July 2025

S M T W T F S
  1 2345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031  

Style Credit

Expand Cut Tags

No cut tags
Friday, March 20th, 2020 06:46 am
Well, if you are in the south east, expect inches of rain this weekend because i left the sprinkler running in the garden all night. It got at least three or four inches of water because the basin i set out to measure by is overflowing. It's a miracle the well isn't dry and the pump burnt out.

When i went out in the dark to turn it off, the headlamp i wore illuminated the pollen streaming in the air. Yay, allergies. Just what's needed on top of health worries.

--== ∞ ==--

Working out some worries here.

One) Dad needs help caring for Mom. My sister has been bathing Mom and exercising Mom. I've been giving bits of respite. I think i have a greater understanding of what my dad means when he says things: an understanding of exaggeration, a better sense of tall tale and "entertainment" intention. My sister suspects and distrusts. I think he finds conversation with me more comfortable and that means he can also be more honest. My sister is worried Dad's applying rubbing alcohol to Mom's tender parts when changing her; he says he's not. The prompt of the worry is that he is cleaning both their hands with rubbing alcohol and sponging mom with rubbing alcohol since before COVID-19 was a concern.

Two) On top of Mom's cognitive decline and the paralysis in her right arm and right leg, Mom's lungs have been damaged over the years by an as yet undiagnosed autoimmune issue. So respiratory issues are a double worry for her.

Three) My sister reports that someone at her husband's company has tested positive for COVID-19.

My concern about seeing them is balancing the concerns we have about Dad's care for Mom and making sure some of the gaps in his ability to care are filled with being a transmission vector. Mom needs to be bathed and Dad needs a break. And we need to deal with this over months not weeks.

Dad and i -- before my sister's status was known -- had agreed i'd come spend the day Wednesday, the 25th. He's going to do his grocery shopping at the base, where the PX is taking extreme care to sanitize and enforce distancing. Dad trusts the military to have the discipline to get it right.

If i see them on the 25th, it will be a week after i'd been to the grocery store. Not a magic number but enough we might have a clue if i'm safe. Also, Christine and i should have a decent thermometer by then: i'll start monitoring my temperature. (A friend described explaining to his daughter just how careful she needed to be with their mercury thermometer so that she could inherit it. Oh for the one i broke in college!)

My last exposure to my sister was Friday night, the 13th: We met outside at her place, probably got closer than 6 ft as we walked around her yard, but the only think i touched that she touched was the can of beer she gave me. We were still taking care due to my niece having Flu B.

The last time L bathed Mom was Thursday the 12th, when Mom wouldn't tell me she needed assistance and had an accident.

So i'm just 24 hours more recently exposed to my sister than my mother.

That is what it is.

--== ∞ ==--

My sister's family is getting a satellite internet set up at her house this Saturday, after which my brother in law can work from home. I guess a two week clock starts for them this coming Saturday.

There's a good deal of anger in the county about the lousy internet offering the vast majority of the county has to deal with. I am so glad our connection is reliable. It may not be broadband but it is reliable and i can work with it.

Our state legislature has blocked "socialist" efforts to provide internet and wrote laws that enforce letting the market take its time. Our state representative says there's enough votes to overturn the stupid legislation, but the state leadership isn't letting it come to the floor. The tea party is damaging it's own that way. I can't believe the shortsightedness. Maybe now the law will be repealed, or even better, legislation that ensures everyone has access to affordable internet access.
Friday, March 20th, 2020 12:07 pm (UTC)
Why are people over there so scared of 'socialism'?

Especially when what they think is socialism isn't and as a left socialist, I should know!
Friday, March 20th, 2020 01:03 pm (UTC)
Because they've been taught to conflate a whole bunch of useful stuff with the Soviet/Russian regime from Lenin to Gorbachev, and with the Mao-created badness as well for generations. To a lesser extent, the same conflation's been taught to a large number of Canadians.
Friday, March 20th, 2020 02:23 pm (UTC)
While here, socialism = NHS, state pensions, workers' rights etc etc........
Friday, March 20th, 2020 04:58 pm (UTC)
Hm, from what I see over here in the Silicon Valley is that capitalism is killing everything I hold dear. We could use a big dose of socialism/mutual aid right now.
Friday, March 20th, 2020 01:10 pm (UTC)
They think public schools are socialism, too. sigh.
Friday, March 20th, 2020 02:24 pm (UTC)
Speaking as a retired school teacher, oy gevalt!
Friday, March 20th, 2020 02:28 pm (UTC)
Yeah. Same problem in some peoples' attitudes here in Canada. Of course, the pandemic is upending all sides' hopes and assumptions, isn't it?
Friday, March 20th, 2020 04:08 pm (UTC)
Although we are noticing the rich starting to arrive at their second homes in the country here so some things never change........

People in 1665 complained of the rich arriving in their rural towns on the run from London and bringing the plague with them!
Friday, March 20th, 2020 01:06 pm (UTC)
Out of order thoughts; Alcohol, not good on body parts unless there is no water and soap available. Maybe some kind of gentle baby wipes might help with bathroom stuff?

The fibrosis dx is ? autoimmune and not what the docs thought originally?

Satellite internet is still quite slow from what I hear, depending on what kind of work requirements one has. I think that was part of why I did not look into moving further out of larger towns when I bought this house in 2000, although where I am seemed rural enough at the time. (I wish I had more land, but also worry about being far from help, medical care etc. I'm pretty close to Duke hospital but am outside delivery areas for most everything local.)

Sprinkler vs well running dry?? am confused. Wells in this area tend to be quite deep and I've never heard of anyone's running dry. The green pollen time has started, I guess. I've sneezed a bit, but I usually only start to notice the pollen when it covers my windshield, and I haven't been in the car in days. I guess I should keep track of when I've been anywhere with potential exposure.

I wish I could help. This will be going on for a long time.
Friday, March 20th, 2020 07:05 pm (UTC)
This is such a hard situation. Wishing you all well. <3