Stress and Anxiety

[Aerielle Max]

This COVID situation has caused a lot of problems for us. Are you also mentally affected by this?

 

[Fifty150]

For me, it's shed light upon the human condition. You see a different side of people. In how they react, behave, and their perception of the world.

 

[Turnip]

No, I’m not, sorry.

Compared to a full cancer boat tour I took some years ago my current health situation feels relatively harmless to me and due to the socioeconomic setup of the country I live in the economic impact is not even close to substantial for me at this point.

 

[Harp]

This COVID situation has caused a lot of problems for us. Are you also mentally affected by this?

Beyond keeping tabs on the story and staying reasonably up-to-date with variant issues, no.

 

[LizzieMaine]

A cancer scare this year, the loss of nearly half my income, and the fact that I'm being slowly crushed into poverty by medical debts is causing me far more stress than the pandemic as such, although a big part of my loss of income is directly related to it. Oh, and my cat's sick too.

 

[belfastboy]

For me, it's shed light upon the human condition. You see a different side of people. In how they react, behave, and their perception of the world.

In my corner of the world it has been heartening as the vast majority of the folks have risen to the occasion. If any thing our tolerance, patience and cooperation has increased. My wife and I have experienced just two negative interactions in the past 18 months from those that are Covid zealots and one was very minor.....I was admonished for standing on the 'wrong' red dot while in line at the beer store. But they stand out because they have been so infrequent.

 

[regius]

A cancer scare this year, the loss of nearly half my income, and the fact that I'm being slowly crushed into poverty by medical debts is causing me far more stress than the pandemic as such, although a big part of my loss of income is directly related to it. Oh, and my cat's sick too.

Sorry to hear! Stay strong

 

[GHT]

Sorry to hear! Stay strong

Totally agree. Lizziie's posts are always so articulate, so informative and so relevant that she makes it easy to forget that she is as human as the rest of us. If that sounds trite Lizzie, I apologise, but you are so knowledgeable or know how to use the information so readily available on the internet, that we forget that you can bleed, just like the rest of us. My sincere compliments to you, I do hope that you recover from your predicament.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well, at least the cat is doing better. She has "the worst case of hyperthyroidism" the vet has ever seen, but will hopefully respond to the medication. She went full feral when I put her in the carrying case to take her to the clinic, though, and is now missing another canine tooth after trying to chew her way out. (She only has one fang left now.) She also went on a rampage in the examining room and threw up her breakfast all over the doctor. They had to sedate her just to be able to draw blood for testing, but all it did was "take the edge off."

Given my own experiences with the health care system over the early months of this year, I know exactly how she felt.

 

[Edward]

Well, at least the cat is doing better. She has "the worst case of hyperthyroidism" the vet has ever seen, but will hopefully respond to the medication. She went full feral when I put her in the carrying case to take her to the clinic, though, and is now missing another canine tooth after trying to chew her way out. (She only has one fang left now.) She also went on a rampage in the examining room and threw up her breakfast all over the doctor. They had to sedate her just to be able to draw blood for testing, but all it did was "take the edge off."

Given my own experiences with the health care system over the early months of this year, I know exactly how she felt.

She sounds like a feisty girl. Hopefully that she has that still in her suggests she has years ahead of her yet.

My remaining cat, Greta, once hid for over an hour ahead of a vet visit - I eventually found her right up *inside* and armchair. She's a nightmare to get into the carrier, but once you get her there behaves. Behaves impeccably and flirts, if it's a male vet. Typical tabby.

I think I adapted better in the earlier stages. I found I've not minded the social limits and such so much because we were all in the same boat. The much harder bit is the current stage, where so many venues and people have abandoned all precautions despite new variants, and I'm often finding myself torn between a sense of lack of safety (I have genuine concerns that the university is placing its own fear of its consumer market demanding money off ahead of safety of staff being sent back into the classroom with nil social distancing and no mask requirements and such) and a growing sense of FOMO. I'd probably be less concerned but for the fact that my wife is vulnerable and for much of last year was under doctor's orders not to so much as step out the front door. It would be dire indeed for me to be irresponsible and put her at risk after that.

 

[Harp]

^ I have a friend who teaches English Lit, released from her university post at Covid start,
had fallen back onto video instruction and has been called by the City College of Chicago to resume
face-to-face classroom lectures this fall. The mask mandate here is mercurial, some yes, some no,
and with maskless major public venues with variant issues itza whole new ballgame.

 

[Fifty150]

I went downtown today. The tourist are everywhere. I park the motorcycle right by the local transit hub, where the underground trains meet with a dozen bus lines, street level trains, and Cable Cars. When I'm downtown, and hungry, I search for convenience and pricing. I don't want to "dine" in a Michelin Star restaurant. I just need a quick snack. So I already knew to expect less than authentic, less than full flavored, and to pay more than expected. I head over to what I still thought of as "The Emporium".

As a kid, going downtown, "The Emporium" on Market Street was a destination. This was where we went to see Santa. There were rides on the roof. A department store from The 1890's, with a grand facade and a domed roof. When the building was "restored" a few years ago, the exterior was preserved, and a special structure was erected to keep the dome in place, while the rest of the building was completely demolished. A new, modern, and safer building was built behind the exterior wall and under the dome. The property developer was fined millions of dollars for the historic parts of the building which they destroyed. Then a celebrity chef ripped out a huge section of the exterior wall; so that a crane could load a forklift up to the 5th floor.

