Self isolation, social distancing, sheltering in place, whatever else you call it

[Anelle 784]

Yeah, now that it's pointed out it seems obvious re-reading it 

 

I AM AN ANXIETY RIDDEN DUMBASS, WHAT CAN I SAY

 

Incidentally, if either one of y'all (y'all being galeigh and desi, fuck the rest of y'all) have an amazon wishlist or something y'all want to pass time in hospital/quarantine be it book or game or something share it please! Although mailing systems are slammed maybe I can get something to y'all!

[Galeigh 284]

Sorry, i was dead tired and crashed when I got home. 

 

The nurse was kind enough to let me stay way past visiting hours to see her being moved back into her room. She was asleep but breathing easily when i left. I couldn't stay overnight as her mom tool that one. 

 

Her mom has refused to outright say what is was and I didn't get a chance to talk to her before she went into surgery, but knowing desi and the other issues going on it was likely a Hysterectomy. No way Desi would pass up a chance to have one with no arbitrary rules stopping her. 

[Galeigh 284]

I talked to desi this morning. She's a little loopy from the meds and in some pain, but is doing ok. I told her all your well wishes and she sends her Thanks. 

[Galeigh 284]

Desi just cleared me giving more details: her other issues were that her reproductive system was riddled with cysts and crushed and infected her appendix. It ALL had to come out. 

[MT 900]

Good lord, that sounds horrific.

[Tassifox 413]

Yup, it uber sucks having a uterus. Sorry she had all that crap but at least it's all out.

[webhead 518]

Biologically seems like being a woman really fucking sucks sometimes.  Hopefully everything is good now and no more bullshit to deal with after this.

[Galeigh 284]

She is coming home later today. 

[dr. b 486]

If she can go home today then I'm assuming her recovery is going fairly well so far..? Take good care of her while she's on the mend!

[Tassifox 413]

Glad she's well enough to go home!

 

[Anelle 784]

That's one reason I was curious about the specifics on surgery! I have PCOS and other issues that can wind up with me needing a similar surgery at any point and it's pretty fucking scary. I'm really glad she was able to have it taken care of and is on the mend/the way home!  Offer still stands on me sending a game or something! 

[Deszae 83]

Hey, I'm home. Thank y'all so much for your kindness and well wishes. I'm still loopy on the details as my head is still spinning but the paperwork was detail. I'll share when I can sorry.  And thanks Anelle for the gift support. I don't have an idea on what what to ask. 

I know I have to rest but am trying to move around a litte.

[Tassifox 413]

Just don't over exert yourself!

[Anelle 784]

You don't gotta share any details you don't want, I was just very curious esp since my future will likely include similar surgery (hopefully before it gets to that point though, yikes!)

 

I ain't really bought anyone presents this year because of pandemic so i'm like GIFT OPPORTUNITY so if you do think of anything lemme know! If not, also fine! Very glad you're home!

[Deszae 83]

I'm okay with questions, Anelle. Anything super private can go through mgs. I didn't realize how close to danger I was until woke up. Hopefully, it won't happen again.

 

Bummer that I didn't get gifting this year as I could really do it. But I'm spending a quiet one with Gal and watch the WW movie. No booze tho.

[Anelle 784]

That's our big Christmas plan as well! We got a fancier recipe HelloFresh and are gonna have fancy dinner and watch Wonder Woman! (and I just wanted to make sure my nosy bitch ass wasn't prying too much because I tend to ask stuff and not realize when I'm asking too much! BOUNDARIES, SELF, BOUNDARIES)

[Anelle 784]

So my dad stopped talking to me the other day because I dared to question why they had my brother and his wife and kids over days after they had attended a massive family Christmas gathering with her extended family. 

 

Today my brother told a cousin who announced he's contracted COVID that he should try to exercise it away. Like... his legit advice is "physical exercise" for a virus that affects your lungs.

 

It's like the intelligent people I grew up with all either got lobotomized or replaced with fucking pod people and I just can't fucking cope with this shit

[webhead 518]

Ugh.  Older they get somehow the dumber they get.  Many of them never learned critical thinking and their retarded logic just builds on itself over time and you get shit like this.

[Anelle 784]

As I'm sitting here just stewing over it I'm coming to realize that he likely never was as smart as I assumed him to be, but STILL

 

fucking hell

[dr. b 486]

Christmas is over and I'm back on the super-worried about / couldn't-care-less about COVID-19 rollercoaster ride. Leaning more towards worried right now since we started a lockdown on Boxing Day and case counts remain high, so it will be a few weeks at least before I go through the next bout of pandemic fatigue.

