Along with all the stuff I had to do today…
The 24/7 parenting thing…
The full-time job that’s 7 days a week lately…
The feeding myself thing…
All that stuff…
I went to get a Covid-19 test.
Not because I think I have the disease or because I’ve been around someone with it, but so I can go and visit my mother in her long-term care home.
For, like, the first time since March.
As soon as I have the test results, I can see her for a couple of weeks, give or take, before I have to be tested again.
So what it comes down to, is I hope I’m not a container for the disease.
See what I did there?
What was the test like?
I’ll tell you.
It was a drive-through testing site, so I didn’t have to get out of the car, but I did have to follow some really confusing pylons. Because I was the only car there, and they had that loopy-loop thing through the parking lot. As my son pointed out, I was like that character in Shrek, running back and forth through the roped-off empty line-up.
So I get to the front of the line, finally, after feeling like I’ve just gone through an obstacle course for the World’s Worst Driver (no, I didn’t knock down any pylons), and the nice PPE’d lady took my health card to check to see who I was, etc. She came back a few seconds later with a two-foot-long log swab to stick up my nose. Before she did, she explained that it was quick, but it would feel sort of like when you breathe in pure chlorine water from a pool. What she didn’t tell me is that if you clench too hard and they can’t get the knife swab up far enough, they’re going to ask you to swallow. Had I known this earlier, I’d have had some spit in my mouth.
But no. No spit. So the sword swab was up my nose that much longer.
But still, before I knew it, it was over. She gave me back my health card and said I could leave. But to take my time and wait until I’d stopped bawling like an infant my eyes had stopped watering before I drove away. There was still not a single car behind me.
So yeah, if you have to get a brain scrape a Covid-19 test, take spit with you.

2019-2020 SoCS Badge by Shelley! https://www.quaintrevival.com/
This painful post was brought to you by Stream of Consciousness Saturday. Find the prompt here and join in! https://lindaghill.com/2020/09/25/the-friday-reminder-and-prompt-for-socs-sept-26-2020/
October 4, 2020 at 5:30 am
I’m glad you get to see your mom again! Not seeing her since march is a long time!
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September 30, 2020 at 10:16 am
Thank you for caring about all of us who have Moms at risk – it means so much. Anita.
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September 30, 2020 at 8:14 am
OMG I’m laughing so hard…but I have to tell you, we were in the Dallas airport one time, late at night, there was a 10 mile long maze of roped off area to get into the security check line that was completely empty. A few people were up near the scanning device, that was all. My husband slipped under the flimsy plastic tape (it wasn’t even real “rope”) to skip having to traverse the maze and this security woman appeared from out of nowhere, yelling at him to go back and go through the entire loop! She actually threatened to have him kicked out of the airport if he didn’t. He wasn’t being belligerent or anything, but when she started harassing him, he tried explaining how he was just trying to get up to the head of the line and he wasn’t cutting in front of anyone since no one was there. But she wouldn’t even listen. We had to go back to the end and start all over again. And still no one was in the line. Which only proved to us that if you give a little person a little power, it still starts with a little person.
So sorry you had to go through all that nonsense just to see your mum. Someday this stupidity will end…
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September 29, 2020 at 4:27 pm
One would think they could make a test that is not so hard and make it accessible. I hope you get to see your mother soon.
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September 29, 2020 at 5:45 pm
Still waiting for my test results.
Thanks, JoAnna.
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September 28, 2020 at 10:30 am
My son had this test recently, all the staff members in his college. He said it was not painful but very uncomfortable. Negative result. Terrible times indeed. Take care.
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September 28, 2020 at 9:35 am
Too bad you have to go through that! Is it just because she’s in a home and they require it, or is it your own preference? I have never stopped visiting my dad, of course, he still lives in his own home. We have lived our normal life through the entire epidemic, except for having to wear a stupid, useless mask everywhere. I will be soooo glad when this nonsense is over! Don’t be so afraid! If everyone would have just treated this thing like the flu instead of going abosultely nuts, the country would have been back to normal months ago. (JMO)
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September 28, 2020 at 12:54 pm
Yeah, the rules of my mother’s nursing home state that I can’t go in unless I test negative. But I can’t not be afraid, and I’ll explain why.
My son who has a heart condition was hospitalized for two weeks in 2010? with H1N1. Without the Tamiflu vaccine, there’s a good chance he’d have died. He could just as easily die from the flu, which is why we all get vaccinated for it every year.
As for the flu, I looked up some statistics for 2018, to be sure Covid couldn’t be mixed in. In the US, there were 35.5 million cases (Covid is still below 8million) and 33,000 deaths compared to 200K for Covid. This tells me Covid is more deadly. In Japan, where they wear masks all day, everywhere, when they’re sick, there were only 3,300 deaths in the same year. 10% of the number of deaths in the US, a third of the number per million population.
But we generally know when we have the flu. If we’re sick and we stay home, there’s 100% chance that we won’t give the illness to anyone in our community, maskless or not. But that’s not the case with Covid. There are people–maskless people with unwashed hands–walking around with it who don’t know they have it.
And THAT, more than anything, is why I’m not just afraid. I’m terrified. On behalf of my son and everyone else like him, who would likely die of the flu and more likely die of Covid without a vaccine.
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September 27, 2020 at 4:17 pm
🤣😂🤣😂 You are a good daughter
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September 27, 2020 at 4:17 pm
🤣😂🤣😂 You are a good daughter,
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September 27, 2020 at 11:52 am
I have thought so many times about having the test done just so I can see my family. I hope your painful experience produces a negative result. Such strange times.
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September 27, 2020 at 11:25 am
Yikes 🤯 But I hope it was worth it and you get to see your mom😷
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September 27, 2020 at 10:01 am
Oh Linda, I’m sorry to be laughing, but you made this pretty funny. I hope the test is negative so you can see your mom. You’re a good kid to go through that.
Thanks for hosting.
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September 27, 2020 at 8:36 am
Ouch. That sounds really uncomfortable. I hope that you get to meet your mother soon.
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September 27, 2020 at 9:32 am
Thanks, Shweta!
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September 27, 2020 at 3:17 am
Oh, Linda, I’ve had the test too. It’s not pleasant at all!
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September 27, 2020 at 9:31 am
It’s the farthest thing from pleasant I can imagine.
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September 27, 2020 at 2:54 am
Fingers crossed Linda 💜🤞
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September 27, 2020 at 9:31 am
Thank you, Willow. ❤
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September 27, 2020 at 11:24 am
Hugs 🤗
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September 27, 2020 at 2:19 am
Hope you get to visit your mom soon.
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September 27, 2020 at 9:30 am
Thanks. 🙂
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September 27, 2020 at 2:10 am
😂two foot long swab!!! I laughed out reading this! They say it’s not painful, well I don’t think they know how close to a “knife” that is 😄
Well it turned out that I was not a container. I got tested as I had a slight fever and when I got a negative n got cured of fever, I visited my mom (cancer survivor) after 6 months too. I hope you are not a container and you get to meet her soon. ❣️
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September 27, 2020 at 9:30 am
Thank you! So glad to hear you tested negative. ❤
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September 27, 2020 at 1:34 am
Very painful, indeed!
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September 27, 2020 at 9:29 am
It is! Thankfully the pain goes away fairly quickly. It’s the sensation that stays with you.
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