Meanwhile, Lemon has his clinic visit coming up on Friday. This was supposed to be the big annual visit with the lab draws and the x-rays and all that. Since we were scheduled for a lab draw anyhow, I sent a message asking if we could have the COVID-19 antibody test drawn at the same time, just to see if that weird virus Lemon and Papa Bear had earlier in the spring was actually _the_ weird virus. But, sadly, no, of course that would be too easy. You see, Children's Hospital is located in a different building than the adult hospital. I mean, they are immediately adjacent and connected by both a breezeway and an underground passage, but still, different buildings. And, what with the laws of physics and such, it is impossible for a vial of blood to make it from one building to a different building. If I want the test done, I have to bring the blood to the adult hospital while it is still inside my kid, exposing him to whatever we encounter en route, so that it can be drawn by someone in the adult lab who is used to adult-sized veins. Nope.
This all became a moot point anyhow, because shortly after I got the response about how blood can't travel between buildings, I got a phone call saying that this visit is going to be a video visit. I think overall that's fine, Lemon is doing well and the benefit to being seen in person at the moment is pretty low. I am kind of curious to see how the collapsed area in his lung is doing, but really not so curious as to bring him in to the hospital. It'd also be nice to get updated labs, especially for his liver, but on the other hand, there's no rush there either. So, while I'm fine with not going in now, I don't hold out tremendous hope that 3 months from now (ie October, 1 month after the college kids come back to town), things will somehow be miraculously better and we'll be all set to go into clinic again.
Speaking of the fall, I've become increasingly pessimistic about schools reopening. It seems all but certain that at most our school will be doing 2 days a week in person, and 3 online. I wouldn't be at all surprised if they also do the first few weeks or months of the school year 100% online, given the way the state is trending at the moment. A month ago, I was feeling fairly certain that I would send the kids to school for whatever it was in session for. Over the past week, though, my thinking has really shifted and now I am leaning towards keeping them home. No matter what, they will be home a lot, at least 5 days a week by the look of it. And what are they going to get out of those 2 days in the classroom, besides infection risk? and is it worth it? I imagine at some point they'll get tired of being home all the time, but we're not there yet, so why not ride this out a little longer? Watch this space...
