Coping in the Time of Covid-19 - New and Improved!

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  • SarasaSarasa All Saints Host
    Penny S wrote: »
    Read yesterday, in a discussion on covid-19 in care homes, that the symptoms in the elderly include lethargy, loss of appetite, and confusion. (Difficult where there are people with dementia.) And I have two out of the three.
    That could describe a lot of elderly people, specially those in care homes. There are cases in my mother's home, but from what I can gather they've been testing everyone's temperature twice a day, as they think that is the best indicator.

  • Yes, that is why a lot of covid in care homes might go unregistered; the symptoms might not be obvious to carers and the elderly can succumb quickly to an infection.
    I had presumed covid 7 weeks ago (including shortness of breath which I am still recovering from) but did not get a fever...
  • Recover strongly, @Heavenlyannie. It's best for all of us to remember that not all symptoms that COVID-19 presents are indeed particular to COVID-19.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    The toughest day for a while. Despite it being beautiful weather - possibly because it's beautiful weather. Grateful as I am for the garden, it is small: I feel I know every blade of grass. By name. I want beach, or forest, or anywhere that isn't here.
  • Confusion and PO2 (how much oxygen is being carried in your blood) correlates with confusion. Deprived of oxygen, confusion is a result.

  • CathscatsCathscats Shipmate
    Firenze wrote: »
    The toughest day for a while. Despite it being beautiful weather - possibly because it's beautiful weather. Grateful as I am for the garden, it is small: I feel I know every blade of grass. By name. I want beach, or forest, or anywhere that isn't here.
    I was just cycling over a burn and by the burgeoning woods and beside the fields of lambs and being thankful and praying for shippies like yourself who can’t have all this by stepping outside. Sending you a breath of Highland air and some wide open skies.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Cathscats wrote: »
    Firenze wrote: »
    The toughest day for a while. Despite it being beautiful weather - possibly because it's beautiful weather. Grateful as I am for the garden, it is small: I feel I know every blade of grass. By name. I want beach, or forest, or anywhere that isn't here.
    I was just cycling over a burn and by the burgeoning woods and beside the fields of lambs and being thankful and praying for shippies like yourself who can’t have all this by stepping outside. Sending you a breath of Highland air and some wide open skies.

    Much appreciated.

    Ye banks and braes of bonnie Doon
    How can ye bloom so fresh and fair?
    How can ye chant ye little birds
    While I sae weary, fu' o' care?
  • Went to the laundromat this morning. They've "reopened" (although they were always open, with restrictions) in that restrictions have been lifted. You can now wait inside while your laundry is in progress, whereas previously you had to wait outside. (I waited outside, thank you very much.) You can also fold your clothes on the counters, whereas previously you couldn't. (I wiped the counter down with bleach before I folder my clothes on it.)

    I'm really concerned about the meat situation. I hear that Wendy's has run out of fresh hamburger. Subway has stopped serving beef-based sandwiches. I may go to the supermarket later today, although tomorrow is my regular day, to see what I can find. I may have to learn how to be a vegetarian.
  • I went into our store for the first time in six weeks. I been having them shop for me and bring it out to the car. I had been ordering light, but have now run out of many things so ventured inside. Lucky at 7:30 AM senior shopping time there were few people in the store and only one other senior that I saw. Others who looked like people stopping by before work were all men, they wore no masks and were standing in groups talking, so I just by passed those areas and returned when they had moved on. I was the only one with a mask in the store. Clerks have plastic shields in front of them. The meat department did not have much to offer in way of beef or pork so the Image family will be doing fish, eggs, and chicken. No problem we eat small amounts of meat anyway. That is about the only energy I have left for the day, other the doing the laundry and preparing lunch. I was so happy to find a large box of oatmeal which is what we always eat for dinner. Somedays like today I feel like I am living in the Twilight Zone of the unreal, but very thankful I live in a rural area where I have life very easy in the mist of all of this. Just wish I had more energy.
  • Simon ToadSimon Toad Shipmate
    Vegetarian food is quite good. Just stay away from meat substitutes. They are unremittingly awful and just remind you of what you are missing. Plenty of veggies, plenty of pasta and rice, try adding nuts to a stir-fry with greens, capsicum, squash and plenty of flavorsome sauces. Beans can be just brilliant too in a spicy or well-seasoned dish. Onions, garlic and ginger are fantastic for flavour. I was vegetarian for the purpose of getting regular sex with a girl when I was a young-un. I even did weird diets for her.

    BUT I am here to type out my frustration and fear. This cold is slightly different in that it has headed straight to my chest, and I have a bronchial cough. I am tearing strips off myself for not just bloody turning around instead of going to work when I felt that tickle in my throat. I should have turned around.