The bathroom is "all gender". A large room with stalls along one wall, a hand-wash station in the middle, and urinals on the opposite side. Anybody can go into any stall for a toilet. Standing at the urinal, people washing their hands could watch me pee. When I went to wash my hands, I could see the high heels and panties around the ankles of whomever was sitting in there. This is now socially acceptable.

I go to a cordoned off area where you had to show proof of a Covid vaccination, and make the obvious mistake of choosing the food vendor with no wait. More popular food vendors had a line. As I'm eating the least interesting meal I've had in years, out of the corner of my eye, I see a woman sit down near me. She was obviously very engaged in her phone screen, and needed a seat so that she doesn't just stand there obstructing the walkway.

"Excuse me. Is that good? How do you like it?"

I look up. It's the cell phone girl.

"No. It's fake Korean food, made by Mexicans, who don't speak English. The meat is boiled, dipped in sauce, then the heated on a griddle. That's not Korean BBQ. The noodle broth is water with artificial coloring, no flavor whatsoever. The kimchi taste like someone rinsed it off under running water. The veggies are literally from a coleslaw salad bag, which they boiled and placed under heat lamps. Even the rice is bad. They put the rice in a tray, then under heat lamps. Rice is suppose to stay in a rice cooker, so that it doesn't dry out."

An utter look of disbelief on her face. Like a cartoon. Her mouth was literally open like her jaw dropped. Speechless.

"What? You own that food stall?"

As it turned out. She did. She was a partner. An investor. She bought in with a group of friends and family. They found the fast food concept for Korean food at a trade show. It was suppose to be "turn key". There was a system. The books did not look good. So she decided to hang out and see for herself what was going on. Was it just Covid effecting the foot traffic? Were the employees doing what they were suppose to? No. It's just bad food, and the prices are too high. Every other food stand is busy. And the obvious elephant in the room - she wasn't Korean. Race is not a factor. Culture is. You're not Korean. You didn't grow up eating Korean food. Now you're selling Korean food, and all of your employees are Hispanic.

 

[Turnip]

A cancer scare this year...

All the best wishes to you!

Got another regular screening tomorrow, of the aftercare program I have to run. Though everything feels „normal“ there’s always that black dog skulking around until results are available.

 

[Turnip]

Helmet off for devotion…

 

[Turnip]

No findings, black dog‘s back in the kennels for the first…

Still nicely stoned from my little Michael Jackson nap…so going to extend my nap a bit…

Cheers

 

[Aerielle Max]

Nice to see some getting back to normal. I feel sorry for most of us and for those who experience different kinds of sickness.

 

[Edward]

^ I have a friend who teaches English Lit, released from her university post at Covid start,
had fallen back onto video instruction and has been called by the City College of Chicago to resume
face-to-face classroom lectures this fall. The mask mandate here is mercurial, some yes, some no,
and with maskless major public venues with variant issues itza whole new ballgame.

It's certainly going to be interesting. Teaching online wasn't so bad; the pain is going to be teaching in the classroom while also having to bear in mind that there will be students online as well. Two very different audience experiences, and inevitably a compromise serving both at once. I won't be at all surprised if there's another lockdown in the Autumn, though thus far the proportion of people who have abandoned all safety requirements in public places here isn't as high as I had feared it might be.

 

[Turnip]

Nice to see some getting back to normal. I feel sorry for most of us and for those who experience different kinds of sickness.

As long as it goes…life can change within the blink of an eye……and I remember very well all those less lucky I left behind, closing the door of the chemo center behind me after my final session and those I met, who left this world behind during my treatment slot.

 

[AmateisGal]

Oh Lizzie, I'm so sorry to hear about your cat. The vet diagnosed my Kathryn with hypothyroidism in February; to make a long story short, we had to insert a feeding tube, and she just kept getting sicker and sicker. She had a stroke or some kind of fit, and died in my arms at the end of that month. It was horrible.

Has the pandemic affected my mental health? Absolutely. I have been dismayed to see so many of my fellow Americans acting like petulant children. My sister-in-law works at a covid unit in our local hospital, and the story she tells...they break my heart. I am an empath, so I feel things very deeply.

I'm starting my PhD in history this year, so am attending classes in-person. We are all wearing masks, and there's only 8 of us in class, so we can hear each other fine. But if cases continue to rise, we may have to go to virtual, and I really don't want to do that.

My health has taken a turn for the worse, and I'm trying a new drug to try and help (my condition is similar to fibromyalgia). Chronic illness takes a toll on one's mental health, pandemic or not.

All this to say: Yes. I'm feeling the strain.

 

[Fifty150]

We are all wearing masks

So the argument is that even The CDC says that the protective efficiency of wearing masks is unknown. Masks were not able to completely block the transmission of droplets even when completely sealed.

What we do know, is that when you don't wear a mask at all, nothing is blocked.

They say that nothing is known about the long term effects of Covid Vaccines.

We do know that without a vaccine, people are catching Coronavirus, suffering, and dying a horrible death.

Amazing how people make choices in life. If I told you that shooting intravenous street drugs will lead to selling your body and sleeping on the street - would you choose it?