Couch 213: The Tulip couch

Well, you may not get them at Waffle House. They’re voluntarily closing stores: Things just got real: Waffle House closes 365 locations across US | WBMA

That means this is serious, people. The Waffle House Index does not lie.

Well, we’re in the thick of it now: my hospital had previously said that only attendings could care directly for COVID pts but as of yesterday the policy has changed and we residents are getting thrown in there too. We’re running out of masks (being asked to reuse after “decontamination” which is letting them sit for a few days and being blasted with a UV light) and are actively asking them community to sew masks for us.

And so it begins.

At last one of our states is fining people for not keeping the social distancing

Hello all. It sounds like COVID has taken over the boards as well, which I mean, I'm glad that it's being taken seriously. I am on day 10 of quarantine, presumed positive. The US needs to take this more seriously. I have a "mild" case and was at the ER 3 times last week because of difficulty breathing. And he wants the churches packed for Easter. Heaven help us.

My T and I had teletherapy today - which was fine. She kept offering to sew masks for me (our hospital is not letting our department wear N 95 masks - It's a total crap fest). I might take her up on her offer.

Hang in there. We are in the thick of it now too

I can't go out because I'm still sick, so I can only order online groceries. I'm stuck ordering not only for my household, for my sister's, and my mother in law. It's stressful! And getting toilet paper for 3 homes is really hard. Plus, we were supposed to get an order in today, and supposedly it was stolen?!?!

I think a lot of people don't realize that the thing they call 'mild' in the media goes up to pneumonia where you don't need oxygen support.
Hope you're doing okay all things considered, try to rest, don't exhaust yourself even if your symptoms clear up a bit (I read that lots of times it clears up for a bit, then comes back, so it's best to dial back a bit for quite a while). Hope you'll be feeling better soon!

I was saying to my H last night how it almost seems like someone famous and relatively young needs to get hospitalized and/or die for people to take this seriously. Tom Hanks or NBA players being like, "I have it, and I'm doing fine" is going to make people think it's not so bad. Obviously I don't wish death or serious illness on anyone, but in this case, people need to wake up.


Also hope you feel better soon, Daisy!

Unfortunately, most people only realize something is serious once people they're 'close to' (even if those people are celebrities) get seriously affected. But since famous people are usually rich and can afford priority treatment, this will mean that most people will probably realize how serious it is once hospitals close to them are overflowing or somebody they know very well gets a serious case...

A family we are friends with has been fully quarantined after a coworker tested positive. We're shelter in place now, so we won't be getting out except for essentials like groceries or doctor's appointments. I'm about to start online teaching. In fact, I have an online inservice meeting in a few minutes.

I have been wondering what mild meant, since the mild cases I hear of in the news don’t sound mild at all. More like walking pneumonia.

We should hear back today or in the next few days if my wife is positive. She was negative for flu. She isn't bad enough that they would have tested her except she works for a hospital in a direct patient contact role. So far, whatever she's got has included cough, sore throat, fever, bad body aches, diarrhea, ringing/stuffy ears, headache, a few bouts of dizziness, tightness in chest. Her lungs were clear even though she had the tightness in chest.

We'd consider her a very mild case at this point.

I have had sore throat, more sinus issues, some general fatigue and mental/emotional fatigue (however those could be due to my depression or my mother dying), ear pain/ringing/stuffiness, maybe some chest tightness (I have that typically anyway so hard to tell if it is new).

So, I guess, mild can be fairly mild, not sure yet as we don't know if she is positive or if the worse has come. The shortage of testing is a real issue all the way around.

Hugs, I hope your wife and you are OK, Elio. And agree on the shortage of testing...and long turnaround times.

Does anyone else wake up in the morning, lie there thinking about what you have to do that day, and then think, "oh, yeah, there's a pandemic"?

I kind of enjoy those 15-20 seconds of not remembering.

