Mostly Apolitical Thread for Discussing/Venting our Rational/Irrational COVID-19 Fears and Experiences in 2020

I've got everything crossed for you and your daughter

thinking of you and yours, aimless

really sorry to hera

*hear -- apologies

All the best, Aimless. Thinking of your daughter and her comfort.

Best wishes to you and your family, Aimless.

thinking of her and sending well wishes, Aimless

fuck! Aimless, thinking of you

This could still easily turn in almost any direction. Her health and physical being are full of deep mysteries, very unpredictable and confounding. But I gladly accept all good wishes!

But to give a better sense of her, here's a pic of her and me from 2012:

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8183/8146701943_a122735976_z.jpg

Lovely!

Looks like a personable and spirited kid. :)

My sister, in the last decade, has impressively *overreacted* to

1) me getting cancer
2) a global pandemic

Impressive skill set!

Currently "begging" me to but months' worth of canned food now, cuz what happens when my friends no longer bring me groceries, the post office stops, etc.

Where does she think you're even going to find months' worth of canned food to buy right now? But at least it shows she cares about you.

Sending you best wishes Aimless!

best wishes to aimless and morbs and stet and everyone struggling in this moment

(also, belated xp — she’s not a bad person or anything and all things considered my living situation has worked much better than I had thought it would this month, it’s just that it doesn’t seem to have registered that I’m doing actual work)

You may need to remind — everyone is deep in their neuroses at this point and it’s no time for hinting imo

In personal sanity-maintenance, I’ve been having to do deep breathing exercises at least 1x/daily for weeks now. It’s part of my routine. Also reaching out to friends way more regularly than I have at other points of extreme isolation in my life. Feels kinda good!!

Here's a text convo i just had with a good and trustworthy and knowledgeable friend who is a pediatric oncologist nurse in an NYC hospital who just got off a Friday to Monday shift that involved considerable time in COVID wards. It is reproduced with her blessing. I found this helpful and comforting and useful and thought y'all might too.

I want you to know that not all NYC hospitals look like what’s depicted in the news. I promise. for me, there's three covid wards and all ICUs are filled. though we need more backup for sure. Truly truly I am not afraid for myself and neither should you for me or yourself if you take reasonable precautions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WxyH1rkuLaw

This guys video is needlessly long but he’s an NYC ICU doc / expert and does an okay job explaining what to do and why you don’t need to lose your mind totally. Recently they’ve calculated a lower US mortality rate for covid19 than was previously estimated: ~0.7%. May that comfort you a little, I hope.

Wear a mask if you have one, that’s the new recommendation now and it makes sense. Even if it doesn’t do a whole lot to avoid droplet stuff, at the very least it helps prevent you (or make you mindful) about touching your face! Designate one as your cooties mask and reuse. Keep in a plastic baggy. Honestly the point of the outdoors mask is less about keeping stuff out (via droplets) and more about keeping your germs in (should you randomly sneeze, or have the urge to point your hand near your mouth or nose). so any cooties caught while out should already be yours ;)

It also helps reduce hand to mouth/nose transfer if you’re out touching stuff etc. they’re finding most transmission in the real world is via Contact rather than droplet. in the hospital setting it’s a different story cause you’re closely interacting with known positive patients and giving them breathing treatments that aerosolizes their virus all over the place. But even in the hospital we are asked to reuse our masks.

breathing exercises are good. and very needed. i guess the one nice thing about social media is it makes reaching out to friends more regularly a lot easier.

I have good friends that are thinking about me but the thought of opening up has me feeling sick to my stomach. so in other words, it's Tuesday.

i'm so cagey about showing emotion in front of people that pretty much only two of my friends have witnessed me break down crying ever, including people I've known 15+ years. i've seen all of them do it.

i don't even like showing emotion when I sing in public, but being a performer, if it's a song I've rehearsed, I can do the emotion thing performatively, but don't like to show what I'm actually feeling.

definitely time for me to quit making fucking excuses and go back to therapy, whether it's a video session or I find an in-person when this blows over. really mad at myself for putting it off this long. fired the last one a year ago.

STRONGLY recommend people watch that video i linked up there; it alleviated a LOT of freakout on my part.
the cultural and economic and political ramifications are still fucking terrifying but hearing a trusted source assure that the vast majority of transmission comes from physical contact should go a long way toward calming many of us down.

