Plague Diary, In Which I Am Disorganized
Mar. 28th, 2020 09:35 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lydyThis will not be a well-formed post. But I do want to at least check in, and give a general status.
So, last week, I was still going to work. I was dubious as to the wisdom and safety of this, but I don't make the decisions, and I need the paycheck. As a precaution, they decided that we would not do any CPAP titrations, for fear of aerosolizing COVID-19. At the same time, I was assured that, you know, people don't go to sleep studies if they are sick (I can assure you, they most certainly do, although not often) and that we just needed to ask them if they had or have had a fever. I have a lot of feels about this, especially since we know that it spreads while someone is still asymptomatic, my co-worker has had a kidney transplant is is permanently immunodeficient, and the happy talk is directly contradicted by the order not to do titrations. On Friday, we had a patient who was really, really bad. Constant apneas, oxygen levels dropping into the high 60s, you know. We elevated the head of the bed, which helped, but damn, that man really needs CPAP.
On Monday, (the 23rd) I got the call from my manager saying that the directive from Gov. Walz stating that medical procedures which use PPE which are neither urgent nor necessary should be cancelled. After consultation with our legal department, they have decided that in-lab sleep studies are in that category, and that I should not go to work. At the moment, they will continue to pay me. No one knows how long this will go on, nor how long they will continue to pay me. My manager opined that they can't prevent people from getting medical care forever. I do not feel like he is thinking long-term, at all.
David went shopping on Monday. We agreed that the usual routine of both of us shopping together increased the risk and was inappropriate. We had stocked up some the previous week, and we have been cooking a lot. We've bought a lot more tupperware containers to keep the left overs in. Some years ago, I bought a chest freezer because bed bugs (no, I do not want to talk about it, thank you very much), and that's been handy. The thing about laying in a lot of pre-cooked meals is that if either of us gets sick, there's just a ton of food to eat that doesn't require anything more than a microwave. And, you know, it keeps, so I can eat it for lunches, should I ever get to go back to work.
I've been experimenting with bread. The impulse ... appears to have some theological content. Don't ask me, ask my brain. In a chat with Jo Walton, I said that I had gone from bread to the divine in record time. Jo responded that I wasn't even close, the record was four words, "This is my body." I have also been talking to Abi Sutherland, because I wanted sour dough, and she pointed me at some web pages, and I've started the process of making sour dough starter, and in another 6 days, it should be starter enough to make bread. There's something weirdly soothing and nurturing about bread. I made Marissa's rosemary buns, last night. I forgot the salt, but they were still rather nice. I liked kneading. One of the things about bread is that it's all about transformations. On the other hand, it's also all about math, and I am afeared. The recipe that Abi recommends is extremely mathy not not very progrommatic. Sigh. Another six days before I have to worry about that.
I also got overly touchy about David's critique of my buns. If there's a lesson, there, it's that in these times of stress, it is probably good to be extra kind and gentle with our loved ones.
The cats seem to like having us at home.
I really, really want breakfast sausage and/or thick-cut bacon. I have so far been able to talk myself out of going to the coop, but it's hard. Also, the whole bread obsession thing started when I couldn't go to the coop for my usual really good bread. My bread is not and will not be that good. But, well, it's fresh-baked, so there's that. Maybe if I do shopping in another couple of days, I will get breakfast meat.
I am clearly stressed, and very slightly dissociated. Normal stress reaction. The one weird thing that my body is doing under stress is deciding that it's going to sleep a normal amount of time and at night. Which, if you know me, is weird. I"m in bed between ten and eleven every night, and up between six and seven every morning. How is this even my life? Hopefully, I'll be able to go back to nights once I'm not so stressed.
Hmm, I did warn y'all that this would be disorganized. Sorry.
Hope you are all well and safe.
So, last week, I was still going to work. I was dubious as to the wisdom and safety of this, but I don't make the decisions, and I need the paycheck. As a precaution, they decided that we would not do any CPAP titrations, for fear of aerosolizing COVID-19. At the same time, I was assured that, you know, people don't go to sleep studies if they are sick (I can assure you, they most certainly do, although not often) and that we just needed to ask them if they had or have had a fever. I have a lot of feels about this, especially since we know that it spreads while someone is still asymptomatic, my co-worker has had a kidney transplant is is permanently immunodeficient, and the happy talk is directly contradicted by the order not to do titrations. On Friday, we had a patient who was really, really bad. Constant apneas, oxygen levels dropping into the high 60s, you know. We elevated the head of the bed, which helped, but damn, that man really needs CPAP.
On Monday, (the 23rd) I got the call from my manager saying that the directive from Gov. Walz stating that medical procedures which use PPE which are neither urgent nor necessary should be cancelled. After consultation with our legal department, they have decided that in-lab sleep studies are in that category, and that I should not go to work. At the moment, they will continue to pay me. No one knows how long this will go on, nor how long they will continue to pay me. My manager opined that they can't prevent people from getting medical care forever. I do not feel like he is thinking long-term, at all.
David went shopping on Monday. We agreed that the usual routine of both of us shopping together increased the risk and was inappropriate. We had stocked up some the previous week, and we have been cooking a lot. We've bought a lot more tupperware containers to keep the left overs in. Some years ago, I bought a chest freezer because bed bugs (no, I do not want to talk about it, thank you very much), and that's been handy. The thing about laying in a lot of pre-cooked meals is that if either of us gets sick, there's just a ton of food to eat that doesn't require anything more than a microwave. And, you know, it keeps, so I can eat it for lunches, should I ever get to go back to work.
I've been experimenting with bread. The impulse ... appears to have some theological content. Don't ask me, ask my brain. In a chat with Jo Walton, I said that I had gone from bread to the divine in record time. Jo responded that I wasn't even close, the record was four words, "This is my body." I have also been talking to Abi Sutherland, because I wanted sour dough, and she pointed me at some web pages, and I've started the process of making sour dough starter, and in another 6 days, it should be starter enough to make bread. There's something weirdly soothing and nurturing about bread. I made Marissa's rosemary buns, last night. I forgot the salt, but they were still rather nice. I liked kneading. One of the things about bread is that it's all about transformations. On the other hand, it's also all about math, and I am afeared. The recipe that Abi recommends is extremely mathy not not very progrommatic. Sigh. Another six days before I have to worry about that.
I also got overly touchy about David's critique of my buns. If there's a lesson, there, it's that in these times of stress, it is probably good to be extra kind and gentle with our loved ones.
The cats seem to like having us at home.
I really, really want breakfast sausage and/or thick-cut bacon. I have so far been able to talk myself out of going to the coop, but it's hard. Also, the whole bread obsession thing started when I couldn't go to the coop for my usual really good bread. My bread is not and will not be that good. But, well, it's fresh-baked, so there's that. Maybe if I do shopping in another couple of days, I will get breakfast meat.
I am clearly stressed, and very slightly dissociated. Normal stress reaction. The one weird thing that my body is doing under stress is deciding that it's going to sleep a normal amount of time and at night. Which, if you know me, is weird. I"m in bed between ten and eleven every night, and up between six and seven every morning. How is this even my life? Hopefully, I'll be able to go back to nights once I'm not so stressed.
Hmm, I did warn y'all that this would be disorganized. Sorry.
Hope you are all well and safe.
