How are you truckin?

[El Presidente]

We had a great deck session last Friday.  Honest and raw. The way it should be among mates. 

Looking around the deck, it was apparent how many good blokes who seldom complain have been knocked around mentally and emotionally over the past 4 months.  Particularly those in the service industries (travel/food/beverage/hotels and ancillary et al) have hit the wall if not financially (yet) but psychologically.  You can see that many have little energy reserves left as they face rising from the ashes in the next second half of the year. 

Even those that have not been financially affected appear mentally drained.  We are a tight knit group and make it a point of ensuring no one in the group feels they are alone or sinking under the weight. it has been a busy time. 

How are you truckin?  How are you feeling at the halfway part of the year?

If you have any hints/strategies/habits that have helped you out, don't be shy in sharing as I will pass them all on this Friday ?

 

[TBird55]

Some days chicken salad, some days chicken shit....like riding a roller coaster...

[BrightonCorgi]

If you are on the side lines, concentrate on learning something new.  Think about how you could complain about the world in a new language you picked up!

 

[Islandboy]

I’ve been playing my long-neglected guitar quite a bit lately. I’m fortunate to be out there working my arse off through this whole pandemic, but that in itself, along with adjusting to the new norms, can be stressful at times. Music has always been my go to therapy.

[Nino]

Some days total apathy and lack of drive/energy  - but every day a video call to my best mate and weekly a video call with my two best mates - helps keep sanity but it is tough.

One thing I am most def happy about is having retired 10 years ago - takes off a LOT of worry and gives a lot of good memories that can't be erased.

Hoping to hit the road soon again ?

[joeypots]

I've enjoyed the stay at home period. I live in a bubble, a summer resort area that is now opening up to visitors. we've been mostly unaffected by Covid, few cases and fewer horror stories but now as  traffic increases we could see an increase. For 10 weeks it felt as if the world slowed down. And not in an un welcomed way. Yesterday I got a wake up jolt, though.  My BIL had the virus in march, got better, and now is suffering with breathing problems. It's not good. I'm hearing too many stories about people who seem to have long lasting effects from the virus and it put me in a mood yesterday. So little is known about this thing and I fear it could be a long difficult path back to what will be a new normal. And the fact that it isn't just about death, it's about the possibility of being hobbled for a long time, if not life, got to me yesterday. Be careful people, it's no joke.

[Nino]

1 hour ago, joeypots said:

So little is known about this thing and I fear it could be a long difficult path back to what will be a new normal. And the fact that it isn't just about death, it's about the possibility of being hobbled for a long time, if not life, got to me yesterday. Be careful people, it's no joke.

I share your thoughts. Suddenly mortality is a possibility ...

Wishing your BIL a speedy and full recovery and best wishes to you.

[BrightonCorgi]

I have plans to visit family and friends in Switzerland in early August, but am now leaning towards cancelling.  I don't want to be out on a big airline ticket, nor do I want to spend the amount for a ticket with more flexibility.  The direct flights on Swiss from BOS to ZRH aren't happening currently. 

Am I crazy to think there's a possibility of Corona screwing it up or am I good to book?

[Akela3rd]

Think, don't worry. There's a world of difference in the two processes. It's very easy to fall down the rabbit hole of "what if..." and it can be very hard to climb out again.

Sent from Cosmos Redshift 7

[El Presidente]

6 hours ago, joeypots said:

My BIL had the virus in march, got better, and now is suffering with breathing problems. It's not good. I'm hearing too many stories about people who seem to have long lasting effects from the virus and it put me in a mood yesterday.

Wishing a speedy recovery for your brother in law!

[hoyopr]

15 hours ago, El Presidente said:

 

If you have any hints/strategies/habits that have helped you out, don't be shy in sharing as I will pass them all on this Friday ?

 

Definitely important for us to maintain contact with close friends, we do this through Zoom, phone calls and our patio.

I believe the importance of physical well being also helps with mental and emotional health. We also limit the amount of news coverage we watch.

Both of us have hobbies which we have more time for and as mentioned by Brighton Corgi. great opportunities to get engaged in learning something new. 

About a month ago my wife and I also decided that Wednesdays will be adventure day. We will travel for the day to somewhere around the lower mainland of Fraser Valley for  a nice lunch out and some photography.   

And very important to relax each afternoon with a nice cigar.

In BC we all say, Be Kind, Be Calm, Be Safe.

[CaptainQuintero]

On 6/22/2020 at 5:24 PM, joeypots said:

I've enjoyed the stay at home period. I live in a bubble, a summer resort area that is now opening up to visitors. we've been mostly unaffected by Covid, few cases and fewer horror stories but now as  traffic increases we could see an increase. For 10 weeks it felt as if the world slowed down. And not in an un welcomed way. Yesterday I got a wake up jolt, though.  My BIL had the virus in march, got better, and now is suffering with breathing problems. It's not good. I'm hearing too many stories about people who seem to have long lasting effects from the virus and it put me in a mood yesterday. So little is known about this thing and I fear it could be a long difficult path back to what will be a new normal. And the fact that it isn't just about death, it's about the possibility of being hobbled for a long time, if not life, got to me yesterday. Be careful people, it's no joke.