Definitely a good idea. I’ve never liked talking about my feelings either but therapy has helped a lot and also helped w recognizing my (pretty idiosyncratic) emotional triggers and managing the fallout before it gets too bad/spirals. Sometimes it’s actually easier to talk w a stranger than a close friend! Isn’t that a part of why we’re here on ILX? ;)

good thoughts to you and your daughter Aimless.

just lost my job.

7 years.

fuck.

fuck, sorry man

goddamn thermo :(

Argh. Sad to hear that Dyson. Really hope we can tamp this down in Ont so everyone in arts has a fighting chance to come back. Know so many affected right now.

Brief backstory: in January I caught a different virus, which turned into pneumonia, at which point my kidneys permanently shut down due to a rare autoimmune disease, and I've been on dialysis ever since, waiting for the transplant list to reopen, etc. I realize that's burying the lede a little, but I've been sort of vacillating between the same generalized anxiety everyone's feeling with "holy shit, this is REALLY going to kill me if i get it"-type bleakness.

Anyway, I was exposed to somebody at dialysis last week who tested positive, so I'm currently overreacting to every little possible symptom. ("Did that Diet Coke taste funny?") Eight days since exposure and I'm still fine, and it's been three weeks since I tapered off prednisone entirely, so hopefully I'll have a functional immune system soon, but it certainly seems like this won't be the last time I freak out about something like this. I'm certainly glad that I got as sick as I did before there was known community transmission of COVID where I live, at least.

Sorry to hear that, man.

just lost my job.

― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Tuesday, March 31, 2020 6:47 PM bookmarkflaglink

7 years.

― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Tuesday, March 31, 2020 6:47 PM bookmarkflaglink

fuck.

― FRAUDULENT STEAKS (The Cursed Return of the Dastardly Thermo Thinwall), Tuesday, March 31, 2020 6:48 PM bookmarkflaglink

fuck. i'm so sorry :(

omg gya!

Just back from being tested- will be a nervous few days. Coworker I work with often was abruptly sent home because someone he’d worked with the prior week was contracted it.

proper sympathies to everyone here who is going though horrific and scary things <3

yes

yes

just having a real scare with my mother in Detroit suburb. She's 75 but in fairly robust and has been isolating I think pretty thoroughly (though not entirely) for the past 2.5 weeks.

She told me she had onset of chills late this afternoon and "something like a headache" (but not a headache?) and just insisted she needed to take a nap (at 7pm?) for an hour.

I'm doing all kinds of stupid math and trying to reassure myself and feeling honestly scared. Like ready to get in my car and drive 12 hrs straight out there scared

Could you ask her to take a temperature and let you know? and ask about her sense of smell?

she refused, insisted she doesn't have a fever, but that side of my family has this completely asinine stoicism where they refuse to admit to any illness

I didn't think to ask about smell or taste, but will in the morning—thx

I get it, but the stoicism is insane, you either have a fever or you don't and measuring won't change it. Denial of illness is actively harmful to other people in this climate. (these talking points are just how I would tackle my own mother if she had a similar view)

oh believe me, I know—she assured me she'd check in the morning... I think her calculus is that since they don't leave the house her diagnosis is immaterial

and then I was reminded by Dr. friend that it is sort of immaterial anway. he said quarantine, hydrate and call ER *only* if you are short of breath, regardess of symptoms incl fever. Which is our fucked reality rn

"they won't let you in and you don't want to be there"

yes, you can't get a test unless you're short of breath at rest, I've asked

not sure what people have heard from their respective corporate superiors, but HIPAA is the current thing being thrown around my workplace for why they can't disclose people who've been exposed because they're fearful of lawsuits. wahwah to the company.

HIPAA is a bullshit excuse, not least because it only covers patient information maintained by healthcare providers.

If they’re afraid of lawsuits they should be afraid of negligently failing to protect employees they know may have been exposed by other employees

Hadrian, I hope mama feels better soon.

Best of luck to all in here.

she refused, insisted she doesn't have a fever, but that side of my family has this completely asinine stoicism where they refuse to admit to any illness

Can you tell her this whole thing is giving you anxiety and taking a temperature would be one less thing on your mind as you're not dealing with things too well right now?