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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
Yesterday, when I elected to venture out to several stores in a nearby town, I almost felt as if I were a player in a real life Clue game. There I was, wearing a mask, avoiding close human contact as much as possible and unobtrusively slipping in and out of aisles, perhaps pretending that if I made myself invisible, the virus wouldn't find me. However, as I glanced at others likewise darting through the stores, it suddenly struck me that any one of these shoppers (including myself!) could be carrying, unknowingly or not----COVID-19. So who could be the guilty party? Just look around. Could it be the old codger in Kroger with a cane? College coed in Kohl's with a crossover bag? Baby in Books-A-Million with a rattle? Decorator in Hobby Lobby with fall flowers? Executive in the Exxon station with a Cross pen? It could be anyone. And by the time a suspect is pinpointed, it could be too late. No one is going to win this game.
September 9, 2020
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How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your life right now? Tell us about your experiences, feelings, and thoughts.
This is the 17th day of being flat on a bed, mine or hospital. I'm home now, supposedly better but walking across three rooms of the house brings on fits of gasping for air. I didn't need to be - and here's another thing, I just forgot the word where you're intubated with an air hose - it didn't get to that point. When I went to the emergency room I hadn't had anything to eat in six days. My mind was (and remains) a mess. They asked me if I'd had a bowel movement lately and I stalled them by replying "not sure". I had a vague idea what the process entailed - I pictured valves - and started to Google "bowel movement" before I remembered. I'm trying to get whatever thought structures I used to employ to work again. It requires air so I sit at my desk for long stretches waiting for enough - what - air pressure to build and a thought to appear? The worst: I still have nightmares of the food they brought me. They'd set down the tray, I'd uncover and do the big reveal. It would be the opposite of what I ordered and cold when it was supposed to be hot and hot when it was supposed to be cold. This is nothing though. This is the best of all worlds. My wife just finished Stage 1 breast cancer and I had just gotten back from taking her to her parents in Florida to spend a month recuperating. So she's just had to deal with me long distance away from danger.
February 21, 2021