Coronavirus

I made these Easter bunnies for Hans and Peder in 1975

Well, the Coronavirus is now sweeping the USA. My intention here is not to be a news reporter, but to reflect on how the virus is affecting me.

On March 17 all public rooms where I live were closed with an orange sign on the door which read "Do not enter. Room is closed until further notice." This includes the Library, the Exercise Room, the Eden Room (small party room down the hall from my apartment), the Valley View Room (the large party room), and the lobby. All activities on the calendar for the remainder of the month were canceled. We were instructed to not congregate in the hallways or at the mailboxes. We are to use the hallways to get to our destination and to use the shortest route. We are to limit our visitors. No vendors would be permitted to work in our building. We are to call for maintenance only in an emergency.

On the Thursday after my doctor cleared me of pneumonia, I went to church to rehearse in the Tour Choir (for our trip to Germany and Austria on June 1), and to rehearse with our church choir. The choir had the weekend off, so I decided to go to church for the Saturday night service. I hadn't been in church for many weeks and it felt so good to be there. I was especially happy that communion was observed. I coughed a bit during the beginning of the sermon and considered leaving after sucking on two cough drops didn't seem to be taking care of the cough. Finally, my chest settled down and I was able to sit quietly for the remainder of the service. It was sometime during the next week, March 20 I believe, that we got the notice we would not be having choir rehearsal and that the entire service for the weekend would be online only. Wow! This had never happened before. We thought it might be for one weekend only, but now we are about to experience our third weekend. This week we got the notice our choir trip to Germany and Austria has been canceled.

And starting at midnight tonight, our Governor Walz has ordered a "Stay at Home" to last for the next two weeks. Only those with essential jobs will be permitted to work. We can go out for groceries or drugs, walks or runs, keeping the "social distance of 6 feet from one another." Schools are closed until at least May 4. Students in many cases are taking classes online. My heart goes out to the children. This is so different for them. They miss their friends and teachers. Many seniors will not experience prom or graduation.

Heidi called me yesterday and told me starting next week the Air Traffic Controllers are going to be working five days on and 10 days off to keep the numbers of controllers in the towers down. Her five days will start Monday and she will work the same shift all five days which is new for her. Hans told me the Pentagon made a similar move to keep the population down two weeks ago. He works every other day each week—he worked Monday, Wednesday, Friday last week and he worked Tuesday and Thursday this week. Rachel's job has slowed down due to customers not wanting vendors in their homes at this time. She Facetimed with me Wednesday.

All in all, this is so different and weird. One highlight was a notice I found on Monday morning that had been pushed under my door. It was from our Valley View president who suggested we who live on the parking lot side of the building go out on our balconies at 3 pm with noisemakers, pom poms, or other means to be able to see our neighbors. She said she would be out in the parking lot to video us and perhaps send it to a news station or two to air, showing others how we are trying to safely connect. Someone suggested we do it every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. It was decided to do it every Monday and Friday. So I am looking forward to 3 pm today. I have put out my American flag and will continue to put it out each day when it is not raining. In the meantime, each days seems like the day before.

Pneumonia

On Friday, February 21, I worked as a volunteer in the office where I live. During that morning shift, I started coughing and coughing. I was so thankful that there were only a few people who stopped by to either ask our office manager something or to visit with me. I was so relieved when 12:00 noon came and I could lock up and go home. I spent the weekend at home, coughing and blowing my nose nearly every minute.

It didn't get any better as the days rolled by. Tuesday afternoon I drove my next door neighbor, who is also a dear friend, to the airport. On the way I experience a big coughing jag and told Nancy after dropping her off I was going to head to a minute clinic which is near our home.

I checked into the minute clinic at 3:50 pm, then donned a mask and sat in the waiting area (coughing most of the time) until I was finally seen at 6::30. The PA who was on duty listened to my lungs and said she was positive I had pneumonia. Since the minute clinic doesn't have an x-ray machine, she advised me to head to an urgent care clinic. She kindly checked online to see which one(s) was/were open yet. There was one not far away and the "wait time" was 7 minutes. I high-tailed it there and was ushered to a room immediately. After the nurse checked my vitals a PA came in, listened to my lungs, and sent me to the x-ray room. Back in my examining room the PA returned and told me my right lung was full of pneumonia. She wrote two prescriptions for me and I headed to a near by drug store.

That was Tuesday. By Thursday I wasn't any better. Coughing and spitting up gunk, and blowing gunk from my nose (disgusting, right?!), and unable to get any good sleep, I called my clinic for help. I was able to talk to my primary doctor's nurse who was relaying messages from my doctor. He sent a new Rx for an antibiotic to Costco. My dear friend drove to Costco to get the prescription for me. She returned telling me the pharmacy couldn't fill the entire order but sent a three day supply. I was to go back for the remainder the next day. My doctor also instructed me to see a different doctor on Friday at a clinic closer to my home.

Friday came and I went to my appointment to see Dr. Ditty. She was very nice, listened to my lungs and sent me to x-ray. Results showed I still had a lot of pneumonia in my right lung. I told her I wished I could get some good sleep which I knew would help me improve. She prescribed Robitussin with codeine. I had taken this before and was confident this would definitely help me sleep better.

I headed to Costo to get the remainder of the Rx that the pharmacy couldn't fill the day before. I picked up a few things in the drugs portion of Costco and proceeded to check out. I couldn't believe the crowds of people I saw with their carts brimming with bottled water, toilet paper, paper towels etc. There were twelve carts in my line, which snaked back quite far into the store. Each line, and there were many, were the same. When it was my turn to get to the checkout, I asked the cashier what was going on. I had never seen this at Costco—even at Christmas time. She said it was the media frenzy over the Coronavirus that was beginning to sweep the world! I paid for my items and left the store. It wasn't until I was half way home that I realized I hadn't gotten my new Rx for the Robitussin. Argh! I waited until around 6:30 pm to return to Costco to get it. At that time, there were very few customers compared to when I had been there earlier. Friday night I got an excellent night of sleep and for the next seven days I stayed home and took care of myself. On the 15th day from when the coughing started, I saw a PA at my clinic and she told my lungs were now clear. Hallelujah!