COVID-19 a Reader's Journey Wednesay 3.25.2020

OMG--Is that tightness in my chest?

Or--hypochondria/paranoia in the age of COVID-19

Most of the time noting seems normal any longer!  From time to time I imagine (or feel) symptoms of coming down the with THE VIRUS!  I'm trying to stay calm and carry on.  This morning I'm feeling a little tightness in my chest.  Instead of rushing to disaster I'm considering alternative causes of this sensation.

1. House repairs and clean up.  I've painted the ceiling in my craft room (and helped move furniture a little).  The painting, with my bad shoulder reaching over my head, is a very uncomfortable movement.  The bad shoulder is a result of rotator cuff repair as a result of a snowboarding accident.)  I've done a little bit of painting at a time (Done now!).  It could be just stretching muscles that I haven't used for a long time. Pulling grass out of flower beds and other spring yard clean up is also stretching similar structures.
2. Too much coffee.  Since I don't have to rush out to meetings, the YMCA, lectures, or bookclub I can relax, read one of the books on the stack next to the door, read the papers, and drink coffee.  Maybe I should get some decaf!
3.  Medical "Procedures."  Doing the new exercises my orthopedic surgeon prescribed because my should is increasingly weak may have created some strain.
4. Anxiety! Who doesn't have these moments during this pandemic?

My body has some aches and pains.  One of the symptoms of COVID-19 is muscle pain.  

1. Old Body.  Silly me, I'm old and have some arthritis.  We're having spring weather fronts move through and my joints often ache when the weather turns.
2. Olympic Disappointment (just kidding.)  I'm not getting to the YMCA for my regular exercise classes.  Although I'm trying to exercise at home I don't think up creative new ways to move or ways that don't necessarily feel comfortable.  My instructors are great and pushing me in ways I wouldn't go!
3. Inactivity.  I'm sitting more.  I have time to read and play my video game.  Well, what do I expect?  I know that all those joints hurt the more I sit!
4. Spring Gardening.  See above.  Not only does pulling and digging hit those unused chest muscles but also all the joints that give me trouble.

Solutions:

Go walk the dog!  This morning just as I was going to walk her it started spitting snow. As I write I'm beginning to see some blue sky through the clouds.  Dreya, the dog, is seeing it too I think.  She's giving me the eye!  We both always feel better as we patrol the neighborhood while we get some sunshine and fresh air.  

Remember what you don't have!  I don't have a cough.  My senses of smell and taste are working well.  No fever.  I haven't been aware of any potential exposures.  There are two close friends with potential links to a victim, but I haven't spent much (or any) face-to-face time with them.

Do laundry and sanitize surfaces in the house.  I went to the grocery yesterday and completely forgot that I should shower and wash my clothes afterward.  Probably parking shoes at the door would be a good practice as well.  (Maybe I should order some new slippers for inside!)  Sanitizing surfaces make me feel virtuous.  It also gets me to clean off the counter and get up and move! 

Just In Case:  If I actually have THE VIRUS I am socially isolating myself.  Don't worry.  I'm not ignoring the risk of transferring virus the to the people I love the most.

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I hope all of you are finding ways to embrace the options offered by our forced isolation.  I'm still trying to put limits on my consumption of pandemic coverage and doing a pretty good job of it.  Right now I'm reading a challenging book, Say Nothing:  A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland by Patrick Radden Keefe (2019).   I can't say it's lightening my mood, but it is definitely taking my mind off of The Virus.  It's particularly engaging for me since the part that I'm reading now is set in 1969-1972ish.  It marks the beginning of my college career and adulthood.  It gives me opportunities to compare my own experiences with The Troubles.  Of course, we were aware of the violence going on in Ireland but we were more absorbed with the war protests in our own country.  I also lived in the midwest at the time.  It wasn't really a hotbed of Irish heritage (unless you lived in Chicago).  Two of the people Keefe is following are sisters of about my vintage.  The comparison of their lives and choice with mine regarding the Vietnam war is particularly poignant for me.  

BYW--feel free to comment on these blog posts.  I see visitors but no one is talking!