In The Beginning
At the beginning of quarantine I was recovering from covid and it left my immune system wrecked and my body super weak. So when the shelter-in-place thing started it was actually wonderful for a super sickly person like myself. Now that people were no longer leaving their houses sick and spreading their germs everywhere, by the end of the first month of quarantine I was the healthiest my doctor had ever seen me! I weighed nearly 85lbs, I had increased stamina, my immune system seemed to be back on track, and I was finally feeling strong enough to be able to start gentle exercises again. It was amazing!
Health Insurance & Job Loss
Right around this point however (near the end of March), Walker and almost everyone else in the company he worked for got laid off, and with the loss of his job also came the loss of my health insurance. My recovery is so heavily dependent on getting consistent treatment from multiple doctors, so losing them definitely left a huge, lingering weight hanging over us.
Before our insurance expired, Walker and I spent a couple crazy weeks trying to see as many of my doctors as we could, as well as getting emergency refills of as many of my medications as we could. One prescription would cost $1,200 for a month’s supply without insurance, so this was really important. Then our health insurance ended and I had to live without it for nearly three months.
Health loss
Unfortunately, right after we lost our health insurance we had some neighbors move in that put Walker and I through one of the most trying experiences we’ve ever had to deal with. I can’t go into details without sharing too much, but in the course of a month-and-a-half a neighbor’s behavior went from disruptive to illegal due to a struggle with addiction. At first we were just kept up at all hours of the night (which got really dangerous for me after a month of virtually no sleep), but eventually it turned into criminal things that almost led us to have to take legal action a couple times. It was a really scary situation.
Thankfully the illegal behavior finally stopped after a couple of months, but sadly by then all the health progress I had worked tirelessly to achieve over the last year had already completely disappeared. I was back to being dangerously underweight (even losing 10lbs in just two weeks), mostly bedridden, and getting only 3 hours of interrupted sleep a night.
I’ve sadly experienced little to no improvement in my health since then, but in the middle of July we got our health insurance back, which was the hugest praise! I’ve been able to see almost all of my doctors again since then, and I’m hopeful that I’ll start seeing progress soon as a result 💛
New Old Job
After 3 months of unemployment Walker got rehired at his old job, and a month after that our health insurance kicked back in! It has taken 10 years to finally find the right doctors for me, and it would’ve been awful if I had to start that search all over again due to a change in insurance, so this has been the hugest praise and we are SO incredibly thankful.
Garden Update
It was a big struggle keeping my garden cared for amidst declining health, but even though many plants died and many others were left unplanted, my backyard garden is still thriving beautifully and brings me so, so much joy on a daily basis. It truly is my happy place, and I don’t know how I would’ve gotten through the stressors and illnesses of this year without my little backyard sanctuary of plants and animals to help carry me through ❤️ I did have to drop my art journal endeavors due to being so sick, but that’s okay. I’ll try again next year 🙂
I Finally Have A New Sister!!!
The best thing to have happened during this quarantine season has definitely been getting the best sister-in-law in the world, Kara! My big brother Andros got married and he seriously couldn’t have found a better wife and couldn’t have given us a better new sister. Kara has been a super close family friend since forever, and deep down I’ve always hoped Andros would end up marrying her, so I still kind of can’t believe it actually happened…it’s just the best! (And let’s be honest, after years of only having brothers marry into the family it’s about time we finally got another female in the mix 😘).
SO that has been my crazy quarantine season so far. Hopefully it has been a better year for you than it has been for me, but if you’re in a similar boat as I am, we’ll get through this. Keep fighting, keep finding reasons to smile (after you’ve had a good cry, of course), keep hoping, keep taking care of yourself as best you can, keep praying, keep choosing to love any and all that you meet, and keep believing that this too shall pass. If you need prayer I’d love to pray for you and if you need a hug I’m sending many virtual ones your way…we’ll get through this together ❤️
Yours Truly,
~Cassia Dee
Yours Truly, Cassia Dee 