whitewave

I’m in Dublin. My 22 year old daughter tested Covid positive last week. Her twin brother continues to test negative and flew back to the states yesterday. She asked me to come because she was unable to care for herself and he had to leave, so I went. I had closed and deleted a bunch of posts because of truly rude replies, so if anyone reads this with nothing nice to say, I’m telling you to scroll and roll.

I am specifically looking for an audience of women and mothers, which is why I am posting here. To the mod, thank you in advance (lol sorry) and I would like to keep this post on the women’s forum.

I arrived yesterday at 5am Dublin time. My son left at 7:45 because of uncertainty with the Dublin airport (it has been a cluster F) so at least I got to see him for an hour or so.

I have been to the pharmacy 3 times now for supplements and symptom treatments, with an emergency run yesterday evening because Covid caused her to get her period 2 weeks early. So now she has Covid symptoms and feels like crap from PMS and period stuff. I realize I forgot the Pepcid, so I have to go back to the pharmacy to get that.

She hadn’t left the room in 7 days (I think… I have lost track of time) so today she finally felt ok enough to take a walk with me to the grocery store (maybe 3 blocks away), masked and she stayed outside. The hotel lobby store has very little by way of pharmacy supplies, but you had better believe they have 2 types of hairspray 😂.

Luckily she has a corner room with 6 windows that open, so we have been keeping them open as much as possible. It seems this hotel is comfortable with people not wanting room service because every 2 days that you don’t have it, they hang a bag of towels, toilet paper and toiletries on the door. Since I took my son’s bed, I haven’t had them change the sheets or anything.

My friend is a Covid doctor and he used to be my internist, so he knows all of my health history. I had spoken with him before I came here to evaluate my risk, and because I had my second booster recently (I guess about 7-8 weeks ago) and because the CDC considers her no longer contagious as of yesterday, I had his blessing to come here. His opinion and my husband’s opinion were the only two that mattered to me once she asked me to come.

The immigration man said I was a super mom lol when he asked what brought me to Ireland. She can get her recovery certificate on Friday, so I’m looking into that now.

To anyone who thought she should take care of herself with Covid in Dublin and that I was over reacting, you were 100% wrong. Room service doesn’t open until 5:30 and for the last 7 days she has been in bed unable to do anything but get up to go to the bathroom.

I have received several supportive DMs today asking how we are doing, so I realize despite all of the unhappy rude people on here, there are many who care. Also, this information might help another decide what to do, and that is my ultimate reason for posting.

She can get her recovery certificate on Friday, so I’m working on figuring out how to do that now. If anyone has that information, I would appreciate it.

Uninteresting pic of some of the windows. River Liffey in the background.

whitewave

One weird thing that happened is that I travel with a cpap. The outlets by the beds weren’t working, so I went down and got an extension cord to use and informed them that I was jet lagged and was going to take a nap and be on a weird sleep schedule so I would let them know when we were available for them to fix it.

This morning I woke up, went and got lunch (she stayed in the room) and after that started tidying up the room. No extension cord and my cpap was plugged into the wall! 😱😳😬🤭

Someone came into the room while we were sleeping, fixed the outlets and UNPLUGGED me from the extension cord and plugged me back into the now working outlet and left!!! I mean what???!!!

(I have been on cruises before where they came in while we were sleeping and put like a fruit tray thank you gift on the table and left.)

Neither of us heard a thing.

And to think some men on here wondered why I didn’t feel comfortable leaving a young woman abroad, sick and alone.

I haven’t said anything because nothing bad happened and the outlets are all fixed now…

What do you all think about this as women? I assume it was a man who came in.

whitewave

Welp, that short slow walk might have been too much for her. She has been sleeping ever since.

I went and took another walk around Dublin. I like it. It reminds me a bit of Vancouver, but with no tall buildings.

guv1976

Is there a deadbolt (or similar device) to prevent entry when the room is occupied? Was your "do not disturb" sign displayed?

If there is no deadbolt or equivalent, you might try wedging a chair against the door; even if it does not prevent entry, it would likely create some noise when someone tries to come in.

There's also this inexpensive device which you might consider for future trips:

https://www.today.com/home/travel-al...-alarm-t123111

whitewave

guv1976 yes, we had do not disturb on and I would have sworn I had the top loop device engaged, but I was pretty delirious by the time I went to bed last night so 🤷🏼‍♀️ Maybe I didn’t or maybe they have some device to open the door anyway??

I usually travel with a door stop to place on the inside, but with the rapid 48 hour book/travel I completely forgot about it.

Thanks for the link. I’ll check it out.

I’m still pretty incredulous about this and flabbergasted. But the damn outlets are fixed so that has been helpful. Gah!

ETA: oh I am reading the article and I’m now convinced whoever came in also opened the swing door lock.

rsqrott

Also, depending on the layout of the room I will leave the bathroom door open so that if anyone opens the door to the room it will hit the bathroom door.

whitewave

Great idea, but for this particular trip it wouldn’t work. We have a long foyer hallway before you get to the room and the bathroom is around the corner.

I’m suspecting my neighbor is quarantining also. No signs of life until I heard coughing just now, no maid service on door hanger and the bag of towels.





I mean maybe maybe not and none of my business…. Could be jet lag or his idea of vacation… I’m not judging

gretchendz

So sorry you are going through this!

As a mom of adult children, I would have done the same thing.

