Hope and Heartbreak

 

My week began with hope and jubilance: Receiving my first jab symbolized the beginning of the end of a virus that has taken so many. Science wins, patience and good sense win, and those of us who have survived all win against a formidable foe.

The next day I received the news: After five months of fighting COVID-19, Toni had passed away of pneumonia. Just when we all thought she had turned the corner toward recovery, our hearts were broken.

There are no winners after all.

This week I focused mostly on giving my right hand a workout with a brush. Initially I had thought that a brush, which requires more control than a pencil or other dry materials, would be even more challenging for my nondominant hand. But it’s challenging with either hand, so my right is not disadvantaged by much. In fact, the brush requires less pressure than dry materials, so my right did about as well as the left. Even after a six-month break, my right hand apparently remembered how to ride a bike.

I received my first Pfizer dose on Day 386.

I think I’ll change it up again for the remainder of the series, which will end on Day 407 when I receive my second Pfizer dose.