring break, so I was stuck at home while my friends vacationed. My volleyball later got canceled due to the virus, so I wasn’t even able to see my teammates. Staying home is hard for everyone. My family and I have had to get creative to find different ways to get through this “COVID experience.”

It’s difficult to be a dedicated athlete and stay conditioned without sports. I have to be self-motivated without encouragement from my coach and teammates. I’ve taken to the internet in search of workout routines that I can follow. Normally, it is just me, my dog, and my yoga mat in the basement sweating it out. Luckily, I have a sister who plays volleyball too, and passing the ball in the driveway with her helps me practice my skills.

My sister and I are now home all of the time, but my parents, unfortunately, do not have that privilege. They are both in the medical field. My dad is the chief perfusionist at Children’s Hospital, and my mom is a registered nurse at an outpatient center. According to pbs.org, “Between 10 percent and 20 percent of U.S. coronavirus cases are healthcare workers…,” which is alarming. Because of their professions, our family is at a higher risk of infection.

Since the outbreak, my mom is now responsible for taking temperatures of the people that come into her surgery center, asking them questions and giving them instructions before their procedure takes place. My dad works in the operating room, working the cardiopulmonary bypass machine, which is used in heart surgery. He also operates a life support machine called the extracorporeal membrane oxygenation (ECMO) machine. The people that typically need it have severe problems with their heart or lungs. This is typically a challenge when working with COVID patients.

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Though my parents wear protective gear at work, their safety is not guaranteed. Whenever they go to work, they risk being exposed to the virus and bringing it home. We made a plan for how we will quarantine if one of us gets sick so that the rest of us won’t. The possibility of one of them contracting the virus and bringing it home causes stress on my family, but I am proud to have parents that are putting themselves out there to help those that are in need.

I find it funny how I long for the little things that I used to take for granted. I miss shopping, meeting up with friends and going out to the movies. Even sitting with classmates at lunch and waving to people I know in the hallways has turned into one of the small things I want to do again. I miss my old way of life, but I am grateful for how humbling this experience has been. I am so excited to finally start to see an end to all of this chaos. For now, we are all getting through this together, one day at a time.