 

We were careful through the holidays and didn't see anybody, which was actually pretty damn nice and relaxing; I might do Christmas like this again next year. But I'm sure quite a few people out there thought, "You can't keep us from our family Christmas traditions" and still did stuff anyways. It's could be a fun () 1-2 weeks watching the cases continue to climb

 

We also got the new COVID variant goin' on here in Ontario. Is it really that hard to just do the quarantine thing after you return to the country? Two weeks isn't that long, is it..?

[Mera'din 306]

I managed to avoid any family fighting luckily. My mom was trying to get me over to her place because my youngest brother decided to DRIVE UP FROM TEXAS. So that's a thing. And my other brother was supposed to come down from the cities here as well but we had a massive snow storm the day it was going to happen and I worked the next 3 days after so he bowed out immediately (pretty sure he was just looking for an excuse) and I noped the fuck out of it too. 

 

Also was supposed to have a thing with my in-laws including my wife's brother's family (who live in South Dakota. The one who's wife thought it was a good idea to go out drinking at bars every weekend during a pandemic in one of the worst states to be in). My wife ended up going but they did it super early so I was able to skip out because I work until 7am and so generally sleep until 2 or 3pm. 

 

Mostly I'm trying to avoid people like the plague because I've already burned my "COVID PTO" on testing scares and would like to avoid having to use my personal PTO if I can. >_>

[Tassifox 413]

Nelle I'm so sorry that your family are being total ignorant dickwads.

I worked six days straight prior to Xmas and pretty much kept home during my Xmas off other than stopping at my folks for a short bit. I made sure I had clean clothes, washed, and my mask on and kept to 1 spot on the couch. They knew I have been staying careful and since they hardly go anywhere being retired, my parents wanted a hug because Xmas which I complied. I haven't physically touched them since Feb, and I won't lie. I cried when I hugged my mom. I had so many pent up emotions and seeing a friend post about losing her grandpa to Covid on Xmas eve didn't help. Dad wanted me to stay for dinner but I told him I didn't want to risk too much because room mate had flown to Nevada for his parents visit the week before. And he's so far been fine (he wanted to get tested when he came back but was turned away at 2 different places because he had no referral and no symptoms. And any drive through places near us want referrals. ) I also had dinner at home planned with room mate so mom brought me a portion of dads rib roast and potatoes for me later that night.

I have 3 friends I've seen post about being vaccinated and so far it's doing well for them. 1 who has said his reactions have been what would be equivalent to mild flu or hangovers. So I'm totes ready to get mine and I fucking hate shots.

I'm keeping as much to home and cleaning while I can because I'll be crashing at my bestie's place for their Zoom wedding on NYD Friday. It'll be just me, them, the officiant, and best man while the ceremony that will be short and sweet will be recorded via Zoom.

[dr. b 486]

Headline today: Ontario reports record-high 2,923 new COVID-19 cases as ICU admissions reach pandemic high

 

Great, we're going for 3000 cases a day

 

The government keeps telling people to stay home, etc., etc., and a lockdown came into effect on Dec. 26th (which seems rather late given the way things were trending) but I don't think these measures will actually solve much. The best part is that apparently Ontario's Finance Minister has been away on holiday in St. Barts since the legislature took their break mid-December. Whoops! That ain't a good look for him or the government. Finance Minister is usually on of the top dogs in government. Dude might have just committed career suicide. When you've got the Premier, Health Minister, etc. reminding people everyday to only travel for essential purposes and then a key member of the government takes off on a Caribbean vacation, people are gonna get mad.

[Anelle 784]

jesus that's depressing.

[dr. b 486]

It's gonna get worse before it gets better. Time to hunker down and stop going out for a while except for groceries and booze. I toyed with the idea of a "Dry January" this year, but to hell with that

[Tassifox 413]

Dude at least wait until Feb if you're gonna go dry.

Our Gov has extended the restrictions he set before Thanksgiving again to Jan 11th. They were supposed to expire on the 14th this month but that got pushed once through the holidays. Because surprise, we're still having spikes. Gee willakers Batman, how could THAT have happened?   It's not hard people, seriously. Our state as of the 28th has over 240k in confirmed cases and over 3k of that are deaths. 

If people would be more angry at the current administration in the white house for being the main reason for having us in this situation instead of being angry at our Gov for trying to at least help the situation the best he can. Then maybe we'd be at a different fork in this road.

[Anelle 784]

we had to get out yesterday and since we were in the area we nipped in to a liquor store because we had wanted to make some cocktails at christmas but didn't have everything we thought we had on hand. We grabbed big bottles when normally we'd go smaller. Fuck it. We ain't runnin' out this time! 