    I am not worried about having Covid myself. I don't fear death, although pain is a worry. I am worried about the disruption to my workplace, especially to my clients who will have to be moved out of the house while it is cleaned and get tested themselves, through no fault of their own. It will be MY FAULT.

    Bloody hell.
  • cgichardcgichard Shipmate
    Is it worth even having that nasty test simply to rule out the uncertainty?
    Hoping vehemently on your behalf that it is not positive..
  • Simon ToadSimon Toad Shipmate
    Yep, I'm awaiting results - had it done yesterday. This looks like a bad season for colds for me. First a sinus infection (not covid) and now this! It's quite common for me to get the sniffles when the seasons turn. Some years I have a sniffle all winter. Some say they can't get by without their Mum. I need a handkerchief! (although abandoned for tissues this season).
  • RossweisseRossweisse Hell Host, 8th Day Host, Glory
    Prayers ascending, @Simon Toad.
  • Yes.
  • @Simon Toad. The prayer mat is down for you at Evening Prayer.
  • Golden KeyGolden Key Shipmate, Glory
    {{{{{{{Everyone}}}}}}}
  • Prayers for Simon Toad, for a full and quick recovery 🕯 and it is not your fault.
  • No matter how careful one is, it is impossible to avoid that which you cannot see. If indeed you were invaded by this virus, it is most certainly not your fault.

    Please get well soon, @Simon Toad. Please God, as Captain Picard was fond of saying on Star Trek, "make it so."

    My father was not one to dispense good advice in buckets-full, but one thing he did teach me is that a gentleman is never without a handkerchief.
  • Colour-co-ordinated, of course, with his Tie. And possibly also his Sox.
    ION, my new Neck Gaiter has arrived. It is the brightest Yellow in all the World, so will be quite noticeable to the careless throngs who are breaking lockdown around here today.

    It's a Bank Holiday in the UK tomorrow (VE Day), and already TPTB are pleading with the populace to stay at home etc. etc. etc., given that the weather forecast is for the weekend generally to be quite pleasantly balmy (or barmy).
  • PuzzlerPuzzler Shipmate
    Because I don’t know what day it is I have managed to miss two, or is it three, of the. Ritual meet
  • PuzzlerPuzzler Shipmate
    Puzzler wrote: »
    Because I don’t know what day it is I have managed to miss two, or is it three, of the. Ritual meet

    As I was trying to say when my iPad jumped ahead of me, I have managed to miss two or even three of the virtual meetings set up for the volunteers where I work. Courtesy of
    M—s-ft Teams, those of us who volunteer on. Tuesday are due to meet at 2.30 pm on Tuesdays, but as I thought it was Wednesday I did not sign in.
    I did have a special treat on Monday though, an online choral workshop with David Hill thanks to the Bach choir. As Monday is usually one of my choir nights it managed to seem almost normal.
  • Colour-co-ordinated, of course, with his Tie. And possibly also his Sox.
    ION, my new Neck Gaiter has arrived. It is the brightest Yellow in all the World, so will be quite noticeable to the careless throngs who are breaking lockdown around here today.

    It's a Bank Holiday in the UK tomorrow (VE Day), and already TPTB are pleading with the populace to stay at home etc. etc. etc., given that the weather forecast is for the weekend generally to be quite pleasantly balmy (or barmy).

    Plus the tabloids have ridiculous headlines, about freedom on Monday, so I expect people to be all over the place, breaking rules.
  • O the bl**dy tabloids...
    :rage:

    I only hope the police are able to get out in force (sic) over the w/e, to clap the Swarming Idiots in irons...
  • kingsfoldkingsfold Shipmate
    edited May 2020
    Colour-co-ordinated, of course, with his Tie. And possibly also his Sox.
    ION, my new Neck Gaiter has arrived. It is the brightest Yellow in all the World, so will be quite noticeable to the careless throngs who are breaking lockdown around here today.

    It's a Bank Holiday in the UK tomorrow (VE Day), and already TPTB are pleading with the populace to stay at home etc. etc. etc., given that the weather forecast is for the weekend generally to be quite pleasantly balmy (or barmy).

    Plus the tabloids have ridiculous headlines, about freedom on Monday, so I expect people to be all over the place, breaking rules.

    Well, we've got another three weeks lockdown here. There are far fewer folk out & about today, perhaps because it's a little cooler and a little more overcast? Or alternatively because I went for my walk earlier.
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    ... I only hope the police are able to get out in force (sic) ...
    I see what you did there ... :mrgreen:

    I'm Very Cross about the tabloids - quite apart from encouraging idiots to be idiots, how insensitive are their jubilant headlines to those who have lost friends and family?

