Covid Support Thread
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@Bittergaymark, I am sorry that the Chris Mann video made you sad. It gave me some peace as I finally heard someone with a platform thanking all those who are on the frontline. I am sewing masks for the local hospital, but it seems like such a very small contribution. I do hope that all your family and friends in the medical field will be safe and will know how much we appreciate what they do. I also was so grateful that a shout of thanks when out to delivery people, mail carriers, truck drivers, farmers, etc. We are fortunate that they continue to work that we can isolate. I’m looking forward to the desert posts when your return from LA. Safe travels.
Helen – I’m so, so sorry you are going through this and I really hope you start feeling better ASAP. So glad your husband is being so supportive. You will come out of this. You will get to see your children grow up and live a long life with your husband. You’ll get to meet your grandchildren. You’re strong and you’ll get through this.
Helen, I am so sorry that you are going through this. Can I ask if the hospital staff suggested oxygen for home? I am sorry but I don’t know if oxygen bottles or machines are even available in your area. Maybe it can help you through the rough patches. And it sounds like you are having many rough patches. Please keep us posted. Wishing you a speedy, complete recovery.
GM those masks you’re making are a huge help!! Every single nurse was wearing one over the surgical masks they’re forced to reuse. They were all wearing homemade caps too. What a dystopian nightmare. Thanks for the encouragement TheLadyE! I want to hear all about how your new job goes and any cute stories about your little girl dogs! Soaking up all the joy I can
Don’t feel bad, GM. It was a great video. Its just trying times…
I put off the LA trip til tomorrow or maybe even tuesday. Kinda dreading it. No — really dreading it.
Keeping busy here. Moving rocks. Watching the ever-growing wildlife tally. Some ground squirrels showed up the past few days at the new feeder. (Think chipmunks — but out here are called ground squirrels according to the guidebooks.) Very cute. And like the bunnies, very happy.
Also saw our wild desert iguana finally. He was around a lot last summer but has been off hibernating. (I assume.) Happy to see him back again.
A roadrunner made a fleeting appearance, too.
Oh — And another type of cactus started blooming. The purple prickly pear revealed itself to have bright yellow flowers with some orange streaks. Very pretty. Glad I planted so many of them.
Hang in there, Helen. Really glad you have a monitor. Keep at it. Holding a good thought for you — as Marilyn Monroe used to always say.
Glad you are still chatting with us, Helen! I’m so worried about you and hope you recover quickly. I have been on oxygen before several times in my life, and it really does help. I’ve never had normal lung capacity so I don’t know what it’s like to lose it, but I can imagine it would be very, very scary. I’m so sorry. 🙁
Since you asked, I’m really enjoying this time with my little girl dogs. We’re really bonding. When I got my first little dog in 2008 I wasn’t working either, so we got to bond for the first six months I had her and then for a year after that after I got laid off and then worked from home. I’m so glad I have this time. My girls and I are bonding every day. They’re so different, but one of them (Ginny, the little apricot one) really reminds me of my Lottie. Her bark is the same, her interests are the same, she follows me into the bathroom and sleeps at my feet now just like her sister Lottie did. Lily, her sister (who’s white with a little apricot around her mouth) was going to be the only one I got, but I’m so glad I adopted both of them. I haven’t seen my boyfriend in weeks and it’s helping my mental health so, so much to be able to snuggle with them, walk them, play with them and just be with them. I just cleaned up poop on the floor 3x tonight, but it’s totally worth it.
I did some math, and when this all blows over, a 30-day pass at the doggie daycare near our house is $1100 for two dogs. Damn. I’m really glad I got this new job! My girls are so social with other dogs, especially Lily, and I know they’ll love doggie daycare once they can go. My mom sent me a professional dog grooming kit via Amazon because she thinks I can cut their hair. Heh. We’ll see how that goes!
@Kate, I made a lasagna today too! I made it with zucchini, squash, spinach, and ground turkey. My sister lives in Boston, as I’ve mentioned, and she says every delivery service is backed up for weeks: Instacart, DoorDash, everything. She hasn’t left her apartment in 3 weeks except for a brief trip to the grocery store. Why was your lasagna so expensive? Was it just hard to get the ingredients?A friend of mine was at his (deserted) office today – he’s a mortgage lender and works for a bank – and he said he saw so many cars out and about and several groups of people doing exercise classes in the parking lot. NOT social distancing. Ugh. People have started dying here. I don’t understand how people can be so stupid & selfish.
@TheLadyE, yeah, you can’t get food delivery. My mom got Instacart once, but now there aren’t any time slots. Pea Pod had a 2-week wait last I heard. My husband walks over to the supermarket and gets stuff for us and whatever our 85-year old neighbor upstairs needs. They just started limiting how many people can be in there so there’s a line at times.
I don’t know why the ingredients were so expensive! I suspect food prices have gone up. But also, a block of Parmesan, a couple spices we didn’t have, some fresh basil and parsley, Italian sausage, it adds up. But I was surprised how much it was.
The mayor of Boston put a 9pm curfew in place because too many people were waiting around for their takeout food and stuff. He said get delivery after 9. I think you can still get delivery direct from restaurants, like a pizza. I do see people on the streets and dog parks being good with social distancing, but I’m sure there’s a lot I don’t see.
@bloodymediocrity I’m sorry you had such a terrible time the other day. I hope you have a good support system for when you have days like that.
