Plague diary 21/04

[liv]

Less frequent posts since time hardly exists any more.

5 weeks of pandemic life (yesterday).
4 weeks of lockdown and since I last interacted with anyone except jack.
19 days since I thought I maybe had symptoms.
13 days since I ended internal isolation with jack. He hasn't had any symptoms at all.
5 days since I last had symptoms I was significantly worried about.
3 days since I returned to occasionally leaving the house for exercise.
Also, day 12 of the Omer.

So, healthwise: I had about 5 days, 2nd April to 7th April, when my lungs hurt. Just continuously, not affected by taking deep breaths or posture or anything much else. I didn't have any other symptoms whatsoever. After that I had like a week of thinking I was better, except that the soreness returned intermittently. So I really wasn't sure when I could start counting to the end of isolation; the UK guidelines say 7 days from symptoms appearing, but everywhere else counts from the end of symptoms, and the symptoms were so minor and tailed off so gradually that I don't know where I'd place the 'end'.

On 16th April I had a weird episode of dizziness, much worse than I'd ever experienced before. I pretty much had to lie down for a couple of hours. I had no other symptoms, no tiredness, no fever, just plain vertigo. I looked it up on the internet as you do, and articles from before Covid-19 suggested that sometimes people get post-viral labyrinthitis, whereas more up-to-date information suggested dizziness might be a Covid-19 symptom. I don't know. If my lung soreness was in fact Covid-19 then I got the dizziness two weeks after symptoms appeared, which seems implausibly long.

We decided we could start going out from Sunday 19th. We're still staying away from shops and avoiding other people. It's a bit arbitrary but it is over two weeks since I first worried, and 5 days since I had even the vaguest trace of symptoms (except the dizziness which might or might not be relevant).

So, the rest of the bank holiday weekend when I was sad that I didn't get to do Easter family time with OSOs. I did in fact enjoy some restful time with jack. We played Gloomhaven and unwound a bit from work and Pesach. And we managed to get in some remote Stellaris with cjwatson; it pretty much Just Worked even though we last played most of a year ago and had a really old version of the game. We used Discord for voice chat and it was pleasant and companionable.

Two and a half days back at work, then I had to take an afternoon off to be dizzy, but I was fine by Friday. The lovely Reform Movement started up broadcasting again after a break for the festival, and I attended a couple of seminars (but haven't yet got back into the habit of attending communal morning prayer).

This recent weekend I had deliberately not made too many social plans. I had a nice date with jack on Friday evening. OSOs virtually joined me for the Saturday morning service, and I listened in to their church service on Sunday. The latter feels much less like being together because it's just a broadcast, whereas our service has a Zoom congregation and is a bit more interactive, but I still wanted to support my partners. We also managed a couple of nearly spontaneous games of online bridge using the Trickster Cards site, a matter of just sending a text saying, do you feel like playing and pretty much starting a game with minimal faff. The first was with my mother and brother who are quarantined together, and the second was with OSOs. And I've had a couple of phonecall dates with each of my non-domestic partners.

Going out for the first time after self-isolation was weird. We decided that we could justify going for a short drive to reach a place more pleasant and less crowded than Cambridge city. We went to Waterbeach in order to look at the river, but decided against walking along it because the path is too narrow. It was the most amazingly gorgeous day, just perfect spring weather. And during the three weeks I stayed at home the world has become gloriously green. There were a few people about enjoying the weather but it was far from crowded. We walked in a little nature reserve and it was really lovely.

But I found it emotionally hard. I was anxious about getting too close to people, I was anxious about getting in trouble for having fun and not moving fast enough. And I was really struggling with feeling sad about this perfect spring that we're mostly going to miss, and not knowing how many more seasons will just flow past while we're all stuck indoors, and the people who won't make it through quarantine to enjoy the outdoors again.

Today was a bit better, I returned to my pre-symptoms habit of walking across very quiet north Cambridge suburbs to OSOs' house. And we chatted with them on their doorstep and me more than 2m away in the street, and that made me feel better. I was a lot less angsty about going out of the house the second time than the first.

Last few days I've had fairly obvious hayfever but otherwise feel fine. There are 7 people known to me personally who have had pretty clear cases of Covid-19, and 26 including me who have had suspicious symptoms.

Comments

[monanotlisa]

I'm glad you're better -- this really sounds like it was not a mere cold, at least; whether it was COVID-19 is hard to tell. How accessible is testing for you?

[ephemera]

I haven't been isolating as much as you have had to do, and I'm still conscious that I'm getting less and less OK with people in any kind of proximity, and am actively avoiding having to go into town to get my prescription* because it gives me anxiety - I can imagine that being magnified significantly after a couple of weeks purely indoors. I'm glad you were able to see / talk with OSO though - that sounds important!

[nou]

I’m glad you’re OK and can still see your partners (even if only from a distance in some cases). I hope all the adjustment gets easier with time.

[lilacsigil]

I'm glad you're feeling better getting some form of contact with your non-domestic partners, at least.

[ewt]

I'm glad you got outside and could see your OSOs, even if from a distance.

I'm currently very grateful to have a back garden and also an allotment (the tending of which counts as government-sanctioned daily exercise; and also social distancing there is trivially easy compared to, say, walking in the park at a busy time), so I'm actually spending more time outside than I might if I still had rehearsals and so on to get to. It helps.

If you would like me to post you some tomato seeds let me know. It's not too late to start them off; they'll need to start inside, but eventually be planted out. They can probably go directly in the ground in a sunny spot. Putting some wet cardboard down around them (ideally weighed down by mulch or compost, but a rock or something will do) will help them do better because they won't be competing with weeds. You'll also need a bamboo pole or stake or fairly straight stick or something to tie each plant to. They'll need watering when it doesn't rain, preferably in the morning. (If this sounds like it would just be stressful then that's fine, I understand. If it sounds interesting but you're worried I'll be upset if you later neglect the plant, I'm not worried at all, I have lots of tomato seed and I know stuff doesn't always work out.)

[sfred]

Glad you're feeling better.

[silveradept]

We are pleased to hear that your physical health seems better. And that you are getting to play cards. (I would have to be taught bridge, because I suspect not knowing how to bid would make things very difficult.)