Risks

Life is full of risks, right?  With the current situation, the risk to Finn’s health is something that can’t be measured.  This virus is not well understood and while it does not appear to affect children in the same way as adults, the long term situation is still very much unknown.  Right now the world seems to be divided into two camps, those who feel this virus is being blown out or proportion (or even those who feel it is a hoax) and those who are taking it seriously.  There also seems to be another way that the world is being divided—those who are at risk of severe disease and those who aren’t.  They consider those aged 60 and older and those with underlying conditions including chronic lung disease, weakened immune systems, and diabetes at risk for severe disease. Those at risk for severe disease and those who live with or care for someone in that category have been under more cautionary guidance.  In Colorado that means that our stay-at-home order lasted longer and that, even as the world around us has reopened, our activities have been restricted.  There have been several news articles about risk levels and what activities are higher or lower risk than others.  And based on that, I am trying hard to find those lower risks activities that we can comfortably participate in this summer.  The guidance we have received from clinic has been pretty blanket guidance for the CF community as a whole. And that guidance has been to stay at home.  We have been told that we are “on a different timeline” than everyone else.  And as much as I understand all of that, and as much as I desperately don’t want to learn firsthand what this virus can do, quarantining for a year or so does not feel to be in the best interest of our family.  And so I am trying hard to find “acceptable” risks and those that are lower on the scale of risks.  

Today we decided to brave the zoo.  We went with a picnic lunch, two masks per person (in case we needed to change during the day) and a prayer that we would feel safe and comfortable.  Being outside with masks and social distancing as much as we can seems to be the least intimidating risk for us right now.  We ended up having a good day and only having a couple of moments where the crowds felt to be a bit too much.  I remain frustrated by the members of our community who cannot see beyond their own nose and follow the guidelines of social distancing and wearing a mask.  It seems that many have forgotten that “no man is an island” and that to belong to a civilized society we all have some level of social responsibility.  But, well, that’s another conversation.  Anyway, the point is we went to the zoo.  We had a good time and spent several hours there.  We are optimistic that we won’t be sick in the next week or so.

Waiting our turn to enter the zoo

Feeding the giraffes--we tried to find one that didn't have a ton of people gathered around

More giraffe feeding

After feeding the giraffes we backtracked through the exhibit to head to the new exhibit, which is really what we were there to see anyway.  Our strategy worked as there was not a line to see the penguins and there was hardly anyone else there for the rest of the exhibit. 

The new hippo and penguin building is beautiful!  And we were all alone visiting the penguins.  It was awesome!

This "Nature Play" area led us to a rope bridge that took us over the hippo yard and to a viewing area for the lemur island.  It was an awesome area and we were so glad to explore it virtually on our own.

This hippo was enjoying grazing in her new yard.

Lemur Island

In the hippo building we stopped to use the restroom and found the best view of the penguins.  Yes, this window was in the bathroom!

So fun to see the warthogs

As we were leaving the exhibit we saw this penguin in the window.  Can you spot it?

We happened to stumble across Mister in "My Big Backyard".  This is Finn's favorite zoo animal.

While we were visiting Marty McFly, a Kestrel, the vet arrived to take care of him a bit.  This caused a crowd and we started to feel a bit overwhelmed by the kids pressing into our area without masks.  We waited it out though because the kids were fascinated.

Applying an antibiotic to his foot

The view of Colorado Springs

The traditional elephant statue picture

Visiting the meerkats on our way out