  Thoughts going out to your brother in law. If it's like what I had, a milder shot of the virus, it wasn't too bad just scary. The shortness of breath, heart palpatations and no energy levels were no fun at all, especially when the TV was a constant re-run of intensive care facilities etc. I got a secondary chest infection which was more serious but cleared up with antibiotics. The recovery is a sod, I got it mid march and the chest infection a month later, I'm only just now having my breathing and energy levels and returning to the point where I can mow the lawn etc. I can only imagine what a bad dose of it would be like.

  It seems this post viral fatigue syndrome is quite common with a lot of people, might be worth your brother in law having a read up on it/phone with his doc to see if it rings true

[HoyoFan]

I have to say that as hard as it’s been, having a daily meditation practice has been probably the single most effective activity I’ve maintained.

Highly recommend the Waking Up app by Sam Harriss, as well as his book by the same name.

Happy to send out month trials to anyone who’s interested.

Stay strong!

[Walt69]

I currently work in healthcare as a nurse practitioner taking care of mostly geritric patients. The first quarter of the year i'll be honest, this covid thing was joke to a lot of us "I used to work as a pulmonary specialist so it was just another respiratory virus to us." Well, more and more folks started popping positive as expected but the frightening thing was that our old standby treatments weren't really working. Prednisone/steroids are usually paramount to most respiratory cases along with duo-neb treatments and other supportive care in the absence of a bacterial etiology. Well, if giving prednisone early on with Covid you could actually make things much worse with a cytokine storm being elicited and the virus actually reproducing more rapidly... folks get confused about the whole "covid is giving them pneumonia thing so it must be treatable by antibiotics" thing. This isn't THAT kind of pneumonia, and it's partially the medical fields fault for not explaining it better to everyone. What develops as a result of Covid is called "interstitial pneumonia." This is where there is a giant inflammatory response in the lungs, the interstitium of the lung in particular. When this happens, the tissues swell with WBC rich blood. On the face of it, it seems as though this would be a good thing "WBCs to kill stuff" but no... too much swelling makes fluid leak out of the tissues of the lungs and into the lungs themselves, filling the air sacs "alveoli" basically resulting in patients drowning in tyeir own bodily fluids if they don't get ventilator support. This sucks. At least you have other folks to vent to and discuss patients with right? If someone else is in the same boat and they're making it through then so can you, right? Well... my person died. Dr. Ndukwu, the guy who taught me what it means to truly be a provider. He taught me more than I could ever learn in any classroom about the lungs and appropriate therapies. I left his practoce in pursuit of a bigger paycheck somewhere else "where I am now". That was about a year ago. A couple weeks ago I got a call from his family practice buddy who worked in the clinic with him saying he just died of a heart attack. I went numb. Folks were wondering if it was covid related but i feel it was from being over worked and over stressed. He was medical director of the local Hospital's ICU and now they're struggling... I can't help but feel partially responsible in some way. Like, i could have been there to help him if I hadn't been greedy and seeking more money. Or, i could have at least been there to talk with him more so he could vent. I could have been "that person" who he could have talked with about how much we're struggling and be ok cause we were both still here and sharing the load. But I wasn't there... i'm sorry if the above is scatter brained but I haven't really talked to folks about this much and needed to vent myself about how much this year has sucked. Thanks for reading. For what it's worth, i'm considering going back to pulmonology. He had over 1000 patients that now don't have a pulmonary provider... someone has to help as there is a shortage of providers, pulmonary in particular. 

[Cmelle]

@Walt69 so sorry for your loss mate. I lost a friend a few years ago to suicide. We had drifted apart a few years before his death, and I couldn't help feel if I had been a better friend, or not been caught up chasing wealth and pointless things in my own life, I could've been there for him, and perhaps he'd still be here. There's always so many ifs and buts. Don't let it get to you buddy. Life's difficult. Some things are out of our control. Again, I'm sorry for your loss, and I also thank you for your work during these crazy times. The world needs more people like yourself and Dr. Ndukwu. Stay strong buddy ?

[Çnote]

I've been doing as much cooking for the family as I can.

Here's tonight's enchiladas.

We will persevere. We all know what we should be doing to survive this, and we all need the support of others to do it.

Take the opportunity to sit in the silence and do the next thing and build on that. Everyone's details will be different, and some situations will be much worse than others, but we can all get through this if we take care of each other.

[Meklown]

8 hours ago, BrightonCorgi said:

I have plans to visit family and friends in Switzerland in early August, but am now leaning towards cancelling.  I don't want to be out on a big airline ticket, nor do I want to spend the amount for a ticket with more flexibility.  The direct flights on Swiss from BOS to ZRH aren't happening currently. 

Am I crazy to think there's a possibility of Corona screwing it up or am I good to book?

I was due to go home to visit my grandma and other relatives next week but cancelled back in March. Will aim to reschedule another trip in Nov/Dec but it's looking tight. We had also planned a ski trip to either US/Canada in Feb 2021 but I am not too optimistic for that one either. 

I think for the rest of this year, it will be down to whether any group of countries can come together to form a "bubble" for safe regional travel

[Duxnutz]

COVID is very ironic. Went from being home half the month to home all the month and now primary care giver during the week. Enjoying the time with the Bub but I now have respect for stay at home moms/mums, it’s a tough gig. 

Cant wait to go back to work.