- intouch Magazine
The party no one wants to attend
AFTER MONTHS OF AVOIDING PEOPLE LIKE THE PLAGUE, LITERALLY, I FINALLY GOT THE PARTY INVITATION THAT NOBODY WANTS...
DAY ONE
COVID had swept through my child's school the week before, but we had missed it. I finally thought my lackadaisical approach to housekeeping and the fact that we are hearty country folk who rarely get sick was finally paying off in our favour. I was heading out to visit a friend with a month-old baby, so I decided to take a test just for my own peace of
mind.
Sure that it would be negative, I made plans in my head for the weekend. I started to pack my bags. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the second dreaded red line. Sure that it was wrong, I took another one. I was like some woman in a rom-com taking a second pregnancy test, hoping for a different result. It's the same pee, Katherine Heigl. What did you think was going to change. It was positive.
DAY TWO
I made all the calls I needed to make and bragged to friends that had I not taken the test, I wouldn't even know I had it. I filled myself full of medication, vitamins and water. Though the kid remained negative, she isolated with me and avoided close contact. We are a very tactile family and not being able to hug her was heartbreaking. As was not being able to see my grandmother. We are luckier than most that we can see her from the back deck of our house so we could at least still wave.
DAY THREE
My overconfidence was short-lived. The muscle pain, the headache, and the fever kicked in. At 5am, unable to get my temperature down, I laid in an ice bath and, for the first time, had serious concerns about what would happen if things
went downhill. The rest of the day alternated between a cold bath and a warm bed.
DAY FOUR
My only real memory of the day is friends checking in on the phone and finding out the Queen has Covid. The only thing Liz and I will ever have in common, I thought. I was positive she looked more regal than I did, stumbling back and forth to the bathroom. For all the access they have to health professionals, she is still a tiny 95-year-old woman. How scary that
must be for her family. I hear people dismiss the fatalities all the time as people who are older or with underlying conditions, but they are still someone's loved one.
DAYS FIVE & SIX
Please see days 3 and 4 with more tissues. Thinking to myself, what a waste of time all those people hoarding toilet paper had been. Wondering since I had all this time to lay here and think if I could solve all the world's problems. That's been the only thing stopping me until now, obviously, and world peace depended on my input. Unfortunately, delusion
from the fever had well and truly kicked in.
DAY SEVEN
Testing negative and technically about to go out in the world again. For someone in the music industry, having missed the first weekend where NSW was not the town from Footloose was particularly painful. I can't say I feel 100% but thankful that I did everything in my power to ensure I kept other people safe by staying home.
I feel like one of the lucky ones. I got sick with access to healthcare, with people checking in on me, with a roof over my head. Some of the world's problems are fixable. But it's not time to think that is the solution. It’s time for action.
On Tour With the Kid
CHLOE O'SULLIVAN
