Yes, I am still here…
These sure are scary times that we live in! If you wondered what happened to me, I needed some time to deal with the evolving situation and my mental health. I have been aware of what was coming for a bit longer than many of you. Having a pharmacy degree and a math major son, I understand the threat of exponential growth very well. In addition to that, COVID-19 seems to have spread in the WA square dance community before we were really aware of it. We usually danced in Kirkland, WA once a month, and we knew that in February lots of dancers suddenly seemed to be ill. But we didn’t know what it was until March 2, when one of them, a man in his 40s, passed away, and it was confirmed that respiratory failure due to COVID-19 was the cause. Several other square dancers tested positive afterwards, and while most of them are on the mend by now, one very sweet gentleman in his 90s is still in ICU fighting for his life.
(UPDATE: I just received the news that 92-year-old Wayne passed away today. What a sad day for our dance community.)
We had two square dancing weekends in WA planned for March and immediately cancelled everything. The last time we danced with any of the infected dancers was February 9, so we were not worried about our personal health. But there is a lot of mixing and mingling between BC and WA dancers. All events never took place in the end, and for good reason, but I started campaigning to close down square dancing here in Canada right away. At the time people still thought I was overreacting but as you know things progressed quickly. By the time square dancing was shut down and I started working on the quilt guild meetings, people had begun to realize that something was very wrong and we had everything cancelled before large groups were officially banned.
The last week has been one huge mental health emergency for me. I am usually very good at keeping my anxiety under control with progressive muscle relaxation and similar techniques but right now I find it very hard. I am sure many of you feel the same pressure. Be kind to yourself. Sometimes all you are able to do is make a cup of tea and sit on the couch. And that’s okay. These are scary times but we will get through this. It might just take a bit longer than we originally thought. The best thing we can do right now is stay home and avoid all unnecessary contact.
For those of you who are local and use my quilting services, I will continue to quilt for others. I will post an update on the “Quilting Services” page on how I have been handling this without any direct contact. My regular customers have been wonderful in accepting these changes and dropped off bags on my doorstep and discussed quilting options on the phone and via email. But I will have a lot more time to work on my patterns, and I am trying to get my head back into the right place to be able to do this.
I am happy to announce that I have another BOM project with nine blocks almost ready. It should have been ready two weeks ago before the situation started to escalate but I will get my act together and get it ready over the weekend. So stay tuned for next week, and we should be able to start on April 1. In the meantime, please be safe and stay home and healthy.
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11 responses to “Yes, I am still here…”
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I am affected by anxiety as well and find walking as exercise helps! Sometimes I am able to pray at these times but hope yours is better today!
Great tip, Debbie, walking helps me too. I was a bit better this morning but got worse again during the day and finally decided to ask my doctor for help.
Thank you for sharing what is going on in your life. If you are not able to get the BOM ready by next week, don’t stress over it. Things will happen just the way they need to happen. I am so sad about the loss of your friends. Hopefully the man in ICU will pull through and have many more years to live.
Hugs
Thank you, Marcia, hugs back to you. Unfortunately this was not a good day for our dance community, our friend didn’t make it. He will be missed by all of us.
Take care of yourself. If working to get the BOM helps curb your anxiety, keep working. Otherwise, it can wait. Be kind to yourself.
Thank you, Josefina. Getting stuff done is actually good for me, I feel much better when I manage to focus. Getting there is the hard part. I realize that making an announcement like this puts pressure on myself but I have given myself a whole week of not getting anything done without feeling guilty, and it hasn’t improved my mental state. Trying a different approach now, hopefully it will work 🙂
I am thankful you did not come down with the virus. I am not usually an anxious person, but this has me scared, especially since my sister was diagnosed with double-breast cancer last week and is supposed to have surgery for it in the next couple of weeks and she wants me to be there.
I am so sorry about your sister’s diagnosis, Susan, especially at this time. If you have time, make her two breast cancer heart pillows. You can find the pattern here. They are very helpful after surgery. For more information, click on “Contact” in the menu and choose “Breast Cancer Heart Pillows”. Best wishes for your sister. One day at a time, you can both do it <3
Cuidaros todos mucho. Aquí en España estamos en una situación seria, las UCI empiezan a estar colapsadas y a no haber respiradores suficientes para todos los enfermos graves.
Aislaros en casa, lavaros las manos cada vez que toquéis cosas del exterior, poneros mascarilla y guantes si tenéis que salir, desinfectad los paquetes al llevarlos a casa…y no esperéis que los políticos os den normas de protección…anticiparos a ellos.
La cosa es muy grave
Que Dios os proteja a todos. Un abrazo
Maria, I know enough Spanish to understand the meaning of your comment but not enough to reply in your language. It is good advice, and I have been doing all this for the past three weeks. I will post a translation by Google in the next comment, and I encourage everyone to read it and take it seriously. Canadians, at least those around me and in my town, are pretty good at the social distancing thing but I am very worried about my Mom in Germany where nobody is taking this seriously. They are already way past where Italy was when they locked down, and they still aren’t getting it. Stay safe, Maria, and I hope we can all get through this together. Hugs, my friend. Stay healthy.
Translation by Google: “Take good care of yourself all. Here in Spain we are in a serious situation, the ICUs are beginning to collapse and there are not enough respirators for all seriously ill patients.
Isolate yourself at home, wash your hands every time you touch things from outside, put on a mask and gloves if you have to go out, disinfect the packages when you take them home … and don’t expect politicians to give you protection rules … anticipate them.
The thing is very serious
May God protect you all. A hug”