[dr. b 486]

5 hours ago, Tassifox said:

Dude at least wait until Feb if you're gonna go dry.

I'm putting it off to January 2022  it's called dry January after all. Wouldn't be right to do it in February. 

[Tassifox 413]

I mostly was thinking wait until after the Sixth

[dr. b 486]

Another record setting day in Ontario...

[Anelle 784]

[Deszae 83]

Sorry you have to deal with such ignorance, Anelle, holy shit. Like I can't fathom some folks rationality when it comes to Covid at this point. 

Today, I had my follow up appointment. Not gonna lie, the first week home was rough. I couldn't eat, sleep, move around comfortably, had no sense of time, and could barely see straight. But according to the doc, I am healing up well despite kinda pull the stitches earlier that week. I have to take hormones and iron/b12 supplements from now on and homebound for 7 weeks. I hope I have enough paid leave for that.  Also, that surgery report is the stuff of nightmares and I really can't believe that I survived that condition for so long.

Also, Galeigh's folks came by and dropped off a nice new years snack tray and sparkling grape juice. Love them! Hate not being able to have a nice glass of wine. But Jams and the oxycodone won't let me lol. Can't wait to be rid of the oxy; those side effects aren't worth it.

[dr. b 486]

Today:

 

Ontario reports record 4,249 new COVID-19 cases

 

ICU admissions hit new record high

 

Premier Doug Ford is promising further restrictions coming for Ontario, as the province reported a record 4,249 new cases of COVID-19 on Friday.

 

"We're in a desperate situation, and when you see the modelling, you'll fall out of your chair," Ford said.

 

"There will be further measures, because this is getting out of control."

 

Dr. Barbara Yaffe, Ontario's associate chief medical officer of health, agreed with that assessment. "I think we do need to consider more serious measures, perhaps similar to what happened in the spring," she said.

 

"Today's numbers, to be frank, are scary."

 

...

 

I could keep going, but that's enough for now.

 

I'm glad I have booze waiting for me at home tonight  

[Anelle 784]

 

This  is the hospital nearest to us/that we've had family in multiple times in recent years. Shit's grim. 

 

[webhead 518]

Jesus that is disturbing.

[dr. b 486]

I heard on the radio a few days ago that a hospital in London, ON. (about 90 minutes drive west of where I live) is now temporarily storing bodies in a refrigerated truck outside because the morgue is at full capacity. Apparently the capacity is not very high in that morgue, so maybe it sounds a bit more shocking than perhaps it truly is... but still, that ain't something they normally have to do. Quite a few people have died from COVID-19 recently

[Tassifox 413]

We're supposed to be starting our new reopening plan on the 11th that will be based on sections and conditions and naturally the data is showing that none of the sections have met the criteria yet on even being on Phase 1. Considering our highest new cases in Dec was over Five thousand on the 7th and highest deaths we had recent on the 29th of Dec was 133. I'm totally not surprised.

https://www.king5.com/article/news/health/coronavirus/report-finds-no-regions-ready-to-reopen-jan-11-under-inslees-healthy-washington-plan/281-33449a56-73f5-4175-b546-2e2943d5106

[h2ojunkie 87]

My wife was able to get her first vaccine shot today. She's an RN but works from home and still qualified for it right now. It's not going to change our behavior, but it is a little bit less of something to worry about. 

[dr. b 486]

Here's hoping she doesn't turn into a crocodile or grow a beard

 

Seriously though, that's cool. I don't think I know anybody up here who's had the vaccine. I don't really have any friends or relatives that are at the front of the line for it.

[webhead 518]

Vaccine is not going to be a huge factor until all the adults get it.  Once Jovanna AND I have it, we can definitely alter our behavior.

 

City of Phoenix apparently will be having their own setup and plans going so my wife is kind of keeping an eye on that to see when she might get to go.  She's got some risk conditions so we're hoping, you know, earlier.  

[h2ojunkie 87]

My understanding is that it just protects from a severe infection but they haven't confirmed if you could still infect others. 

[Anelle 784]

My mother in law got her first shot the other day but I won't really feel anything solid about it until she has that second one done. Quite a few people I know have gotten first round it seems, but I apparently know a lot of people working in healthcare related fields. My dad tried to go on some "well I don't want to be in the first round to get it just in case" bullshit and I point blank told him to shut the hell up. I mean for fuck's sake, dude has regularly told me about all his school friends that died of polio before they all got the vaccine. It's a really bitter feeling seeing the man who had me in awe of science as a child try and rope me in to this antiscience dumbass fucking bullshit. After I shut down his attempt at the "well i'm just sayin'" conspiracy shit he proceeded to complain that well he can't get it anyway because Alabama is run by a bunch of incompetent dumbasses, which is true so whatever.