    Sorry - rant over. :grimace:
  • DooneDoone Shipmate
    Too true @Piglet
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    edited May 2020
    Struggling today with feeling both restless and apathetic. From the questions on the weekly UCL survey on Covid-19 I deduce these are characteristic things.

    Plus feeling very tired after a poor nights sleep in which I dreamt I was trying to get to sleep in some kind of communal dorm but Boris Johnson kept blundering noisily about trying to rearrange the bedcovers while I told him to fuck off. (Don't think we have to try too hard with that one Dr Jung).
  • I've been feeling restless and apathetic, too, despite the fine sunny weather.

    No horrid dreams featuring Boris, though, thanks be to God.
    :scream:
  • finelinefineline Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Oh gosh, I've been having many strange dreams, but fortunately Boris hasn't made an appearance in any of them!
  • Well, not in the ones you can remember...
    :naughty:
  • PigletPiglet All Saints Host, Circus Host
    fineline wrote: »
    Oh gosh, I've been having many strange dreams, but fortunately Boris hasn't made an appearance in any of them!
    Same here. Also v. relieved they haven't featured BoJo.
  • Simon ToadSimon Toad Shipmate
    I remembered a snippet of a dream from a few days ago. I had cut an orange into quarters, but the quarters were grossly uneven, and I was very upset about it.
  • mousethiefmousethief Shipmate
    fineline wrote: »
    Oh gosh, I've been having many strange dreams, but fortunately Boris hasn't made an appearance in any of them!

    I could be bounded in a nutshell, and count myself a king of infinite space, were it not that I have bad dreams.
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    edited May 2020
    My dear friend and neighbour for the last forty years died very suddenly of Covid 19 yesterday.

    She had no symptoms at all until she became very breathless. The ambulance came, took her to hospital, and she’d died by the end of the day.

    Hard to process. 🕯😢

    She was a huge supporter of Guide Dogs so I’ve started fundraising to name a GD puppy in memory of her. We’ve made £500 already for the charity.
  • Simon ToadSimon Toad Shipmate
    Oh boogie I'm so sorry to hear that. A living, breathing, life-affirming animal named in her honour seems like a good idea.

    I came here to say that I just got a message from the path lab advising that I don't have Corona Virus - just a chest infection. Thank God. I would really have started tearing strips off myself if I introduced Corona into my supported accommodation workplace. I shall await the Dr's formal advice before letting work know.
  • Oh dear, I'm so sorry.
  • RossweisseRossweisse Hell Host, 8th Day Host, Glory
    {{{ @Boogie }}} I am so sorry.

    @Simon Toad, that is excellent news.
  • Simon Toad wrote: »
    I just got a message from the path lab advising that I don't have Corona Virus - just a chest infection.

    Hallelujah! I had a feeling that's what it was, but we don't give medical advice here. Just remember: just because you have symptoms that COVID-19 presents doesn't mean you have COVID-19.

    About three years ago I had the symptoms you described: a very mild head cold that moved down into the lungs and turned into a cough that simply wouldn't go away! To make a long story short, it turned out to be Valley Fever, which is a fungus infection of the lungs very common in dusty parts of the world but probably not in the British Isles.

    On another occasion I had similar symptoms but it turned out to be bronchitis.

    I also have some sort of sinus problem that rears its ugly head from time to time as a post-nasal drip, which irritates my throat and makes me cough.

    But what's most important here is that you're well and have nothing to worry abouy, @Simon Toad.
  • @Simon Toad, Thank you for sharing the good news. I am so happy for you.
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    edited May 2020
    Tonight I was looking at a particularly vigorous dandelion growing next to a wall and thought "That's re-grown quickly! I strimmed it....." Then I realised I had absolutely no idea when I had strimmed it. I had nothing to pin down any specific day. More than a week ago, probably, and less than three weeks ago, maybe?

    I realised that if a police officer popped up and said "What were you doing on the morning of the xth of March, or the yth of April?" I would be able to answer confidently that I'd been somewhere in my village, almost certainly inside my house, but that's it. Everything has become amorphous. I have no sense of what happened when. Normally, I am really good at remembering stuff like that.

    I am disconcerted.

    I'm always like that. Only vague memories of what I was doing a few days ago. Yesterday is a struggle sometimes.

    If I ever had a cognitive assessment they'd probably conclude I had dementia, but I've been like that from childhood.
  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    edited May 2020
    Simon Toad wrote: »
    Oh boogie I'm so sorry to hear that. A living, breathing, life-affirming animal named in her honour seems like a good idea.

    I came here to say that I just got a message from the path lab advising that I don't have Corona Virus - just a chest infection. Thank God. I would really have started tearing strips off myself if I introduced Corona into my supported accommodation workplace. I shall await the Dr's formal advice before letting work know.

