Rice and beans, day 59
So here we are, almost 60 days into quarantine. A word, WriterMan reminds me, that literally means 40 days.
Although other parts of California are starting to open, the Bay Area remains firmly closed through May.
Our own behavior is even more restrictive than what is allowed. We mostly eat food from our storage, supplemented every 2-3 weeks with a delivery from InstaCart and once a week or so with milk and eggs (and ice cream and wine) from the small store across the street.
I've had one masked, unsuccessful trip the hardware store looking for bird seed, and one weekend we bought ice cream cones from a food truck parked at the marina. It was excellent ice cream.
Other than that, we've stayed out of commercial establishments, not even taking advantage of takeout or food delivery services from those restaurants that are staying open.
Well, except for the afternoon Youngest Kid and I spent in the pediatric ER a few days after my last blog post.
He started complaining of pain Easter evening, but at first we blamed it on too much candy. (If you want variety in the Easter eggs, you have to buy multiple bags. Is it my fault the bags aren't sized for one-kid families?)
The pain went away, and Monday was pain-free, but Tuesday morning the pain returned and brought vomiting with it. Given our family history, I suspected appendicitis, and our pediatrician urged us to go the ER. After a brief debate about going to the hospital within walking distance or the children's hospital, I called an Uber to take us the children's hospital.
I was concerned about germ exposure, but the Uber driver was masked, as were we, and the pediatric ER was extremely quiet--we saw no other patients and only heard one--and everyone was following strict protocols. My environmental side felt a bit guilty about the number of protective gowns the medical professionals went through--a new one every time someone entered our enclosed room. Youngest Kid left his mask off once we got to the hospital (masks make vomiting hard), but I left mine on.
After several hours, a bedside ultrasound, a urine sample, and a CT scan, we had our diagnosis: a kidney stone.
It was a bit of a tricky case, as both his age and the location of his pain (in the front, not in the back) were more indicative of appendicitis than kidney stones, but the CT scan was clear. They gave him one more dose of the good pain meds via his IV, and sent us home with prescriptions for anti-nausea meds and three kinds of pain meds.
Although it took him almost 2 weeks to pass the stone (currently in a ziplock bag taped to the inside of my fridge until our in-person followup in June), the pain never got beyond what we could handle at home with the lesser pain meds.
We watched carefully for signs of COVID-19, but we seem to have escaped Uber, the ER, and the trip to CVS with no negative consequences.
The quarantine is definitely wearing on us. We are watching more TV and taking fewer walks. My initial eagerness to participate in virtual church services, coffee hours, and game nights is being eroded by meeting fatigue. And I can no longer talk Youngest Kid into playing Pandemic with me.
I am taking advantage of the weekends to take longer walks--to Golden Gate Park the last two weekends--and I am continuing to organize check-ins for two merit badges for Youngest Kid's scout troop, but I would like to be better about how I use my evenings.
Although other parts of California are starting to open, the Bay Area remains firmly closed through May.
Our own behavior is even more restrictive than what is allowed. We mostly eat food from our storage, supplemented every 2-3 weeks with a delivery from InstaCart and once a week or so with milk and eggs (and ice cream and wine) from the small store across the street.
I've had one masked, unsuccessful trip the hardware store looking for bird seed, and one weekend we bought ice cream cones from a food truck parked at the marina. It was excellent ice cream.
Other than that, we've stayed out of commercial establishments, not even taking advantage of takeout or food delivery services from those restaurants that are staying open.
Well, except for the afternoon Youngest Kid and I spent in the pediatric ER a few days after my last blog post.
He started complaining of pain Easter evening, but at first we blamed it on too much candy. (If you want variety in the Easter eggs, you have to buy multiple bags. Is it my fault the bags aren't sized for one-kid families?)
The pain went away, and Monday was pain-free, but Tuesday morning the pain returned and brought vomiting with it. Given our family history, I suspected appendicitis, and our pediatrician urged us to go the ER. After a brief debate about going to the hospital within walking distance or the children's hospital, I called an Uber to take us the children's hospital.
I was concerned about germ exposure, but the Uber driver was masked, as were we, and the pediatric ER was extremely quiet--we saw no other patients and only heard one--and everyone was following strict protocols. My environmental side felt a bit guilty about the number of protective gowns the medical professionals went through--a new one every time someone entered our enclosed room. Youngest Kid left his mask off once we got to the hospital (masks make vomiting hard), but I left mine on.
After several hours, a bedside ultrasound, a urine sample, and a CT scan, we had our diagnosis: a kidney stone.
It was a bit of a tricky case, as both his age and the location of his pain (in the front, not in the back) were more indicative of appendicitis than kidney stones, but the CT scan was clear. They gave him one more dose of the good pain meds via his IV, and sent us home with prescriptions for anti-nausea meds and three kinds of pain meds.
Although it took him almost 2 weeks to pass the stone (currently in a ziplock bag taped to the inside of my fridge until our in-person followup in June), the pain never got beyond what we could handle at home with the lesser pain meds.
We watched carefully for signs of COVID-19, but we seem to have escaped Uber, the ER, and the trip to CVS with no negative consequences.
The quarantine is definitely wearing on us. We are watching more TV and taking fewer walks. My initial eagerness to participate in virtual church services, coffee hours, and game nights is being eroded by meeting fatigue. And I can no longer talk Youngest Kid into playing Pandemic with me.
I am taking advantage of the weekends to take longer walks--to Golden Gate Park the last two weekends--and I am continuing to organize check-ins for two merit badges for Youngest Kid's scout troop, but I would like to be better about how I use my evenings.
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