Self Isolation

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I’ve been off from work for a few weeks now, I was really poorly with something – aches, tiredness, shortness of breath, coughing and a sore throat which wasn’t good. My temperature spiked on Easter Monday to 38.3 and by Tuesday I felt awful. I phoned the dr and had a telephone consultation where he said from the sounds of my symptoms I could have contracted the virus but now it sounded like a chest infection as I was coughing up some funky coloured phlegm, and have been prescribed antibiotics. The prescription was sent to my local pharmacy and I had a bit of trouble getting it – queued for ages at the pharmacy who couldn’t find my prescription so I had to call the dr to re-send it and managed to get my antibiotics on Friday.

I’ve been taking my antibiotics since Friday and am still feeling rough but getting better slowly and I’m so thankful that we have got an NHS service that can provide us with these things and take care of us.

I’ve been on lockdown and in isolation for nearly 3 weeks now and it can be a struggle, I find myself getting a bit lonely and my stress and anxiety haven’t been too good, and coupled with being ill it has been hard at times, but I have found some ways to cope and cheer myself up. Our street takes part in the Clap for Carers at 8pm on a Thursday which I have been joining in with from my doorstep, its nice to see the neighbours and be part of something nice. I have also been joining in with Frock Up Friday which is a fantastic group full of the most lovely people who all get dressed up on a Friday and post their outfits to the group, I’ve never been part of a more lovely and inspiring group! It has even encouraged me to get dressed up during the week too, and I have been making an effort with my outfit and makeup choices each day. I find that making an effort to dress up is making me feel a bit less ill and it has altered my mindset in a positive way.

And I am working on the 100 Day Project which runs for 100 days! People can choose to do anything over the 100 days, I’ve seen people doing 100 days of baking, dancing, singing, sketching, sewing, all sorts! It’s not just for artists and anyone can take part! I decided to do 100 days of squares and am doing 8×8 inch squares which will all link together to form a big picture which I want to hang in my spare room. I am using the project to try out lots of different mediums and techniques so the outcome should be really interesting. I am a few days behind as I have been working on linking the pictures together and re-working some things as I go along so its not really been a square a day but, I have been “arting” each day!

Here’s some of my work on the project so far…

How are you all? what have you been up to? I hope you are all staying safe and well!

wednesday-3

It seems that I could have contracted the Coronavirus. I haven’t been feeling 100% for the past week and have been self-isolating for the second time since last Wednesday. I have had another cough and sore throat which I had put down to having really bad hayfever but isolated again just to be on the safe side. For the past few days, I have been feeling pretty short of breath like I have just run somewhere or have been rushing about even though all I have done is go upstairs for something and come back down. I phoned work to let them know how I am feeling and that I would be isolating for a bit longer. Aside from the shortness of breath and the odd coughing fit I don’t feel too bad in all, just really anxious and worried about the whole virus situation.

I decided not to watch the news as I was getting pretty triggered by it and have had a few panic attacks, instead I only watch one news programme – the update each day, and I will read the news update on the Guardian app on my phone if I miss the daily tv news. This has been helping to control the anxiety I have been feeling. I have also been practising mindfulness for half an hour each day – lighting incense, listening to some calming meditation music and just breathing.

I have been chatting to friends on the phone daily and am grateful that we have video calling, and have spent a few hours chatting with friends and being able to see their faces. I have been working on my blog and planning future posts that I want to write which have been nice as I feel that, after the patchy internet episode I had the other month, I have been neglecting my blog and routine somewhat. I have even managed to do a few hours work in the garden the other day as the sun has been shining.

I have a few different things I want to do, many of which I feel should wait until I feel less out of breath – finish painting the kitchen, add a few different coloured strips to the wall where my desk is located in my spare room, sanding down some desk drawers I was given and re-painting them, the list goes on!

But, for now, I have a new project that I am undertaking which started yesterday, its called The 100 Day Project. The project runs for 100 Days and you can choose to do anything in that 100 days, so far I have seen posts from people who will be undertaking 100 days of dance, workouts, baking, card making, weaving, drawing, writing and all sorts of other activities in-between. I have decided to take part and am working on one 8×8 inch square of paper each day, creating a pattern on it that will link to the next square and so on. I am hoping, by the end of it to have 100 squares that are all linked together and forming an 80×80 inch square made up of 10×10 8inch squares which I will be fixing together to hang in my spare room. I will be putting the date on the back of each square and am thinking about journaling something onto the backs so I can look back on it in years to come and remember what I was doing.

How is everyone? Are there any projects you are currently working on? I’d love to hear about them in the comments!