Three days after Thanksgiving Micah spiked a fever. In a “normal” year this fact would have been concerning, but this year it was alarming. We had been careful to limit Thanksgiving dinner guests to family and one friend of the family who would have been alone for the day, so I had thought the risk, while there, was low, but with his fever inching up I began to wonder if the risk had been higher than calculated. As Micah is nonverbal, he could not share what other symptoms he might have been feeling, but he did not have a cough, which I hoped was a good sign. A call to his doctor’s office provided me with advice on how to keep his fever down and symptoms to watch for with the suggestion that I call the next day to request a Covid test for Micah as they were not scheduling them on Sundays.
The next morning I called the minute they opened only to be told the nurse would call me back later. Meanwhile Micah’s fever had peaked at 102.9, so close to what I had been told was the point to take him to an ER. When the nurse called back later that morning she agreed that Micah should have a Covid test, but told me that he would need to wait one more day unless I wanted to take him to Urgent Care. The thought of sitting with sick Micah in Urgent Care waiting for potentially hours to be seen was a no go, so I signed him up for the drive through test the next day. Meanwhile his fever continued but was responding to Tylenol. He had not eaten in over 24 hours, but was at least drinking water, so he was still sick but not getting worse. It was only after I had secured the appointment for the testing that I began to wonder how the medical staff and I could convince Micah to cooperate with the test. I knew from watching testing done on TV that Micah would have to put his head back and let them stick the swab up his nose, and I also knew if Micah did not want this test to happen, it was not going to happen. This was the guy who ripped out the stitches his physician had carefully put in to close up a nasty cut on his finger within a few minutes after leaving the medical office despite copious explanations about the need to keep the bandages on. How was I going to convince him to allow the test? There was also the fact that when he was a little guy his go to behavior when bored or when he wanted to pull our chains was to stick both fingers up his nose. I had literally spent well over 20 years reminding him not to put anything up his nose. Getting the test done could be a major challenge.
I did what I have learned to do when I come to end of my ability to make something happen, I contacted some of my prayer warrior friends and asked them to please pray that Micah would allow the much needed test. These partners in prayer, in turn, contacted their prayer partners who passed on my somewhat usual prayer request; sharing a bit about the challenges for Micah due to autism and heightened sensory issues. Thus, by the time we headed to the drive-through testing site, a small army was praying for success. And the prayers were needed, because despite my attempt to explain to Micah that the test was really needed to help him feel better, he was having nothing of it when the health care worker reached in through the car’s side window and made the first attempt. I tried to re-explain the process while the nurse called another masked worker to assist. The fact that the three of us were trying to convince someone who is 6’2″, 200 lbs. to do something totally illogical to him did not slow those health care workers down for another second. I was ordered to hold his hands as tight as possible. Suddenly, like masked super heroes, they abandoned the open window, flung open the car door and had the test completed before Micah had a chance to escape a second time! If we were not in the midst of a pandemic I would have jumped out to hug them both. Those women truly deserve combat pay for making that test happen.
A trip through the drive through window of Dunkin’s following his harrowing testing experience brought a smile back to Micah’s face and the next day I was the one smiling when I received the negative test results. I was thankful that Micah, while still not 100% healthy, was clearly on the mend from some random illness, that was not Covid. But I was also very thankful to those who prayed, to those who are on the front lines responding to the prayers, and most of all to the Lord who heard and had those two fearless healthcare workers ready and willing to tackle my son to keep him and others healthy.
Jan Lessard Peightell December 15, 2020