Difficult Decisions

How do you explain the importance of protecting your immunocompromised child to the sibling of an immunocompromised child? This question is one we are not answering well in July 2020.

In March, April, and May when the quarantine restricted all of us, the discussions about what we were missing were easier than they are today. Now, we are all able to make decisions and choices to our own comfort level as Disneyland, amusement parks, and other public areas open with limitations and restrictions. We learned that a slice of pizza could have led to transmission over the weekend. We are scared.

As comfort levels adjust and invitations have come our family’s way, we find that difficult decisions and choices are ahead. These decisions are harder than we anticipated they would be. Multiple impending imaging studies and pathology appointments remind us of our why as a family unit. However, we are also trying to help an eleven-year-old understand. Receiving invitations to inside gatherings and parties should be exciting. Instead, we have to help him understand our fears and our need to protect the most vulnerable member of our family. Anger and sadness have followed. We understand and empathize, but that does not make it any easier for us or allow us to waiver from our choices.

We second guess our decisions over the past few weeks as a resurgence in cases appears around us. We fear the weeks ahead and what is to come. We pray that our fears are incorrect. However, we cannot take that chance.

Our hearts are heavy in mid-July for the difficult decisions that surround us as a family and the number of cases rising. Who would have thought that normalcy and its return would have been so difficult? We certainly did not see this coming. We bravely walk together and openly discuss our fears and family concerns to make the best decisions for us.

Be brave and make the best decisions for you. Stay healthy and mask up! If we all do our part, perhaps the road to return will not be as long or as difficult.