Social distancing nothing new for this couple

“We’ve been practicing social distancing for four years now. It started in January 2016, when my husband, Herb, went into the hospital. He almost died.

“He had developed an infection in his inner thigh. He got very sick and had a high fever on New Year’s Eve. I was sure he was becoming septic, so I took him to Anahuac Hospital. He was transferred to Hermann Hospital in Houston, where they confirmed he had a serious strep infection in the muscle tissue. They told me he probably would not survive surgery. But if I signed the paperwork, they would try. He had three surgeries in three days. He spent 27 additional days in the hospital on IV therapy to fight the infection. At that time he was a 75-year-old diabetic, so the infection was a big concern.

“After we finally got him home, he was bedridden for 4 1/2 months. He had to wear a wound vac machine to help the tissue grow from the inside out. The hole was the size of a very large orange. But it’s amazing how it healed. Great medicine, great doctors.

“Just when we thought we were back to normal, I took a hard fall in August 2017. I ended up with a concussion and separated shoulder. The concussion caused issues for over a year, and I’m still dealing with the separated shoulder. Then, just two weeks later, Hurricane Harvey flooding changed everything. Most of our belongings and the interior of our house in Moss Bluff were lost. We didn’t have flood insurance. So we’ve been rebuilding bit by bit.

“Since the flood, I’ve sold my photography business property in Baytown, and spent the past 2 1/2 years rebuilding our home. We probably have another year to go. Herb has been helping as much as he physically can. Now I’m watching him ease into dementia.

“With everything we had to learn about protecting him from new infections back in 2016, we feel more prepared now as we’re protecting ourselves from the coronavirus. We had to adjust to a whole new lifestyle, with me working at home and us living in a house that’s not completely put back together. We’ve learned to take things day by day, and not let ourselves get so stressed out.

“This has all been very challenging. But it gets easier when you’re more specific about how you decide to tackle each day. Use the extra time to pray. Call friends and family, and tell them you love them. Take on those tasks at home that are always in the back of your mind. Exercise, meditate, write down plans for the future. Re-evaluating our goals for the next year or two always helps us feel better. It brings peace.”

— Valerie Adame