March in Review
Corona Virus.
Earthquake.
Social distancing.
Social distancing.
That was the month of March.
The end.
OK, OK. There were some good things this month, too I guess.
While Tiana and I walked back to work from a snack break, CBS 2 news stopped us on the sidewalk. She stepped out to let me be on camera, which I'm not sure was the most generous thing for her to do. They were doing a story about high schoolers having to take a basic civics test to graduate, and quizzed me. They asked
- What is our nation's capital? (D.C.)
- How many stars are on the flag? (50)
- How many Senators do we have? (50x2 = 100)
- Who wrote the Declaration of Independence? (Jefferson)
And they asked if I thought seniors should have to take and pass the test to graduate. I said yes.
It didn't air for another week, but my grandma got it recorded for me.
On Wednesday, March 4, I went to lunch with my bosses Jessica and Aaron, and coworker Tiana, at the new poke place on Regent Street. It was pretty good!
On Thursday, March 5, I started antibiotics for this awesome garbage that's in my face.
On Friday, I wasn't feeling great. My whole midsection blew up, and I felt like I was going to explode. Nevertheless, I walked to Mrs. Backer's pastry shop with my coworker Tiana. And I got a few things to try and share.
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| Spotted on the walk at a historic home. |
I didn't feel much like eating that day since I felt like none of my food had moved.
But it was my last day of work, and I was sent away with some well wishes and with some selfies of me and Tiana.
I also got a massage that evening, which was glorious. The best one I've had in months, and I will be returning to Lindsey at Myotherapy.
For fun that day, I kept track of how many tissues I used in a day, just to see the extent of it, and if there would be a difference from the antibiotics.
On Saturday, I drank a homemade ginger shot made by my mom, and went to Orange Theory. I got all my normal stuff done by around noon. Just after I showered is when "it hit."
I spent most of the day Saturday and Sunday going back and forth from the couch to the toilet.
Sweet Matthew brought me Girl Scout cookies and Mo Bettahs. I probably shouldn't have eaten the latter. We watched shows and played games (he won Harry Potter Scene It). It's very hard for me to relax, but I did my best.
Sunday, March 7, I called the doctor after hours and explained to him the issues I was having. He told me to stop taking the antibiotics right away.
Monday, March 8 was my first day back at Caddis Capital Management (fka Alpine Home Medical). The entire week was pretty crazy and overwhelming, but I can only imagine how it would have felt if the job were totally new to me. There are some network and technology issues, since the company was hit with some major viral problems 8-9 days before I came back. They're still working through some of it, and I'm doing my best to work around it all. But I basically just jumped right back in.
The thing that has been so nice about being back is how many people have told me how happy they are to have me back! It's so nice to hear. I am an assistant to the CEO, President, and CFO, and I do a lot of office management type stuff, but generally felt like most of the company doesn't notice my presence. So to have so much of the phone team (who knows me from before) tell me repeatedly how good it is to have me back, and how things have been a mess without me, has been SO nice. Not that I'm happy things were a mess, but man, the welcome has made a huge difference.
Plus, the executive team has said how good it is to see me behind the desk and how much of a difference I've already made for them. I love it! I love feeling like I matter here.
I tried to keep my eating slow, soft/liquid, and within windows, but ended up getting Zupas for myself on Monday night. I regretted it and was burping the whole night into the next morning, feeling like things hadn't moved.
Thankfully by Tuesday, I started to feel normal again. I had talked to my doctor's nurse, who prescribed me a different antibiotic to take before my follow-up CT scan on March 23. And my awesome man got me some of these!:
Wednesday, March 11, I took myself to Waffle Love.
I waited a day in between, to try and let my body have some normalcy on Wednesday. I started the new antibiotics on Thursday, March 12.
On Thursday, Friday, and Monday (March 16) at work, I struggled terribly with headaches. I think they were due to someone's Scentsy. The Scentsy wasn't turned on on March 17 and 18, and I felt fine.
Friday the 13th, I took myself on a date. I ate dinner at home, went to Barnes & Noble, and got myself some popcorn at Megaplex. And with everything now closed, I'm glad I did.
Saturday, March 14 is when I started to really struggle with the Corona panic. I myself am not a panicker. I had heard about the run on toilet paper and figured I'd have enough to last at least a couple weeks until stores were restocked, which is still true. I have like 7-8 rolls and am OK. But the store was all out of basically all of my weekly basics. I was incredibly frustrated at people who panicked, bulk bought, and probably wasted a lot of food because they bought food unnecessarily. I was overcome with concern for all my mom friends who couldn't find wipes, milk, formula, or other things that they needed for their babies because adults had taken things they didn't need.
There has been a lot of good going on in the midst of the panic, I know that to be true. But I'm very sensitive to energy and people's stress, and I get worried for other people.
Saturday evening, we weren't great about social distancing and went to R&R BBQ. We did go at an odd time, and there weren't many people at all. We sat far apart from folks, too.
On Sunday, March 15, I tried my best to make it a day of introspection and calm, since church was canceled. I'll be honest, I wasn't sad about it. I tried to go on a walk to Starbucks, but it was too windy. So I drove there and spent some time reading and writing, feeling the weight of everything very heavily on my heart.
I came home and walked on the treadmille, did yoga, made chicken for the week, and showered. I went to Matthew's house around 3. He was so sweet to me as I cried on him about all the things I was feeling. He let me put on Big Hero 6, and we just spent the day being together and eating.
Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday (3/16-3/18), I went to Harmon's every day for a random thing or two, and to see if they had toilet paper. I barely missed it on March 18. I saw a lot of people with some in their arms or their cart, but there was none when I got over to the aisle.
Monday night, I picked up Cafe Guru for myself to try, which wasn't great. And I watched Walking Dead and am SO PUMPED AND LOVE NEGAN SO MUCH, and never thought I'd say that in my whole WD watching life.
On Tuesday, March 17, I read a personal story from a guy I used to go to church with in Provo. He believes he contracted Corona at LAX. His story about not being able to be officially diagnosed, not knowing what the real count of those affected in Utah is, and his guilt about spreading it unknowingly, all made me feel panicked. The struggled has been that I am not someone who panics. I feel it is unhelpful and unproductive, but I also recognize our body responds physiologically to threats in order for our survival. So for the next hour, I battled a sky high heart rate that I assumed would come down on its own. I kept busy at work instead of sitting down to breathe and calm myself down like I should have.
Wednesday, March 18 is the day which will live in infamy. I woke up and looked at my FitBit at 7:08am, and at 7:09am my home started shaking. I knew right away it was an earthquake, but I was in a little bit of disbelief. While it was still rolling, I walked out of my room to my roommate's room and knocked on her door to see if she was OK.
Everything seemed to be fine. I don't even know if my fish tank splashed any water out of it. And I don't know if Max was freaked out, since he's always needy and loud. (By the way, on 3/19 he weighed 17.0 pounds, down 1.2 pounds, which isn't fast enough, but it's progress!)
I felt fine as I got ready, and went to work regardless of possible after shocks.
While I made my lunch around 1pm, we all felt another quake. I looked out into the adjacent part of the office and saw everyone stopped and staring, surprised and waiting.
I grew up with earthquakes, so I was surprised at the way my body reacted. My knees shook for the next hour.
After all of that nonsense, we had our cleaning rep come to the office to talk with me. And he asked if I was expecting a baby.
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| No, damn you. I'm not expecting a baby. |
To say Wednesday was a struggle would be an understatement. I guess it all worked in my favor when I came home and ran faster than I've run in months (literally since December 9)! I even followed it up with a leg workout that was more brutal than I expected.
After my workout, I showered and called in a carry out order for Waffle Love and enjoyed that at home.
Most of the month has been pretty mundane due to social distancing. On the 19th, I worked, got a sandwich from Firehouse, watched a movie, and watched Mad Men with Matthew.
On Friday, March 20, my brother texted me to ask about whey protein. This led to a discussion about how whey protein assists with social distancing.
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| We have to laugh, guys. |
I picked up lunch at Fueled Kitchen for me and Brittney. We ate together across a large conference table and chatted.
That night, Matthew and I were supposed to get dinner and watch Quiet Place (because our movie date to see Quiet Place 2 at the theater was canceled), but his body had other plans.
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| We switched to Quiet Place since that's what we were going to see that night |
He started having intense pain around 4pm. He left work at 5pm, headed home, asked me to take him to the ER, and then couldn't wait and had his cousin take him. I grabbed dinner and headed up to Bountiful. I took his cousin's place at the hospital. Luckily, they let each person have one visitor. So after asking if I had any symptoms, they gave me a wristband and let me go be with Matthew. He was shaking from the pain. It was sad to watch. I knew he'd be OK so I just tried to comfort him. They got his pain under control, and we left the hospital at 9pm. We went and got Nielsen's and watched Mad Men at his house. He passed the kidney stone around 10pm. It wasn't huge; crazy that a little thing can cause so much pain. He was really sweet in expressing his appreciation and love for my support and love during his pain.
Of course you want to know the things he did while he was on morphine. He giggled a lot, and the most notable was probably him complaining about how thirsty he was, and then requesting that I spit in his mouth to help him be less thirsty.
Saturday, March 21, I got a massage, as I had an extra one I wanted to use. It wasn't great, and I wasn't even sure if I should go due to social distancing--not knowing who the massage therapist has been around, or where she's been. But it's 8 days later, and I'm not sick.
I was going to buy my mom dinner to celebrate a big milestone in her life, but as she lives with my grandma, we felt it better to reschedule. So instead, Matthew and I watched Quiet Place and ate Big Daddy's pizza. Also of note: I was able to find what I needed at the grocery store. I had awful anxiety while I was there, but was grateful I got what I needed.
Sunday was a quiet day. I spent time chatting with Kelsey on Marco Polo, edited my room listings because my roommate moved out early, went on a couple of walks, and made a chocolate cake. That was a fun disaster, since I didn't put the cake pans on cookie sheets, and they overflowed into the bottom of the oven, filling my condo with smoke. I made it work; it was the ugliest cake I've ever seen in my life, but I put cool whip in the middle and chocolate buttercream on top, and it was awesome. Even if it looked ugly. I also grilled teriyaki chicken, made mac salad, and rice. Matthew came over to eat and watch Mad Men.
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| Photo from my walk |
Since I finished my antibiotics on Sunday, I went on Monday, March 23, for my follow-up CT scan. I was/am still blowing my nose frequently, so I knew it wouldn't be clear. That evening, we got Crown Burger and watched Mad Men.
Tuesday, March 24 was nothing special. I mean, unless getting Crumbl and soft serve is special. I also watched Walking Dead. It was my favorite episode in a long time.
Wednesday, March 25 was my call with my doctor after my CT scan. He said there are still pockets of mucosal lining. He prescribed me a new antibiotic, which I put off starting for until Monday, March 30. That evening, I picked up Settebello for me and Matthew and took it to his place. We watched Mad Men. You'll notice we're buying a lot of local food, just to try and help restaurants during this hard time.
Thursday was nice because I got myself a free slice of cheesecake (only ate half), and read a book on my couch.
Friday, March 27 was nice because Megaplex started doing curbside popcorn pickup! Some of you know that I often go to the theater just to get popcorn and bring it home. So of course I picked some up; and due to app malfunction, I got popcorn for free! So awesome. This was a nice alternative since Matthew and I were supposed to be seeing Mulan at the theater on this day; but it was canceled due to Corona. I also picked up Itto sushi for me and Matthew. We ate and watched Mad Men. Are you seeing our activity patterns in our time of social distancing? The only difference here is that I had an outburst of sobbing on the couch. Matthew was patient and gentle with me, just holding me and reassuring me. That's how this month has been: constant up and down of emotions.
Saturday, March 28, I did all my regular things: laundry, cleaning, workout, groceries, and client check-ins. Matthew came over. We both ordered our own dinner via delivery apps. I had Wingers; it wasn't great. I had to reheat it in my air fryer. Matthew got Thai food. We watched Mad Men.
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| What "stay home" looks like |
Monday, March 30, I picked up dinner for me and Matthew at Mo Bettah (and a Sodalicious for each of us, and brought Crumbl--I am so nice). We watched Mad Men, of course.
And on the last day of March, I got myself some Megaplex popcorn (to pick at throughout the week), Matthew brought over Big Daddy's, and we watched Mad Men and talked on the couch. I wish I could say we're boring due to Corona, but I think this is our usual level of excitement.
I obviously have a lot of thoughts about this weird time, but I plan to take some time to write about my personal thoughts and feelings separately. I may or may not share with the world.
Books I read in March:
David and Goliath by Malcolm Gladwell (audiobook)
Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham (audiobook)
Happier at Home by Gretchen Rubin (audiobook)
Currently listening to The Diary of Anne Frank on audiobook, and occasionally picking up Oprah Magazine's Words that Matter, as well as slowly working through Fat Loss Forever by Dr. Layne Norton.
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