Thankful for Masks and Social Distancing

 My mom called this morning to tell us that the woman that she had been playing golf with this summer had tested positive for COVID-19.  None of us in the Heinisch home were surprised at all.  She was an avid anti-masker and even stated several times that they would have to handcuff her and cart her away in a squad car before she would wear a mask inside the clubhouse at Maxwelton.  Although my mom had not been within six feet of her for fifteen minutes or more, she and my dad still thought that it would be best if they took a COVID test.  The nurse at Dr. Freeze's office had highly recommended it.  Mom's insurance told her that they would also pay for a rapid test if she wanted to try that as well.  She decided to take them up on their offer.  Although the results weren't as reliable as the state test, she was still relieved to see that it was negative.  Even with that result, the lab tech at Medstat told my mom to quarantine until the first test came back in three to five days.

Shortly after my mom's news, we foud out that Bethany would have to move to online learning starting on Monday.  Two students had tested positive for COVID-19 today and the Elkhart Health Department would be contacting any other students who had been in close contact with them, so that they also could quarantine.  Cam was bummed that they wouldn't be returning to school on Monday but was glad to find out that he had not been in close contact with either of the students and that the tennis team would still be able to practice.  

I was pretty shaken the rest of the day.  It had only recently dawned on me that we could be greatly affected by someone testing positive with COVID, even if we were free of the illness.  Today was the perfect example of that.  Those arguing about their civil liberties being taken away if they were required to wear a mask were actually imposing their views on the rest of us.  By chosing not to wear a mask or social distance, they were greatly increasing their risk of getting the virus and in turn spreading it to others.  Had Cam been exposed, his entire tennis season could have been taken away from him.  Thankfully, that was not the case today.  We have been diligent these past five months about following the six foot rule,   wearing a mask and using hand sanitizer at all times, even when visiting my parents outdoors.  Because so many others have decided to ignore the pandemic, however, we will have to be even more cautious about the company that we keep.

Tennis Season Begins

 Tonight was Cameron's first tennis match of the season.  Although it was only a scrimmage, he was pretty nervous as it was his first start at varsity #3 singles.  Spectators weren't permitted, but since I had to drive him due to passenger restrictions on the Bethany bus, I was allowed to stay and watch.  Angola had just ten players which actually worked out well as they only had ten courts.  The match looked a lot different than last year with two tennis balls allotted to each player, no scorecards, lots of sanitizing and masks for all players.  The boys and coaches handled the circumstances well realizing that this was the reality for sports this fall.  Almost all of the specators wore masks too, which I was very glad to see.

Cam struggled with his serve to start, but played his opponent well.  They had several close games and in the end finished 2-2 when the time was called.  Cam's second match of the night looked like an easy win for him at 4-1, but his opponent was better than the score reflected.  Cam served a lot better in this match and had some great points.  He started cramping up after the first two matches which made the third one a struggle for him.  Although he didn't win, he rallied and played well.  After the match the boys all ate Pizza King together.  Normally, they would have gone inside the restaurant, but instead chose to share a meal together at a local park social distancing at separate picnic tables.  I was glad that they were able to continue the tradition even if it looked a little different this year.  It was such a wonderful way to start the season and we were both pleased with his first varsity match.

Let the Packing Begin

 Meg started the packing process today for her trip back to IU next week.  It will be a little bit more challenging this time as she will have to pack for three months with the thought that she probably won't be back before then and also with the understanding that we may not travel to Bloomington this fall.  She also has to have a bag ready in case she has to quarantine.  She plans to feel it with sweats, shorts, t-shirts and sweatshirts along with the toiletries that she will need.  Thankfully, she will be able to stay at Brett's if that happens, so she will leave the bag there.  Then all she would need to grab if she needs to isolate would be her computer, charger and school items.  

The other changes at IU this year also revolve around the pandemic.  She had to sign a COVID agreement before she could sign up to move-in on Wednesday.  In addition she has to have a COVID test ten days before arrival which she was able to do this morning.  The results will be back before she leaves, but even if they are negative, she will have to have another one when she arrives on campus.  Mass will also look different this year as parishners have to sign up before they can attend the service as St. Paul's will be capping attendance at 50 individuals.  I know that Meg won't have a problem following the rules.  She has done an awesome job social distancing and wearing a mask this summer.  We will really miss her when she leaves, but we know that it is time for her to go.  Life in the Heinisch home will be different once she's gone, but it won't be too long before we are all back together again.