Thank goodness you are vaccinated--as it could have been much worse.

Best wishes.

wrp96

Oh yuck on the period. I know when I had COVID I was glad that isn't possible anymore for me, because I couldn't have handled both at the same time. I'll just go ahead now and say "thanks, mom!" for her, in case she hasn't felt well enough to say it yet. Because yes, sometimes you just need your mom.

whitewave

gretchendz thank you for your support
wrp96 same! So glad I don’t have to deal with this any more. Thanks for your support.

well, I just had a crazy scary encounter with a taxi driver and let’s just say this is more confirmation bias that I did the right thing. He yelled at me for “putting the wrong address in the app” when the only taxis here in Dublin use this app and the app geo locates you. There were no street signs so I had no idea it was wrong.

He passed me up.

He called me and fussed at me very aggressively and I said ok fine, come get me and you can explain where the street signs are etc. He yelled he wasn’t my teacher and he wasn’t about to help me with an app and that was my responsibility. (Which may be true but it was his delivery that took me aback)… so I told him to F off (yes, I said it… wasn’t in the mood to be yelled at by a taxi driver for something like this). I told him I would rather walk than to get in a taxi with him.

So 5 minutes later he comes back around, confirms my name and then yells at me again and said I won’t be getting a taxi today. lol

Seriously, it’s a beautiful day and there was no way I was getting in a taxi with a man who very clearly hates women (that came across loud and clear before I even uttered the F word) and was angry, aggressive and so invested in punishing me for the app issues.

I walked in the opposite direction across a shopping square and was able to find a nice taxi driver to take me to the hotel and I gave him a 100% tip.

I deleted the app and now I have to try again using a different name and my daughter’s phone number. 😳🙄

ETA: I had to go to two different pharmacies about 2 miles away. I still don’t have everything I want to treat my daughter, who is still testing positive, though it is taking longer for the line to appear now.

I also found out that melatonin is only by prescription. I didn’t sleep well last night (I have bad insomnia and sleep disorders and use edibles back home, which I obviously couldn’t bring). Valerian didn’t do anything. I might have to start drinking tonight 🤪

whitewave

gorgeous day today


My daughter has entered the weepy, needs chocolate, wants to go home phase.

freecia

Wow. Thanks for the info and tip about period.

I'm also surprised someone on staff would enter your room, while you both were sleeping, possibly knowing your daughter recently tested positive (based on room service orders). FWIW, I once had a (male) cruise cabin attendant knock while I was lightly napping, entered, apologized, double checked that I was traveling solo, and then kindly reminded me to use the deadbolt. I also remember a time I was sick in London when (woman) housekeeping called the room and insisted they be let in to clean. It was probably day 2 or 3 of declining housekeeping and I was likely resting. I was also around your daughter's age at the time and while very far from a pushover, still not steeped with enough years to just throw the deadbolt and escalate to someone who had some sense to let an hourly worker off the hook.

ETA: Perhaps on your next trip out thank the receptionist for getting the outlet fixed and ask when they did so. If it was while you were both sleeping, you can still point that out without being ungrateful. You can say you would definitely have stepped out and aired the room for them as your daughter's tests were still coming back positive. I'd also point out that waking up with a stranger in the room might also result in workplace injury. I'd hope they'd have a quiet word with the worker and check maintenance key card records against guest card, but if they're from another cultural background and/or just helpful, they should be reminded a guest might react very poorly. And the informal contact warning so they can pay attention to any symptoms.

guv1976

Have you checked -- maybe with the hotel front desk -- to see if there is a grocery/pharmacy delivery company operating in Dublin (akin to our Instacart)? If there is, and if they will accept U.S. credit cards, that might save you some wear and tear.

whitewave

freecia yes, I thought about that as well— what would have happened if either of us had woken up with someone in the room!! Thank you for the tip on how to politely inquire about it. Oh and yes, a Covid period is a thing. I just hope it doesn’t whack out her cycles for the next few months but I suspect it will. I told her she is going to have to stash supplies in her purse, her car, etc..

guv1976 thanks. I had found a service called buymie.ie but I couldn’t download the app. It said it wasn’t available in my country. In thinking about it now that I don’t need it, maybe I needed to change my country or something? I have had problems with online food ordering not accepting my phone number for texted code. I tried but maybe I didn’t try hard enough (or need a local young adult to help me 🥴 )

I believe she has turned the corner yesterday evening, thank goodness. Her complexion looks so much better and she isn’t as cranky. She seems to have a bit more energy also. Fingers crossed.


Our neighbor sounds like he is hacking up a lung. I tried to call him yesterday to see if he needs anything from the pharmacy but he didn’t answer.

whitewave

So I just figured out that my timeline is incorrect.

Because the CDC says you can travel on the 11th day after symptoms begin, I booked our return for Monday, June 6.

However, as that is getting closer, and I’m looking at leaving, I realize all the telehealth docs (to get the fit to fly) say 11th day from official positive test, which she didn’t take until days after her positive home test and that she only took because trip insurance said to do it. WHY do they want symptomatic and contagious people in a foreign country to take a taxi or bus to a test facility across town to get the positive they already know they have? Anyway, I know why but it’s just very frustrating.

now I have to cancel a slew of things again unless by a miracle she gets a negative home test tomorrow, but people can still test positive up to 3 or so months— dead first particle remnants.


In other words, this process to return after a positive might not make sense to some until they go through it.