Yes, I was thinking of how it reminds me of grieving a loss (whether a death, a breakup, whatever). Where you wake up and are OK for a few moments, then remember it, like "Right, x died..." or "y left me."

Video session with Dr. T at 1:30. I feel I crossed over into some other level of panic/anxiety about the virus today. Like it had been "How can we deal with D?" and "It sucks we can't go out to eat anymore" and also, recently, "I hope D isn't allergic to the new guinea pigs." But while awake in the middle of the night last night, my mind started spiraling into other directions And it hasn't abated since I've been awake (after getting a little bit more sleep). An attempt to talk about it with H sort of led him to look at me like I was going crazy. I also pressured him into canceling his physical therapy appointment tomorrow, because they meet in a big room of people, and even though they're taking sanitation precautions, it can still supposedly live in the air for 3 hours. And his injury seems almost healed--I told him it would be different if it had just happened, but it was months ago, and he's mostly getting around just fine--I mean, he's not gonna run a marathon tomorrow, but those are all canceled anyway. I felt like the bad guy asking him to cancel, but it doesn't seem worth the risk to me.

I agree completely about not going to PT if it can be at all avoided. I'm surprised his PT place is even open still. I tried to call my dentist to cancel my routine cleaning, and I got an outgoing message that just said, "We're closed until at least the end of the month depending on what happens with the virus." Hopefully I don't have any dental emergencies in the meantime...

Hugs about the other anxieties. It's just so hard not knowing how any of this will turn out.

I am glad I can still do video sessions with Liz during the pandemic, and she also stresses me out a little. She is clearly as anxious as any of the rest of us but trying to be calm and rational. She was telling me about how this feels like the Earth sending us all to our rooms for a time-out so we can think about what we have done. Then she told me that she sent a package to her friend in Brooklyn where things are bad (with absolutely no details, which makes my imagination run wild). Then she shared her lifehack for groceries (delivery instead of pickup since it has become impossible to get a pickup slot locally). Then we both kind of laughed at my widened eyes and she said, "So, um. How can I be helpful today?"

She wants me to feel my feelings, which is like, WHAT?? Now is not the time to start having feelings, Liz. She said that this may be a long haul, so my usual strategy of shutting down and pretending I am fine might not be enough to get me through.

She is still kind of a delight, even when she stresses me out. I never thought I would know what the inside of her bedroom looks like, though.

Its kind of surreal to me because it really has not changed my daily life much at all.

I was supposed to have a routine (somewhat overdue) physical on the 31st, but canceled that a week ago. Also surprised the PT place is still open--he scheduled a session for next Thursday, but I figure we'll see how things are going in our area then... Good your dentist is closed. I imagine someplace in the area is taking emergencies. I read some article where people are still going to their annual eye exams. Why are people and places doing/allowing this? I mean, it's different if, say, someone had cataract surgery or other eye issues, but for routine "do I need to update my glasses?" eye exams, like, just wait a month or two.

I think this must vary a lot based on location. Where I am in the Midwest, everything is shuttered and traffic is down to almost nothing. I doubt you could get an eye exam if you wanted one. The only signs of life I see are people walking dogs or going for solo runs. But I hear about other places where people are still living their lives in complete denial and/or ignorance. It's odd. Or maybe people are going out places here too and I am just too hunkered down to know about it?

Hugs, LT. I think canceling his PT is smart.

Even cataract surgery is being cancelled. My coworker in NY was supposed to have two, one on each eye, two weeks apart next month and both got cancelled. She understands, I think, but she is terribly disappointed because she needs to have this done.

Mine either. We had to cancel a couple of friend get-togethers we had planned but we managed to get some group video gatherings and had fun with those.

I am having fun with all of the listserv stuff on how to get students to pay attention and not get distracted on video classes etc - but my attitude on that is - they are adults and they paid a lot of money for it - their problem if they let themselves be distracted - not mine. I am doing my job - it is up to them to do theirs.

LT, for what it’s worth: