I honestly meant to post this on Hive, with Hive links and the Hive tag, but accidentally posted it on Steemit thinking I was on Hive. The sites look so similar!! Oops... I get virtually no votes there these days anyway.
Too many people are trying to capitalize on earning rewards by putting a face mask on in their sheltered home for a selfie/quarantine life posts. Documenting this "Quarantine Day 1, 2, 3" , a trip to the grocery store, or pics of some semi-vacant streets is getting a bit ridiculous, but people keep voting for it, so it continues.
If this activity helps people cope, then that's one thing. I think a lot of the activity is a money grab.
I'm also ticked by those sheltered from the heart of the virus that are complaining about loss of this or that, or how it's blown up out of proportion. Bzzzz!! Your 5 Amazon Prime packages just arrived!! If you lost your job or are legitimately depressed from the situation, then it's pretty fair to need to vent.
For those in areas that are hit hard (because those places exist), the impact, fear, and loss of life are real. I'm biased because I'm precisely in heart of the heart of it, but hearing people complain or theorize their conspiracies when they're isolated in the middle of nowhere sets me off a bit. Sorry you can't get your nails done or pound pints at the bar for a while longer. If you're worried about showing some wild or grey hair in your selfies, just own it... or use your photoshop/filter skills you're not fooling anyone with.
For the few that may follow me, or tripped on either of my 2 posts about my experience, I actually got the virus (along with 3 of my immediate neighbors). One is 90 and they need a lot of help. The nurse living below me also works with COVID-19 patients and she fills me in on the reality of what they see, which I'll spare. She told me that she came home 3 times this week and cried because the situation is so sad... She's been reusing her N95 mask for long periods of time, but selflessly refused to take my new backup one when I offered it.
Because I felt like crap for a while, had a very hard time with my asthma, and prioritized my recovery, I haven't done much else for 12 days. With my breathing difficulty (restricted airways), every day I stayed the same or got a little better was a huge victory, when fear of getting worse was terrifying. I also slept a lot.
I had a few worrisome moments where I calmed myself down and made myself fall asleep -- as that always helped my airways reset. When you're by yourself in the middle of the night, breathing is difficult, and the unknown of "if this will get worse" lingers, you have just have to figure it out.
I certainly didn't make it a daily exercise to post about this to monetize my illness, because that'd be manipulative and greedy. I also wouldn't want to disappoint myself by writing more heartfelt posts about what having the virus is like (to help people understand and be warned), when people are taking a few lame glam mask selfies (which they call worthy content), that squash the support I'd receive. But, hey, use the right tags, sell the drama, and have your nice auto-votes as a backup. Who cares if people have the virus, even if they're going well out of their way when sick to help raise awareness of symptoms, their post title and picture wasn't as cool as others?? Or, the kicker, I didn't share my post on Twitter to qualify for contests. Screw that and anyone who wouldn't support good content because anyone didn't follow some bogus criteria. This is decentralized social media, not free gorilla marketing for stakeholders.
I've seen only one other blogger here actually HAVE the virus, @raj808, and thankfully his post was met with plenty of support to hopefully make him feel a bit better. From what I can see, most of the rest are blogging about how life is inside their safe walls, or how they've stood on a line for some extra supplies, etc.. Wonderful. On the other hand, to those blogging about making masks or PPE for others or to reduce their need to buy their own, you are role models. Thank you!
Anyway, if you're interested...
My first post: https://hive.blog/covidlife/@steemmatt/day-3-with-the-virus-people-joke-about-are-bored-at-home-over-please-stop-complaining
My second post: https://hive.blog/covidlife/@steemmatt/sick-for-8-days-now-my-experience-so-far
My UPDATE:
- My asthma has held calm since day 7. Waking up that AM to feel much less restriction and dry coughing was a huge relief. after the prior night was the worst night I had. I'll repeat that for emphasis... A HUGE RELIEF. It gave me hope.
- No return of the primary feverish symptoms, which dissipated between days 3-5.
- I'm taking a z-pack as insurance, on day 4 now.
- After feeling the same airway-wise since Sunday (Day 7), this Friday AM (Day 12) was the FIRST day I felt another level of improvement. I'm cautiously optimistic here, but encouraged. It was a bit plateaued this week until this AM.
- I'm still taking my Advair steroid inhaler, but not as much as before. I really need to be more diligent with it for a while longer to maintain or be preventative.
- I have script for prednisone I'm holding here as insurance. This is for inflammation from asthma.
- After getting this delayed symptom on day 6, I still haven't gotten my senses of taste or smell back yet. They may have returned about 5-10%, which is in the right direction. This is very frustrating on the food side. I don't care about smell as much. My very talented friend is holding some amazing cooking hostage until I can taste it since he doesn't want the effort to marinate/season to go to waste.
- My appetite has been weak, but I've eaten super-healthy when I do eat. I've lost over 10 pounds. I'm pissed about losing some muscle I worked very hard for, but I'll get it back.
- My energy levels and strength appear to approaching normal as of now, but this took a long time to reach. I'm at about 85-90% now, but am very hesitant to exert myself at all with my asthma still in play.
- My body clock doesn't exist anymore. I sleep and wake up whenever I want, often staying up very late. I'm just following my body now, and can correct this later.
Next Steps:
- The expectation is that once I'm better, I'm going to be the runner and helpline for my sick neighbors. I'm not sure I feel comfortable with that because I can't afford to get the 90 year old sick again, or give it to him if he had another illness. That'd be terrible. People were sitting in his apartment with him on 4-6 hours shifts. I also can't afford to relapse and experience that asthma again, when the second time could be worse.
- I'm excited to get back to making money from selling the valuable household items people leave out in the curb-side recycling. To adapt, I need to have a strict process to not handle what I find for a week. I'll be making a "quarantined item area" in a second room for this.
- I left my eBay, Facebook Marketplace and Craigslist accounts to dry, but will start actively posting lots of new listings in a few days to build a pipeline. I have a decent amount of unlisted inventory I've held back on processing to make sure I was resting/not generating sales while contagious.
- Once my airways feel 100%, I'll start exercising at home... a lot. It's unlike me to sit around and stagnate physically, but I've done so out of necessity. After dropping 10 pounds with my lack of exercise/activity/appetite (I always lose weight when I'm inactive), I'll have a fairly shredded baseline to build off of. I also found brand new 30 and 40 pound dumbbells outside just before I got sick, so I can use those after my neighbor returns them. I let him borrow them since he couldn't go to the gym, but he's sick now from watching the elderly man above.
No flashy picture, just a thumbs up I took on day 3 to remind me of where I've come from.
Thanks to those who commented on my other posts. I will try to get back to respond to all of you.
Matt
P.S. - Proof of 70 pounds mentioned above that I saved from being destroyed within the curbside recycling.
Oh man, I’d didn’t know you got sick!
😮 I hope to see a 100% recovery soon.
And well done for staying away from the daily grind of posting the same stuff all the time, with a dodgy scarf over your face!
Keep on man, hope you see some fresh air soon
first, glad you are doing better.
we have a saying "Svakome je svoja muka najteža" it is a bit hard to translate but roughly "to everyone, their problems are the biggest"
Today is 30 days from my social distancing. we are on a strict curfew for few weeks now, and currently on the 60 hours lock down. is my situation better than yours? for sure. is it great? not at all. should i complain about it? i don't know.
as for rewards, i am on the cycles. from why am i even doing all of this, no one cares, to i don't care i am doing this for me.
glad your health state is getting back to normal
While I do think they have pushed the fear narrative over the top, I think I mentioned I'm pretty sure I (and severa of my coworkers) had this back in January. I hadn't heard of Covid and simply thought it was the worse case of the flu I had ever gotten. The almost month of sitting up to sleep was very frustrating, as well as the weakness.
My concern has been higher for you (at no time as I afraid of dying, just tired of not getting more than an hour of sleep at a time before my body protesting the positions I was in). I know how hard it was to breath, and with your asthma it has had me worried for you. Asthma runs in my family (I was blessed not to have it), and my dad had many health issues along with asthma his last years here. He was really afraid of catching the regular flu because of asthma and his compromised system. I tried to comfort myself in your case that otherwise you take excellent care of yourself, but was still worried nonetheless.
They say people are hit differently, but if it lingers with you as it did me, don't be surprised if you still have a couple more weeks before your airways begin to approach normal.
Might be good that you haven't been selling, especially on Ebay. The complaints of false INADs seems ot have risen (as I expected they would) as people seek to get money wherever they can as they wait for the politicians to get the stimulus money out on the streets. Some were starting to see it at the end of this week, so expect over the next week or two people will get enough to catch back up on their bills.
I'm really concerned right now over growing reports of food shortages that will last the year. I've seen reports that some meat plants have thrown away a lot of meat for contamination and/or due to workers being infected and no way to determine how much meat was exposed. They are saying expect meat and dairy/eggs to dry up. I have also read that in some areas they have closed farmer/fish markets, while allowing weed dispensaries and liquor stores to maintain their essential business tags, which seems ludicrous. One last thing on this is I've read it is hard to find sources for seeds, for those who have small gardens in their yards.
Thanks for keeping us updated. You're always one of the blogs I hope to see in my feed when I log in.
Glad you are turning the corner man! I've had no desire to blog about COVID or mention it on social media. I'm just focusing on doing my best to keep myself and those around me safe.
Sending you love, Matt - one day at a time. x
Somehow I think you will have some special and interesting perspectives for us - please enter!! https://peakd.com/hive-120078/@naturalmedicine/after-the-virus-what-can-you-do-to-improve-your-chances-when-the-cage-door-opens
What are your thoughts on how long we go back to normal? What about long-term policy changes?
Personally, I think we are going to see things level off over summer but then a second wave will hit when everyone tries to open back up. There is a weird balance of inflation that I see happening due to the increase in money being printed with deflation. It is sad to hear the stories of people struggling with the loss of loved ones and countless financial hardships.
How are you? I hope you're ok, just resting. Get well!
Thanks for thinking of me to follow up. I think I'm almost out of the woods. All things feel normal except minor chest discomfort, asthma, and about 50% taste & smell. I'd love to work out and rebuild, but I'm being cautious until the chest is fully clear and the coughing is completely gone.
Happy to hear that. Keep healing and take care.