Day Thirty - Aching Heart and an Aching Body

My cousin managed to speak with the hospital yesterday. They have effectively done a hip replacement for my aunt and all seems to have gone well. The nurse, apparently, sounded positive. Pat is to have observations and physio today and they are hoping to get her up and walking again in the next few days. But that depends on how the observations go. She is still very confused though. That's one hurdle overcome. Long way to go. The family have been discussing the sending of get well cards. Card shops are shut. I think supermarkets sell a small selection. But what are hospitals doing about post for patients? We are all spraying, wiping or leaving post for a few days prior to opening but does a hospital have time to do that? If they don't are we putting Pat at risk by sending cards? It's a conundrum.

No walk today. Back very sore and achey. Feeling out of sorts. But I did do a mini chair yoga session in the comfort of my own home. I also baked some banana bread which has turned out a bit like bread pudding because I used spelt flour instead of regular flour, Benecol instead of butter, and agave syrup instead of honey. You can't afford to be pedantic about ingredients when you're in lockdown.  But it tastes delicious though I say it myself. I also made a big pan of vegetable and lentil soup which I had for lunch and which was also tasty. Frankly, I'm glad I'm in lockdown and don't have to share it with anyone!!!

My Sainsbury's delivery arrived. That's me sorted for a few weeks now although they were out of a number of Quorn and Linda McCartney products. Apparently this is nothing to do with covid-19 but Veganuary! Damn carnivores! Eating all my dinners. 😉 Bet they'd have something to say if I started munching on their lamb shanks and rib eye steaks. But I was pleased to get some bits for friends who had been unable to find the things they wanted on their supermarket trips. Plus I now have strawberries. 😀

I saw something alarming on social media today. Someone was talking about how their illness from covid-19 was purely gastric. She had no respiratory symptoms and is on day 33 of the illness saying that for 26 days she was the sickest she'd even been in her life. 'Full body shakes and aches, serious dehydration (6 litres of water a day plus dioralyte), overwhelming nausea, awful diarrhoea, extreme fatigue.' But for the first ten days her symptoms were really mild. She also says you feel better for a day or two then go back to square one. Most of what we read focuses on the respiratory problems. Or it has until now. Is this another sinister aspect of this bloody virus? Is no part of the body safe from it? The implications for infection from the gastric point of view are immense, surely? For example, how do you self isolate in a household where there is only one toilet?!

I read stuff like that and it makes me determined to stay away from everyone and everything. People I know have been asking each other what they miss from their life B.C. - Before Coronavirus. One said going to the pub, another said going to football. I simply miss the freedom of going where I want when I want. Yesterday was a weird day because I was so worried abut Auntie Pat and thoughts of her dominated my mind. But I was supposed to be going to the Van Gogh Experience on the South Bank with Elizabeth Lowry, the author.  I reviewed her book and interviewed her in 2018 and we're friends,  I guess. I first met her at a book festival event and then again at the Tate Gallery last summer for another Van Gogh Exhibition. I think she's wonderful and I'd love to be proper friends but distance makes it difficult. And I worry that I'm a nuisance and she's too kind to tell me to get lost and quit bothering her! So yesterday's meeting would have been good to have a catch up and build on the framework of a friendship. That's the kind of thing I miss, optimising those opportunities that aren't always possible.

I hope I feel a bit more chipper tomorrow.All the optimism I had from doing stuff like cutting the grass and getting stuck into the housework have evaporated. But I have read eight books this month so far. And reviewed all but one of them. I also printed out two rainbows saying Stay Home Help the NHS. I've put one in my window and one on the door. I've taken to loudly singing 'Stay Home, Save Lives' at the top of my voice when I see people outside who don't look like they're doing essential stuff. I have to get through this somehow.....