May 23, 2020

Today my sister Shelagh & her partner, Tess Contos, came for an afternoon visit.  This is our first face-to-face contact since Christmas!  We used face masks (inside) and the weather was (finally) lovely, so we spent most of our time outside in the Pergola or playing with Kate's boys, Erik & Jack, on the lawns at Rafter Hall.  Shelagh, who is the director of Respiratory Services at St. Camillus Nursing Home in Syracuse, is tested for COVID-19 twice a week now.  She has consistently tested negative as recently as last Thursday, so we hope exposure to her & Tess is safe.

It was a nice visit, but a bit tiring, as usual, for me who does the bulk of the prep, serving and clean up.  Shelagh & Tess both needed a change of pace. Irene Contos is living "downstairs" with them now, since her brief but dramatic hospitalization for a bleeding ulcer early in the COVID-19 crisis. Tess has been carrying most of the load of caring for her increasingly demented mom.  Shelagh is exhausted from her job in an intense "maximum infection control" environment and seeing several longtime residents succumb to COVID-19, despite her best efforts.   

Jared, Kate & their boys joined us for about 3 hours and that was fun. Although Kate, whose tummy has not given her any pain since her discharge, began "acting up" this evening after eating only a few mouthfuls.  She left here about 8pm feeling uncomfortable and worried, again.