Life during a Pandemic

LOTS has happened to all of us since my last post.  I, just like all of you, have been swept up in it.  I watch too much news, I roll my eyes at our leaders yet are thrilled with others that have taken the lead, and I actually even like my governor for standing up to the crap from back east.  I think most of us are doing fine and the couple I know you got it are managing.  Of course, economically this is not great, but I have a pantry as I hope you do. We have food and it is not like an earthquake or tsunami that takes out all the infrastructure.  It feels a lot like the ice storm in the late 1990s.  No power, no planes, no cars, no travel, no nothing.  And that is where we had to cook on the porch!  Of course, this is MUCH longer and MUCH higher stakes and MUCH more wide spread.  I am proud of the job we are doing and the way we have altered our lives.  My neighborhood is great as usual and we leave things on porches and let others pick them up.  One of my neighbors put his house up for sale because he got married and moved to North Seattle.  Only one couple has looked at it and I did not do my normal "sales job" because of social distancing. :)

Because of my cancer treatment, I am taking social distancing VERY seriously and at the beginning my Mom was a little cavalier about it.  "It is just like the flu..."  And then I said, "Mom, if you get sick, we cannot care for you." and "If you keep going to Walmart, Costco, TJs, etc., you can't come here." which she listened to, but finally succumbed later.  It is hard to keep that woman down.  I almost put her in a time out!  Since, she has been a model citizen, not because of me, but because it is best for all of us.  They say this hasn't happened since 1918 which I have read tons about of late, but we have had scares.  One Polio.  That was HUGE.  Then, AIDS.  SARS.  Covid 19 is a scary thing and, as I have said for 13 years, I would hate to die of the flu when I had Stage Four Cancer.  Some people (my Mom and Husband) are CONVINCED that I had it in January when I was hospitalized.  No one knew what I had, they were throwing drugs at me and taping oxygen to my face (cause I was pulling it off).  It is not their fault.  I was delirious, so what did I know?!?!?!  I thought rats were running up the curtains and it didn't bother me in the least.  Not the signs of a sane person.  I don't think those are the side effects of Covid.  But in any case, I am looking into it, at the request of my family for COVID antibodies so that they can know and I can recklessly go in the neighborhood free of fear.  LOL.  The part about that that scares me is how many people did I infect and I didn't even know it nor was in the right mind to know it.....it truly scares me.

Some good news is, I have completed most of my Christmas gifts for 2020.  The boys have helped me put them together and no we just have to do the perishable ones later.  During this time, Mason got in a fight with the sewing machine and split open his finger which I butterfly striped.  Grandma always said this was the toughest sewing machine on the planet.  She was right - not a mark on it.  Mason is not good with blood, cutting, etc.  I cut my finger and thought, again, we should go to the ER.......but you can't!  So, I cut off the flappy part which was hard because of all the bleeding and nursed it.  Because I am on blood thinner, it bled for two days straight.  It is good now.  Happy and healed, but it was a bit touch and go and I still have to get all the blood out of my sheets.  Can't know what is happening when I sleep!  Mine actually looks better than Mason's except for there is a slant in how my finger grows now.  OPPS!  Dad taught me the method.

On another note, I am also doing my 2019 Christmas Card!  Lord knows I have time.  I have been plowing through my study and catching up, but also I have done a fair share of binge watching and game playing with the boys.  Nolan really did not have a break.  Private school just went plowing ahead.  Teachers available 10-2:30, assignments due, etc.  Mason is getting to that, but only because the OSPI guy is requiring it now.  Mason, however, has been busy the entire time.  He is the one that has a million projects and tons to do.

What I have also learned is do not update your will during a pandemic.  It seems like a good idea because you have so much time, but it is very, "we are all gonna die......were not gonna make it...." attitude and it just makes things weird!  DON'T DO IT!

Last thing, is that I am okay.  Treatment continues to happen.  Hank did retire, but I like my new oncologist who was with me during the January debacle on the weekends, so you have to love his tolerance!  It was funny because he said to me, "If you want to go home because you feel compromised, I understand and your cancer is stable enough that I think that is okay."  This was last Friday RIGHT before treatment.  I looked at him and said, "My blood is good, I put on make up, and this has been my only social outlet for two weeks - I am staying!"  It looks like they might shut down the cancer center to stable and routine patients like me in April.  The peak of the pandemic.  That is fine, but let the pandemic decide my break, not us.  However, I do get how sad it is that I LOOK FORWARD TO GOING TO THE CANCER CENTER FOR TREATMENT !!!!!!!!!

Be well......be patience.....exercise.......cook......play board games.....love one another.

Happy Thursday,
Ang