**Please know that this is not my proudest mom moment but a cautionary story of what happens to even the most careful people. We took every precaution possible to stay safe while traveling during a pandemic but we let our guard down somewhere and we paid a price.**
After 10 long months of being cooped up at home and having extreme pandemic fatigue, both my husband and I decided back in September to schedule a mini trip to Breckenridge, Colorado! We weighed out the pros, cons and risks and felt it would be okay for us to travel (due to our age and health). We purposely chose an outdoorsy area in the month of October because of the perfect weather which would allow us to minimize as much contact with other people. As I prepared for our trip, I bought extra surgical masks, hand sanitizer, Clorox wipes, Purell hand wipes and lysol spray. Regardless of what I bought and how much time I invested in the care of my family, ONE of us caught COVID.
Evening Before the Flight
The day before our flight, I got home from work and noticed that my husband was incredibly upset. I asked him what was wrong and he explained to me that he and our daughter went to the grocery store to pick up a few things. He allowed our daughter to push the cart and play with it as they shopped. Ugh, why would he do this?? Anyways, when they finished picking up the few items they needed they went back to his car and headed home. As he drove away he looked into his mirror and sees that our daughter had her HAND in her MOUTH!! He quickly tells her to take it out which she does immediately and apologies.
I tell you this story because I am not sure where she contracted COVID. It could have been at the grocery store or possibly the flight but I honestly have no idea. My mommy sense thinks the grocery store is more likely where it happened because she had her hand in her mouth before washing it and on the flight she touched absolutely nothing and had her face mask on the entire time. Yes, my daughter is the ONLY one who contracted COVID on this trip.
United Airlines Flight
The next morning we woke up super excited to fly out to see some awesome Fall foliage in Colorado! I took everyones temperatures which came back normal and we drove to the airport. As soon as we exited the car, we put on our masks and headed to the counter to drop off our luggage and then go through security. We had about 30 minutes before we boarded so I went to the ladies room which my daughter declined to use. We boarded our flight, my daughter got “wings” from the flight attendant which I immediately grabbed and sanitized and then went to our seats. Before my daughter sat down I wiped down her seat, seatbelt, arm rests and table tray with a Clorox wipe! I then proceed to do my own little area and then sanitized all of our hands with hand sanitizer. The flight was only 2 hours long and then we landed. We arrived in Denver and then proceeded to baggage claim. I took my daughter to the restroom and she kept her hands to herself and kept her mask on. Once we collected our luggage we rode on a half filled shuttle to pick up our car rental. We get our rental which I once again sanitized with a Clorox wipe and then drove off to Breckenridge. It is finally at this time that we ALL removed our face masks!
The Lodge at Breckenridge
We checked into our hotel which is one the world’s highest-altitude hotels, sitting up at 10,000 feet! As we settled in to our large room with the most amazing views of nature I had ever seen, I got to work! I sprayed down the entire room and bed with Lysol and used my trusty Clorox wipes to wipe down ALL the countertops, remotes, switches and doorknobs. I seriously took extra precautions on this trip! Once everything was sanitized, I finally sat down to relax and take in the views.
It’s at about this time that I started feeling a little off and couldn’t breathe. I had a major case of elevation sickness! I was short of breath, had a headache, felt my head was in a fog and even had a few nose bleeds. Thankfully, we had elevation sickness medication on hand, Tylenol and Excedrin. I popped in the medication and sucked on Oxygen like there was no tomorrow for 2 straight days! Yes, this trip was not starting off the way I had imagined it would.
5 Full Days in Breckenridge
The one good thing that happened was this, elevation sickness did not effect my husband or daughter. I was a trooper and refused to let it hold me back because my daughter was so happy and excited to be on vacation. She would wake up at 7am every morning to watch the sunrise and asked me to join her. I couldn’t tell her no so regardless of how I felt I made sure to join her to see the spectacular sunrise of Breckenridge. After the gorgeous sunrise, we’d take our time to get ready to make it to breakfast / brunch. I was feeling so sick that I could barely drink anything, not even a mimosa. That’s when you know something has to be wrong with me, LOL! After our morning meals we’d take daily hikes to enjoy the beauty Colorado had to offer. It always surprises me how much my daughter can endure! She could walk and walk miles if I let her which is hilarious thinking she can barely walk 2 aisles in a department or grocery store before telling me she is exhausted! We visited several hiking spots, went to a lake, had lunch and dinners in restaurants which was maybe at 50% to capacity and took strolls down the Main Street to shop. Everyone has to wear a mask while walking down the main streets in Breckenridge to make everyone feel safe. 5 days in Breckenridge is a long time to spend but we really enjoyed our slow pace and tried to relax as much as possible. I knew deep down this would be our only trip for the year because of the global pandemic. I tried to enjoy it and make it as memorable as possible. I even scheduled a family photo shoot! If you know me, you know how I love to schedule photo shoots while on holiday. Life was fantastic especially since I was over my elevation sickness and finally able to enjoy our getaway.