My husband cried yesterday. He’s never had any issues with his mental health and seemed bewildered by what happened. He’d been down all day, telling me he felt “off” and “not right,” and then in the middle of feeding our baby he said he felt like crying and just broke down. He told me he’s never cried for “no reason” before, but after a deeper conversation later on he said he thinks it’s because he can’t go out whenever he wants, especially to the gym and other places that make him happy.
I didn’t really know what to do or say to comfort him. When I said it’s okay to be having a hard time right now and to express that, he pointed out that I’m not crying. I’ve deal with depression in the past and suffer from anxiety, but I’ve been doing surprisingly well. I’m an introvert and was already off on mat leave, so my life hasn’t changed much, but he’s an extrovert and has been home for the last three weeks from his very active, social job.
It’s hard to see my husband not only struggle but also feel confused by and embarrassed about his feelings on top of that. I don’t know how to help him.
It also made me think, if a mentally healthy, stable person like him is going through this, how much harder it must be for so many people with existing mental health problems.
Helen I am thinking of you and hoping so much that today (day 14) starts to get better. To have to think it may be the last time you see your young children is heartbreaking, and we’re sending so many good thoughts to hope that doesn’t happen. Stay on bedrest and don’t feel guilty – think of the amazing break you can give your husband once you’re up and about.
I got what we believe was staph food poisoning over the weekend. I’ve been cooking so much we decided to treat ourselves to delivery from our favorite pizza place that we’ve been patronizing for a decade. 1.5 hours after eating my hot sub sandwich I was simultaneously vomiting, having horrible cramps and stomach problems, dizzy, and pouring sweat. I passed out on the bathroom floor and came to freezing and shaking. I wanted to call 911 as I was literally too weak to stand or clean myself up and couldn’t speak in sentences, but with so many covid cases in my state I didn’t want to use the resources and decided to wait it out as long as I could. I crawled into a steaming shower, laid there for about 20 minutes, and the symptoms started to dissipate. Some research and a call to my public health friend seemed to confirm staph food poisoning- which is caused by foods being held at improper temperature and people not washing their hands before they prepare it. Given the virus situation I was absolutely horrified. Sanitation is more important now than ever. I know the restaurant has been absolutely overrun with orders lately, but if I can’t trust the local place we’ve been going to for years, who can I trust? What if someone in our household had covid? These additional symptoms literally could have been life or death. We will obviously not be getting delivery again anytime soon, which is just one more small pleasure crossed off the list. And I guess I’m just telling everyone to be really, really careful with bringing in anything from the outside.
@Lucidity Does your husband have any friends who would be up for a Zoom hangout? My boyfriend is an extrovert and was so bummed about social distancing a few weeks ago. He and a few of his friends now have a standing Zoom hangout on Thursday evenings so they can “grab drinks together.” They were “hanging out” for over three hours this past Thursday and my boyfriend emerged from his office a little drunk and so happy. He told me he was an extrovert whose batteries had just been recharged. Haha.
I am also someone who struggles with mental/emotional health, though after several years of therapy I am pretty good at managing my emotions.I’m introverted so when they first called for social distancing I was fine. And I’ve mostly been fine. But on Friday I was so down and weepy. Saturday I was so grumpy. I’m back to fine but I don’t believe things will be back to normal after April 30 (which is when our stay at home order is supposed to end). So like I’m sure everyone else, just taking things a day at a time. Trying to do activities that make me feel good every day. Yesterday wasn’t warm here, but it was sunny enough that we were able to have a couple drinks in my boyfriend’s backyard before dinner. It was nice. Anyway, to those of you struggling with emotions… I feel ya!
We haven’t ordered takeout yet but I think next weekend we’re going to get steaks from the restaurant that’s under the same ownership as/next door to the tapas bar we had our first date at. I’m paranoid about takeout, tbh, but I figured we could order our steaks rare then finish cooking them to our preferred doneness here.
Very tempted to buy that John Frieda brush, @Kate. I love the Revlon one and but that thing wants my hair straighter than I prefer it. Especially as it’s getting longer. Doing my hair daily is one of the little things I do to feel good about myself. I follow my salon on Instagram and they posted something from my stylist’s account, so I checked out her page. And she had just posted a few pics she took of my hair after my last cut. Looked so good, I’m so overdue for a haircut right now!
So far, we’ve been ok with takeout and/or delivery. We ordered mexican on Saturday and you could also order a margarita kit, which came with a bottle of tequila, their margarita mix, limes and salt. It was divine.
@lucidity, I’d definitely recommend a virtual meetup to your husband.I’m an introvert in that i need a lot of downtime to recharge, but I’m a social introvert in that I also really like to be with my friends. Virtual happy hours with friends are family are so helpful right now. Or virtual hang outs if drinking isn’t your thing.@lucidity – I’m sorry that you’re husband is having a rough go. The uncertainty can be overwhelming to be sure. Connection with friends is definitely a good thing, even if it’s sitting in the back yard with friends on skype and a beer.
But also, and this is a recommendation that I just made to a friend who is going through something similar – find the silliness – perhaps dress the kiddo up as all of the holidays of the year for a calendar. Or make a stupid video about life on lock down. Have pancakes for dinner. Find the humor somewhere. Find an outlet for what is essentially grief. Grief for a way of life that is on hold and grief for the sense of control that we like to have because life is scary on a daily basis.
In the meantime, my family wants to do Passover via Zoom – but I keep pointing out that we all have different Haggadah’s so I expect total and complete chaos. But if we do that, then I don’t have to read the four questions so… I’m good with it.
