I just spent a good chunk of time trying to convince Gavin that he does not have COVID19. This is heartbreaking and becoming an ongoing struggle that’s proving difficult to navigate.
In case you’re one of my many new readers, here’s a little background on Gavin so you can put this into perspective.
Gavin is 20 years old but emotionally and cognitively, he’s somewhere in the neighborhood of 5 or 6 years of age. That’s the best guess as to where he is developmentally. Gavin also has many health issues that render his health fragile.
While they all matter, the biggest concern in regards to COVID19 is that he’s significantly immunocompromised. This means his immune system doesn’t function properly and in order to stay healthy, he needs to infuse a very special medication twice a week.
That medication is commonly known as IVIG. The actual medication has a different name that I can almost never remember but it’s called Hizentra. There’s other medications that do the same thing but this is what Gavin’s immunologist has him on.
Gavin’s understanding of his health is very limited. He simply doesn’t grasp the concepts of some of the complex things he has going on. His basic understanding is that he has a compromised immune system and he has to be very careful. He’s sorta right in this regard but it’s not so black and white.
The reality is that his health makes him very high risk were he to get infected with COVID19. He understands that but doesn’t grasp much else about how the virus works.
A little while ago, he came down the stairs in a panic. He wanted to talk to me alone, behind closed doors because he didn’t want his brothers to hear.