Night Before We Fly Home
We packed a few items the night before our flight and that is the precise moment our daughter said she was not feeling well. My husband went to the store to buy a thermometer and I took her a cool shower. She said she felt a little better so I was relieved. As we turned the lights out to go to sleep she began to vomit! Both my husband and I jump out of bed to help her immediately. We took her temperature and she had a fever of 102 degrees! I gave her children’s chewable Tylenol to try to lower her fever and naively thought maybe it was a case of food poisoning. She vomited a couple more times after that and then started complaining of abdomen pain. I start to panic and by this time is is 1am in the morning. She finally goes to sleep and I am an emotional wreck! The next morning she wakes up still not feeling well with a temperature of 102 degrees again. I make my husband buy liquid Tylenol because I felt the chewable’s were not helping. As he rushed out to the store I start throwing all of our luggage together. I could see her breathing in and out so hard that I could see her ribcage! That really freaked me out and I just wanted to get the heck out of there. As soon as he got back we went to the nearest emergency room. I checked her in and by some miracle she was the first and only patient there for that morning. Before she was admitted to the back, we were informed that only one parent can go so my husband went (at the request of our daughter). I was on speaker phone when the doctor walked in and began asking questions. He concluded that it was more than likely a stomach bug but definitely NOT COVID and prescribed her nausea medication for the flight back home. Before he released her, he asked us if we wanted to test her for COVID just to be on the safe side. We both agreed so they conducted a PCR Nasopharynx Rapid Test. The doctor was so confident that she had a stomach bug that he told us to go ahead and drive back to Denver so we wouldn’t miss our flight and that someone would call us back as soon as they received the results. Not even 15 minutes passed and we received the call. The doctor starts with, I’m sorry to say but she is COVID POSITIVE and she CANNOT fly back home.
Getting Home
We were both in shock and got into survival mode. We stopped at a Target to purchase items we would need to get home since we knew it would be a very long drive back. I contacted the airline to inform them of the situation and they were gracious enough to give us back a small refund. Next stop, the Alamo car rental place because we now needed a one-way rental. We drove up and my husband explained the entire situation and that we needed a one-way vehicle to get back home to Austin, TX. They told my husband to keep the car we had been in for the entire week and to just GO. I said absolutely NOT! We need paperwork and the rate, I knew this wasn’t going to be cheap. After being pushed away (probably because we had the “plague”) a manager finally spoke with us. He gave my husband his business card and told us he would take care of it and for us to please just head out to get home. He exclaimed he would contact Alamo in Austin, TX to explain the unique situation of why we were not given paperwork. We asked what the rate would be and he said $150. I was surprised at the low rate but seeing how they did not want us anywhere near them due to COVID, we agreed and drove away.
The drive from Denver to Austin is 15 hours away! By this time it is 1pm and we are trying to get as comfortable as possible. I am sitting in the back with my daughter who is in really good spirits with a low grade fever while my husband drives. She is playing games, dancing, and chatting away with no new symptoms. I am shocked at how well she is doing but still monitoring her breathing and temperature every hour. No one has an appetite but she is drinking tons of water and Pedialyte. After 10 hours of being on the road we pull over to a hotel. Everyone is exhausted and we just need a few hours of sleep to make it safely home. We wake up 4 hours later and get back on the road. We still have 5 more hours to go! Our daughter had a fever that morning so we gave her more Tylenol but once again she looks really good. After 5 long hours later we make it back home!!!
I can honestly say we have never been so happy to see our neighborhood and house after a 7 day trip that went horribly wrong. Our daughter shrieked with excitement saying “thank you daddy for taking me home!” As soon as we got to the house, I immediately took her upstairs to take her a warm bath and get her into clean fresh clothes, I gave her some soup and then let her relax. Since then we had a few more spikes in fever but thank God her symptoms never worsened from that first night.
Aftermath
For those who are wondering, my husband and I got tested for COVID the very next day and you wouldn’t believe it but we both tested NEGATIVE! I was in complete shock because in the previous days we had all been sharing the same water bottle on our hikes and even slept in the same bed. This virus is incredibly tricky and chooses its people at random with no apparent pattern, according to my doctor. Our pediatrician told us to count our blessings and consider ourselves very lucky that she had a very minor case of COVID because he had already seen a lot worst.
We stayed under a 14 day quarantine to ensure we were symptom free to not infect others because it is the RIGHT thing to do.
Fortunately, we were able to celebrate Halloween (no trick or treating) and she is now symptom free. Thank you GOD!!
Conclusion
If you decide to take a trip during the time of COVID please be careful and have a back up plan. Fortunately for us we were in the States and were able to drive back home because I have no idea what we would’ve done if it had happened abroad. Thankfully, Alamo Rent A Car waived our entire one-way fee which we were very appreciative of.
People have already asked why we didn’t just get on the plane because surely her fever would’ve gone down with Tylenol and we had paperwork from the doctor clearing her of COVID…before the call happened. I told them absolutely NOT! What kind of selfish person would we be to risk everyone else’s health just to get home faster? Imagine if she spiked a fever on the plane!! WE would NOT chance it. The 15 hour drive was horrible, I’m not going to lie, but we made it and knew it was the best thing to do for EVERYONE.
I have extreme mom guilt especially that my daughter contracted COVID-19 while my husband and I did not. It is so scary to not know the severity of this virus because one has to let it run its course to see what happens. Fortunately for us she had a mild case but that doesn’t mean everyone will have the same experience. I plead with all of you to please be safe if you do decide it is okay for you and your family to travel. Regardless of how careful and cautious you are we honestly cannot control the inevitable. Learn from my experience of what can happen to you and your family while on vacation in the time of COVID. We will get back to normal one day but I just pray it happens sooner rather than later.