The Storm Before the Calm

This summer has been extraordinarily hot and humid and yesterday was no exception.  Due to the weather conditions the local meteorologists had predicted thunderstorms.  We didn't pay much attention to that as we had gotten used to these summer afternoon forecasts which typically produced nothing.  I did hope for some rain so that I wouldn't have to water our flowers, but other than that I really didn't pay much attention to the forecast.  

Even with the hot weather yesterday afternoon Meg and I were still able to take a walk and Cal and I were able to enjoy lunch outside as well.  Doug called at 5:30 so I headed out to the front porch to talk with him.  Meg joined me a little later as she was waiting for Nick to return from Purdue.  It was still a little hot out, but nothing that we weren't used to this summer.  All of a sudden the emergency service alarm blarred on both of our phones with a tornado warning.  I knew that there had been storms in Illinois earlier in the day from Doug's cousin's FaceBook post, so we headed straight to the basement.  I was a little worried as Doug wasn't home with Cam yet.  Nick wasn't here either, so Meg checked on Find My Phone and both cars were in Syracuse.  Thankfully, they all made it down stairs shortly just before the storm hit.

I turned on television when we first went downstairs so that we could watch our local weatherman.  Within minutes the power flickered and the internet went out.  None of our phones could pick up data either.  Thus, for about forty-five minutes we weren't sure what was going on outside.  Around 7:15 Doug went upstairs and saw that it was still storming.  Nick texted his brother in Detroit who had power and internet and could tell us that the storm was subsiding and would be thru our area soon.  I checked in with Cal.  He was safe and sound at Hannah-Marie's home.  They had been kayaking, but made it inside well ahead of the storm.  My parents were fine also, but they did not have electricity.  

Today the true nature of the storm presented itself.  Although there was no official word on whether a tornado touched down or not, there was a path of destruction.  It started at our neighbor's two streets over where their fence was blown down.  Directly east of that several trees were down in the Wawasee Heights area.  The majority of the damage occured, however, about a mile away from there along a direct path straight to Hunnicut addition near Oakwood and close to my parents' home on Harkless Drive.  There were multiple large trees uprooted, power lines down, several cars destroyed and damage to homes.  It was scary to look at even the day afterward.  NIPSCO crews worked on the area for most of the late afternoon and early evening today.  My parents finally had power about twenty-four hours after the storm hit.  Thankfully, our internet was restored earlier than that.  As inconvenient as it was to be without power or internet, all of us felt incredibly blessed that everyone was safe and the only damage any of us had was a large branch that came off one of our trees.  

Sophomore Year

 Last night we received this email from the Head of School at Bethany which I appreciated very much.  I was the nervous parent that he wrote about and was once again relieved to see how much effort that Bethany was putting into their safety plan in order to start the school with an in person learning option.  From our conversations with Cam, we know that he was a little bit worried as well.  We had spent a lot of time social distancing this summer and this was his first step back into some semblance of normalcy.  Even with the trepidation we all knew that this was the best option for Cam.

From the start of the day everything looked a lot different than last year with fever and symptom checks before entiring the school to first day pictures including one with a new IU face mask.  Although it felt a little strange, Cam said that it went well.  There were hand sanitizing stations throughout the school, new water bottle fountains with a foot powered pedal, social distancing in all situations, three person lunch tables instead of six and longer class periods.  It took some getting used to for Cameron, but overall he was happy with how the day went and felt safe at school all day.  From the pictures posted on FaceBook in the afternoon we knew that their COVID-19 response was giving the Bethany students the best chance to return to the classroom safely.  We have been so incredibly pleased with the education that Cam has received these past five years and know that this will be an amazing (albeit different) year for him as well.

