A Life Lived Online

Yesterday:

I had the weekend off after smashing my head with a car door last Wednesday. So...kind of a mixed blessing, that. I mean, weekend off, complete with headaches and dizziness, so most of the time spent in bed with a bag of frozen peas pressed to a spot over my right eye. I'm feeling better now except for my neck and shoulders, which were jarred by the accident and which are still bugging me.

So that was my weekend.

The silver lining, if there is one, is that it prompted me to make an appointment with our new primary care provider, a nurse practitioner. This came about because I wanted to talk to someone about my accident and it turns out that my old doctor's practice doesn't take my new insurance. I ended up talking to a CNP at the clinic that sees employees of the hospital and it was he who recommended that I take the weekend off. (I am grateful for that advice as I tried to go into work on Thursday night and got sent home.)

It has been a restful and largely unproductive time, though.

I have written and sent off letters to a group of strangers. I have been following a blogger who calls herself Weetabix for many years. Most Christmases she hosts a card exchange among her followers and I usually participate. This past year, she was working on a doctorate so she didn't have the card exchange. Instead, she set up a card/letter exchange for people sheltering in place during the pandemic. Since that includes me, I signed up. So far, I've sent letters around the country and have a handful of cards made from my fabric collaged postcards ready to go. All I have to do is drop them in the mail slot.

Today I received two cards in return. That's always nice to see something besides bills and junkmail in the mailbox, right?

What else? My brother is back in the hospital. (He was released and then readmitted.) He'll probably be there for a few more days at least. Since hospitals have banned visitors, I cannot go to see him, but we text every day.

Today:

Today is Tuesday and it's been a rather busy day, even though I hardly left the casita.

I had a Zoom meeting this morning from 8 a.m. until 11:00 a.m. It was mandatory and sad. A MICU (medical intensive care unit) nurse talked about end of life matters regarding Covid-19 patients. Then the head of the infectious diseases department talked about what is being done to protect healthcare providers at the hospital. Today was the day that all inpatients were tested for Covid-19. (I talked to my brother; he said they had come around and tested him as well.)

During the Zoom meeting, I wrote a few letters to the strangers I mentioned above.

After the meeting, I edited the abstract for the research project that I'm involved in and I wrote a response paper and sent those in. (Both were due today, by midnight, but I was glad to get them off my plate.)

After that, I got a nap in.

Then it was time for therapy. During therapy, our internet went out, disconnecting me from my therapist. Sigh. Dave set up a mobile hotspot and therapy continued.

I talked about a lot of things, including the Darrell Hammond (the SNL comedian) documentary called "Cracked Up" that I watched on Netflix last night. It's awful and cathartic, about the trauma he's faced throughout his life as a result of being horrifically abused as a child by his mother primarily. I think people who are addicted to horror movies should instead transition themselves onto documentaries that show real horror, like child abuse and molestation. Are you not entertained?

After therapy we made dinner: nachos with Quorn crumbles, beans, pico de gallo, cheese, sour cream, avocado, and calabacitas on the side. (We didn't plan it, but we ended up with Americanized Mexican food on Cinco de Mayo.) Dave had a beer with his dinner, but I abstained because the half of a hard cider that I tried to drink last night brought on a pounding headache. No bueno.

I took out the garbage in the bathroom and kitchen and then I did the dishes after while Dave chatted with his mother. It was Dave's turn to do the dishes, but he had the harder task so I just got on with it.

I really need to clean the bathroom counter and sweep the bathroom and kitchen, but...sigh. I don't want to. We're getting (getting? I say that as if it weren't SOP around here) too comfortable in our own grubby little cocoon these days.

Tomorrow is another busy day online. Both Dave and I have doctors appointments (via telehealth). That should be fun, right?