I have a head and chest cold. I cannot quarantine from my husband and even if I could, chances are he was exposed to my germs before the symptoms arrived. It’s a very difficult situation being the live-in caregiver for another human being because you don’t have an escape route when things like this happen. So, I try to avoid sneezing or coughing in his vicinity, I use disinfectant spray and wipes around the house, I am reheating meals from the freezer rather than cooking for him. And somewhere in the middle of all that, I’m trying to take care of myself so I’ll get better. He woke me up with his coughing last night and this morning his cold is fully engaged.

Perhaps I should have masked up when I first started feeling symptoms. Perhaps I should have called someone else to come over and take care of my husband while I went into isolation for a few days. But our family is too busy and our house is too small and, as I said before, he probably was exposed before either of us realized I was getting sick. It was a no-win situation.

We plod on. I take cold medication and he takes acetaminophen to alleviate the symptoms. We hibernate together and I keep sanitizing things hoping to kill any virus present in the air. The only positive aspect is that I am starting to feel better as he is going in the other direction so we’ll make it through. I need to remember sometimes I can do my best and things are still going to go wrong, it’s just the way it is on this blasted Parkinson’s journey.