The Christmas Quarantine

Find an update to this post dated December 31.

Those of you who read this blog regularly know that my mother is in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's Disease. You may also know that she lives in a memory care / nursing arrangement and my Dad, who has his own health challenges, lives in the same building, a few floors up. They see each other every day and there is no doubt that Dad's attentiveness and ability to keep Mom as engaged in life as possible has contributed to her longevity -- 10 years since her diagnosis so far.

They've been married almost 60 years, and have been together 62 years. So of course, they can't imagine Christmas without each other.

Until today. Because Dad got a call yesterday from the director of the memory unit telling him that four of the 15 residents have upper respiratory ailments, and after doing throat cultures on them, the state had quarantined the memory unit.

Quarantined! No one allowed in or out for at least two days, up to a possible seven days. No visitors. No Christmas. After 62 years, it was someone else's sore throat that came between them.

Was the quarantine a good idea? The timing was really lousy, for sure! But I'm guessing that it has saved the other folks, visitors, spouses, family members, many who are older, many of them also sick or old enough to have compromised immune systems, from getting the same ailment. No matter how lousy the timing, better to be on the safe side.

So if you hear Santa's sleigh Saturday or Sunday night -- don't be surprised. He'll be finishing the job he started Wednesday night for those folks who got stuck inside the Christmas quarantine.

None of the memory unit residents will know the difference. And that is really the saddest part of all.

..............................................
Photo © Microsoft Image Gallery