Bad Sticky

Those of you following along closely may notice this email was supposed to arrive two days ago, on Monday. But this weekend, my family and I found ourselves in a sticky situation: my partner had fallen ill (not COVID) and the on-call physician from our normal practice wasn’t answering the phone. With an unvaccinated toddler at home, we’ve been super cautious throughout the pandemic, but now it was decision time—wait it out at home a little longer, or risk it at the ER?

For a while it felt like an impossible choice, but eventually, the sticky situation became, if not less sticky, then at least a little clearer—my partner had to go, and was eventually admitted at the hospital.

Even in this scary time, there was a lot of good news: we live in a city with a high vaccination rate that had a bed available (even an hour out in the suburbs, friends who work in healthcare say there are still simply no beds); I had just bought a fresh box of KN95s; my partner was quickly diagnosed and given the appropriate care; I was allowed in to visit; he was allowed to come home after a few days.