COVID 19 and Me

Who would have ever thought we would have ever experienced anything like this in our lifetime? For some, there seem to be no worries, and for others, they are stressed to the point of fear. I guess I fall somewhere in the middle. I am worried, not only for myself and my family but for everyone. I know we are all going to die at some point, but I hate when there is a disease such as this that is quickly taking people all around us, young and old and in-between. Some are more at risk than others, like me, and does that worry me more? I know it should be it does not. When God calls me home, I am ready, I just pray it is no time soon and I will do all I can to take care of myself until then.

I do have a triple whammy as I have an auto-immune disease, I take an immunosuppressant medication as well as a chemotherapy medication and I have asthma. Wow, I think the only thing I am missing is heart disease and diabetes from the high-risk categories. I am taking the same precautions I would whether I was at high risk or not. But what has really frustrated me is the media. Imagine that. But really, every time someone dies from this virus, and they point out, “they had an underlying condition”, “their immune system was compromised”, “they were old.”Really, does that make them any less of a person? Does that make it less of a concern because of what? They were a person, and they had a family, there are people that are broken-hearted because they died. I am sure there have been some media who have talked about people who were not high risk, but I personally have not seen it. I do not watch a lot of news, typically I watch the news before I get out of the bed in the am, and then I may catch a glimpse of it one evening a week.

I know I personally love living and enjoying life but work hard to try to live longer. I know my medications and my disease will attempt to cut my life short, but I am determined to outlive any predictions that have been set for people like me who are “compromised.” I eat healthily, I avoid food that causes me pain, I walk, I try to get a good night’s rest, though I rarely sleep more than four hours. I try not to stress over things and have a Polly Anna attitude about life, always trying to find the best in every situation. So, what can I find positive in the media always making to me what makes it seem less important than someone died because they had an underlying condition? Maybe they think they will lessen everyone’s fears. But have they really, over half of my family, cousins, aunts, mother, siblings, children, etc., have underlying conditions that make us more at risk whether it be diabetes, heart disease, asthma, have taken chemotherapy and beat cancer, and auto-immune diseases and every time they remind us that the person that died was “compromised” does nothing but add fear to those who are in the high risk categories.

So enough about my frustrations with the media as I refuse to allow them to bring me down, I will continue to shake my head when they point out the “underlying reasons” the people are dying and will continue to say a prayer for all of those who have lost a loved one through this pandemic. Because no matter what the reason was that contributed to their death, they deserve nothing but honoring the person that they were.

So, for my family, we are practicing social distancing. We do have family and friends that have come to our home, but not inside. We even moved our car off the carport to be able to place chairs apart, where we can visit safely. We have gone into town to pick up things that are needed, but I usually sit in the car and Chip, who is the healthiest in the family, goes in to get what we need, and no more, and comes back to the car and sanitizes, sanitizes and sanitizes some more.

I feel we have plenty of food, it may not be what we would choose to eat, but I can assure you we will not go hungry. Thank goodness both Chip and Bailey shot a deer this year as we are well stocked on venison. We probably do not have as much canned food as we should, but we will make do. I always have had Clorox wipes in every bathroom in the house as well as extras here and there. We buy our paper products from Sam’s club and had just recently stocked on that as well. I worry more about running out of toilet paper than I do food, for real.

Social distancing has definitely changed some of our plans. We were going on our first ever truck camper rally with D&H Campers. It was a camping event specifically for truck campers.

https://www.dhrvcenter.com/–truckcamperrally

We had been planning on this trip for months and even had Rebekah and Bailey make us some cool shirts to wear on our adventure. Kind of nerdy to dress alike right? I think so too, but we were going to do it anyway. You will have to wait to see our beautiful, creative, shirts. So the truck rally was cancelled, and we were disappointed. I am so ready to go camping that my next post may be a staycation in my front yard. Maybe we will wear our matching shirts.

I have been using so much hand sanitizer that I was afraid I was going to ruin my rings, so I took them off and have placed them in the safe until all this is over. I have always used a lot of hand sanitizer. For my work I even kept a container of hand sanitizer clipped to my name badge and used it a lot. I always washed my hands often and used hand sanitizer but not to the point that I am doing so now. I read an article years ago when I taught about germs and hand washing that was about the research showing that bacterial colonization was much greater on ringed than bare hands. A lot of infection control nurses discourage staff to wear anything but a wedding band. This is because rings can’t be thoroughly cleaned by even diligent hand hygiene, nor can the skin beneath them, especially rings with a lot of nooks and crannies. So right now, with this virus I felt it was a good idea to keep my hands as clean as possible, plus I did not want to ruin my rings.

https://rogersandhollands.com/blog/post/is-hand-sanitizer-bad-for-your-engagement-ring

I have not had any problems with my hands drying out even though I am constantly washing my hands and using hand sanitize because every winter Chip and I both had been experiencing dry cracked hands and we started using Mary Kay Satin Hands and are a firm believer how well it works. If you have not tried it you are in luck, Bailey is a Mary Kay Consultant and if you send me a message and mention this blog she will give you a 25% off discount.