August 9, 2020 Dear Bethany students and parents, We are excited to welcome students back to campus beginning Monday. Staff have planned and prepared for the return of students, and we are absolutely committed to creating the best learning experience possible under the current circumstances. Everyone at BCS including administrators, teachers, staff and coaches are doing extraordinary work to get ready for the school year. I have received a large number of affirming email communications from parents over the last few days, and I am grateful that others recognize the hard work and commitment of BCS staff.  When students arrive, they will notice many changes. Principal Willems has outlined these in a series of emails over the summer. You can see all of our plans laid out on the COVID-19 Safety Response page on the website. What hasn’t changed are the things that make a Bethany education unique: challenging academics and a faith-rooted care for each students' growth and development.   At our core we are a caring community. However, at times we are going to disagree. Most of us (people in general) are caring rational human beings, yet we often draw different conclusions from the same information. We recognize that for some parents, students returning to school is a relief. For others, a return to school is distressing. This is a time to rely on the strength of our community and the understanding that we all are doing are very best to navigate the slow-moving crisis of COVID-19. We welcome your feedback and your prayers. Sincerely, Tim Lehman, Ed.D Head of Schools

Abrupt Wake Up Call

 Last night I had an abrupt wake up call that ended with a phone call to 911.  We had gone to bed late after enjoying an evening outside complete with a bonfire.  I had been asleep for about two hours when I woke up to a horrible pain in my chest with shortness of breath.  I tried to get up and walk around but quickly realized that the pain wasn't going away.  I checked my FitBit and was shocked to see that my heart rate was climbing rapidly.  I tried to wake up Doug, but he was completely zonked out upstairs after a long week at work and a late night in the Heinisch Home.  I finally decided that I had to call 911.  

The dispatcher that answered was extremely helpful.  She listened to my symptoms, requested an EMT visit and had another dispatcher try to call Doug and Meg to wake them up.  I could barely make it to the door to unlock it, so there was no way that I could climb the stairs or even shout upstairs to wake them up.  Neither would answer their phone for the dispatcher and I didn't want to give them Cam's number as I was afraid of scaring him. 

Thankfully, it only took the EMTs about 10 minutes to arrive.  They instantly started asking me questions as they began to hook me up to an EKG machine.  My pulse rate was in the 120s by that time, which I was glad to see, but they realized that it was still too high.  My blood pressure was also off the charts for me at 168/110.  Fortunately, my oxygen level was above 98 and I didn't have a fever, so that eliminated COVID as a possibility.  I wasn't concerned about that and neither were they, but it seemed appropriate for them to check as my chest hurt so incredibly bad when they arrived.

Through all of the noise, no one in our house woke up.  They finally asked if they could wake Doug up.  I explained where he was sleeping and the EMT asked multiple times if he had a gun.  I reassured him that we did not own a gun, but as I thought about it later, it made perfect sense why they would ask.  When they first woke Doug up, he thought that the house was on fire due to the bright light and the firefighter in the bedroom.  By the time he got downstairs he was fully awake, understood that there wasn't a fire and realized the seriousness of my situation.  The EMTs ran three different tests over a fifteen minute period and felt confident that I was not having a heart attack.  My pulse rate and blood pressure were still high so they gave me two options.  They could take me to the hospital or I could wait at home and give it a little more time and if I still felt bad, then Doug could take me.  They felt comfortable with the second option as they believed that the racing heart would subside and gave me several ideas on how to get it to drop if my pulse climbed back up again.  They also said that the main cause of chest pain and a racing heart besides a heart attack was a panic attack, although that didn't generally didn't happen while sleeping, it was still a possibility.

I decided to follow the second option and Doug supported that.  We thanked the EMTs and appreciated their help greatly.  In returned they thanked Doug for not shooting them when they woke him up.  They strongly suggested getting some sleep and eventually I was able to follow their advice.  I didn't feel the greatest today and realized that my pulse rate was still high for me (in the 90s compared to the low 60s.)  I did a little bit of research on the causes of a racing heartbeat including stress, hormones, dehydration and RA.  After a lot of reading we decided that I would monitor my blood pressure and pulse rate at home this week and call the doctor if they remained high or if I had another episode like last night.  It was definitely one of the scariest nights of my life and a good reminder of why we need to continue to monitor our own health needs during this trying time.  

Change of Pace

 Doug's had an interesting week at work.  Due to a demand in production, he and several of the office staff have volunteered to work out on the floor.  Doug definitely didn't mind as an increase in sales had led to the increase in workload.  He also thought that it was a nice change of pace from sitting behind a desk all day long.  Yesterday he learned how to bolt together arms for their chairs and today was proud to announce that he had increased his quota.  Due to his work as a CFO and the strain that standing puts on his back, he has only been able to work four hour days in production, but that should be enough to help out for awhile.  We were all impressed with Doug's new found skill and didn't mind him working on a Saturday.  Doug loves to keep busy and to learn new things.  This will provide an avenue for both.