    Phew - what a relief !

    My son has had a fever for two weeks but he had two Covid19 tests and both came back negative. He has found out what he has - an acute infection of both Epstein-Barr and Cytomegalovirus.

    Doc said he’s unlucky to catch both at the same time. Next blood test on Tuesday to see how he’s doing.

    Nasty viruses but at least they are known ones! He’s a nurse, so no doubt picked them up at work.



  • BoogieBoogie Heaven Host
    @KarlLB said -
    I'm always like that. Only vague memories of what I was doing a few days ago. Yesterday is a struggle sometimes.

    If I ever had a cognitive assessment they'd probably conclude I had dementia, but I've been like that from childhood.

    Me too. I’ve never had a decent memory. I’ve always used many coping strategies to deal with it.

    I’m learning German - my progress is soooo slow. But, what I do manage to make stick is very rewarding.

    Big plus - not being able to clearly remember the past means I can’t dwell on it!
  • Sorry to hear your news, Boogie, we live in distressing times.

    Have a smooth recovery Simon Toad.

    Yesterday I felt much more like myself again, I hardly noticed my breathing and wasn’t fatigued. After 7 weeks of symptoms I finally feel like I might be getting over my covid infection.

    On dreams; I have seldom ever remembered my dreams.
  • FirenzeFirenze Shipmate, Host Emeritus
    Why is the bath/sink/worktop dirty? I cleaned it only last...oh

    Today's objective- try and find orthodontic wax within walking distance (since dental cement proved useless for broken filling).
  • KarlLBKarlLB Shipmate
    Boogie wrote: »
    @KarlLB said -
    I'm always like that. Only vague memories of what I was doing a few days ago. Yesterday is a struggle sometimes.

    If I ever had a cognitive assessment they'd probably conclude I had dementia, but I've been like that from childhood.

    Me too. I’ve never had a decent memory. I’ve always used many coping strategies to deal with it.

    I’m learning German - my progress is soooo slow. But, what I do manage to make stick is very rewarding.

    Big plus - not being able to clearly remember the past means I can’t dwell on it!

    For some reason the bad bits are the most memorable.

    My biggest mystery is where do lost things go?

    I know how I lose pens, screwdrivers, spanners, paint brushes, tyre levers - anything it's possible to put down for a second while you do something else - but why do they so seldom turn up again?

    I've never used a pencil until it's been sharpened so many times it's too small. I've thrown a few away because I've dropped them multiple times and the lead has multiple fractures so it's a series of quarter inch pieces rather than a single lead. Biros are always lost long before they run out or dry up. So I've bought hundreds of biros, pencils, screwdrivers, allen keys, electric drill chuck keys*, reading glasses, over the years that the house should be full of them, so where are they?.

    I know the H2G2TG answer, but, seriously, where do they go? Where are my thousands of biros?

    *I swear there's a household spirit that hides these.
  • Bishops FingerBishops Finger Shipmate
    edited May 2020
    IIRC, in the Moomintroll books, this sort of thing was sometimes attributed to The Dweller Under The Sink.
    :fearful:
  • DooneDoone Shipmate
    Thank goodness for your news, @Simon Toad and so sorry to hear your news @Boogie 🕯.

    Regarding dreams, mine often feature work, I was a teacher, and things going wrong - lost assignments, forgetting classes, rioting students, etc. The stupid thing is I retired 10 years ago and loved my job!
  • la vie en rougela vie en rouge Purgatory Host, Circus Host
    Condolences, Boogie.

    I am also having extremely vivid dreams. Last night I danced Swan Lake, travelled on a tube train through a giant concrete structure, and visited a chocolate factory, which was stressful because I wasn't dressed to go out and everyone was waiting for me. Oh I also got shot in the head early in the night, although I was less frightened by that than you might expect.

    I've heard psychologists touting the theory that our brains have a lot to process at present and that's why people are dreaming in 3D technicolour. My theory is rather the opposite. I think my brain is humungously bored of doing exactly the same thing every day and making up for it by going on wild adventures at night.
  • That sounds reasonable, however weird the 'wild adventures' turn out to be!
  • Alan Cresswell Alan Cresswell Admin, 8th Day Host
    KarlLB wrote: »
    My biggest mystery is where do lost things go?
    I have the delight of checking in on work once a week, and having done the checks I'm supposed to do (make sure a few bits of equipment are still running, fill our detectors with liquid nitrogen, and a check that doors and windows are secure) I often spend a bit of time getting a few bits through the lab to keep on top of things.

    So, the question is ... the stack of pens I keep in the lab. Where have they gone? There's been no one in there for 6 weeks ... and still they've walked!
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