On a bright note, I hope that all this social distancing is good for my hair. I know that sounds crazy but think about it. When we work or even go out in public, we typically have done something to our hair. Mousse, hair spray and even some shampoos and conditioners leave a residue on our hair that builds up over time. The residue can weigh your hair down and dry it out, making your hair more susceptible to breakage. Heat we know can damage hair, especially if you are using a hair dryer and then a high heat straightener, which I do because it is hard to straighten my hair. So, for the past 3 weeks, I have done nothing to my hair but wash it. I have allowed it do dry naturally and have used no heat source at all. Now in saying that I will admit it is a hot mess. But that’s okay as I am not trying to impress anyone, and I avoid looking in the mirrors anyway. My favorite hat is “Camping Hair, Don’t Care” so you may see me sporting around town when I do go out in that hat.

“Camping Hair Don’t Care” check it out here without leaving home

We had a friend make us each a face mask, just in case we go out. Chip worked on making liners for the face masks to give it an extra layer of protection using 3-M’s household filters.

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Check out your filter options here without leaving home..3-M Filters

I loved how Hobby Lobby was working to make shopping a safe trip for everyone. I do not understand why they closed as this seem to be working well. I had gone in search of elastic, and though they did not have any, the lady showed me a good alternative that worked for our masks. Now our town is very limited on supplies to make masks so you may have to order something creative like we used because even elastic is on short supply when ordering. I would share with you a link on how you could order what we used, but honestly I have looked at Amazon and Hobby Lobby and every brand is out of stock.

Like everyone has been posting on Facebook, Easter is not cancelled. Our faith remains that Christ has died, Christ is risen, and Christ will come again. Christ has and will continue to be with us in our homes, along the journey of our lives and will always be with us during this greatest challenge of our life, COVID 19. But, with that being said, I am bummed about the Easter get-together that our family has had for as long as I have been alive. Our entire family, aunts, cousins, siblings, in-laws, and friends get together at my grandfather’s home place. When we were young it was so much fun to see your cousins and play in the yard, hiding eggs over and over again, and showing off your Easter dress that your mom had made. Today it is just as much fun hiding the eggs for all the children that have come along over the years, catch up with family and friends, and of course, eat. This year there will be none of that on Easter Sunday but at some point, we will all get together and will be blessed to do so and I pray no one will have had to go through any suffering with the coronavirus other than financially which is inevitable.

We like so many of our friends are enjoying family time, playing board games our favorite go to games are

Yahtzee and Cardinal Mexican Train Domino Game with Aluminum Case. We keep the Yahtzee game in our truck camper for rainy days.

We have enjoyed long walks, a lot of patio talks, and less television than I would have ever expected. We have reenacted other quarantine posts from Facebook and laughed until our sides hurt.

I personally have enjoyed sending snap chats to my family and friends and hope they laughed as much as I did. I would be laughing so hard I could not even finish my message many times and would have to start over. Chip usually knows what I am doing and is shaking is head reminding me that I am “not right.” Laughter is good medicine, so maybe that is why I am doing so well.

My favorite are the voice changers, but here are a few funnies as well.

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We have watched a movie on Friday or Saturday night with me usually dozing off about halfway through. My husband recently commented that I had never watched an entire movie and he is correct, for as long as I can remember anyway. I remembered years ago taking my daughter and some of her cousins to see Shark Tales and I must have dozed off as I heard them giggling and discussing me being asleep. I told them I was just resting my eyes. I told my preacher once that if he saw me with my eyes closed, I was not sleeping, that I hear better with my eyes closed. I do not think he believed me. On that note, it is time for me to close my eyes and get my usual four hours sleep, and then watch old episodes of Chicago PD or Law and Order. Luckily for me, though I have seen many of them before, I never remember the outcome, so it is like watching it for the first time. That CRS disease is for real, “can’t remember stuff.”

Our dogs have loved having us home all the time. Ginger has loved being under my desk as I work from home.

All the dogs have enjoyed the evenings spent sitting on the carport, and they have been practicing social distancing as well.

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But not always as they seem to enjoying drinking together…..I prefer to not drink alone either, but that is another story.

We have all enjoyed our long walks. We are truly blessed to live out in the country and have amazing trails to walk on our own land. No dog leashes and no picking up poop.

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The only downfall of walking trails is the end result when you return home after a rainy day. I guess I should have worn my old shoes. I would rather walk ten miles on a muddy trail than one mile on a treadmill any day.

Stay home as much as you can, wash your hands often, and your hair not so much, be safe and continue to pray for everyone who has been affected by this pandemic.

Happy Easter from this Krazy Bunny!