 

My city announced a waiting list for the waiting list and since we both qualify for an earlier round due to other shit I went on and signed us up, so we'll see how long that takes.

[MT 900]

Looks like transportation workers where I am will be up for the vaccine in February. My mom called me yesterday asking about a bunch of stuff, and the topic of the vaccine came up. She wasn't sure if she was going to get it. Someone (I don't know if it's friends of hers, or her co-workers at the police station) said that getting it was stupid, and it got me pretty riled up. I'm half curious to ask who it was so I can go yell at them, but I don't know if it's really worth it. I told her i'd be getting it as soon as I was able, and that seemed to make her think about it more seriously, so hopefully she gets it as she is definitely in that dangerous age group.

[dr. b 486]

Found out today that my rent is going up by approx. $25 / month on May 1st. Every year like clockwork I get a notice in January that rent will be going up in May. It's never been a major amount, usually an extra $20-30 / month. I thought this year would be an exception because rents are supposed to be frozen in the province of Ontario right now... but there is a loophole that allows landlords to still increase rent to cover costs of building renovations and improvements. $25 / month ain't going to break the bank so there's no sense in arguing it with the management company, but it's kind of a shitty thing to do to people right now.

[webhead 518]

5 hours ago, h2ojunkie said:

My understanding is that it just protects from a severe infection but they haven't confirmed if you could still infect others. 

It does prevent infection but if it doesn't completely prevent it, they've said it ALSO prevents getting a really severe one.  From what I've read at least.

[h2ojunkie 87]

Yeah it should protect you against getting really sick which is one less thing to worry about. It will still be a while before we can start seeing people again because practically everyone will need it. 

[Deszae 83]

On 1/9/2021 at 9:00 PM, little birdy said:

Found out today that my rent is going up by approx. $25 / month on May 1st. Every year like clockwork I get a notice in January that rent will be going up in May. It's never been a major amount, usually an extra $20-30 / month. I thought this year would be an exception because rents are supposed to be frozen in the province of Ontario right now... but there is a loophole that allows landlords to still increase rent to cover costs of building renovations and improvements. $25 / month ain't going to break the bank so there's no sense in arguing it with the management company, but it's kind of a shitty thing to do to people right now.

Yeah, same deal and it blows. Lived in our place for 3 years this year and yet this is the year they hike the rent up from $646 to $700. Still manageable, buuut that's def. the sign for us to move out lol. Had way too rough and experience dealing with that in Nashville. Didn't want to live in this place for more than 3 years anyway. Did they even explain the increase?

[Galeigh 284]

If it's anything like our old apartment they want to double the rent but can only do it a little at a time. Once they start hiking, it's time to find somewhere else.

[Mera'din 306]

That shit is so annoying. And it's gotta be WAY worse right now. We lucked out and had rented a house with no rent increase for a solid 4 years or so until a guy bought that place and all of the original owners other rental properties and within a few months we got a "We noticed your rent has been the same for a few years so surprise!" letter. Was going from $550 a month to $625. That's when we noped the fuck out of there (place was kind of a shithole anyway and they would almost never fix anything) and I ended up just buying a house and paying about the same as our original rent even figuring in the taxes and insurance.

[Tassifox 413]

10 hours ago, Deszae said:

Did they even explain the increase?

If it's anything like the BS around in this state, they'll claim it on property value's going up or some BS like that. Or they may have a totally different BS excuse considering current circumstances.

My room mate is moving out with his GF in a couple months. We had been talking about this a few months back and while he wanted all 3 of us to live together. I did not for a few different reasons. 1 being that I'm not living with couples again after past experience with that, and they've been dating for roughly 3 years and while she hasn't set off any red flags for me, I have a gut feeling we won't work well in 1 space. And while I'm a bit mentally terrified that I'll be paying $1,300+ rent on my own. I think I can manage. Roomie only paid me for his share of rent so all utilities and that stuff bill wise was all me on top of my personal bills. As long as our current rent doesn't get raised I think I'll be able to manage. I don't want to hunt around for another apt because we're only at the 3 year mark since our last move, I like being close to work. And as much as I hate to ask them I know I can ask my folks for any kind of help if it comes to it. If anything I'm just trying not to feel overwhelmed on emotions and mental stuff with all this other stuff happening.