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Well
So I can’t quarantine because I work as a nurse practitioner in the Chicago area. Yep I’m scared.
However, I did have a “quarantine schedule” of sorts back in April 2019. I needed to have a complex hip surgery called a periacetabular osteotomy that left me unable to bear weight onto my right leg/hip for nearly 2 months. I could barely shuffle from my bedroom to the recliner, or back and forth from the kitchen, with a walker. I was alone and stuck in my condo. I ended up making a detailed schedule where every day I’d have specific time set aside for tasks like: do some upper body resistance band exercise, write in a journal, draw a picture, write an email to an email correspondence buddy, play a video game, do a mindfulness meditation through Headspace app, do a Spanish language lesson in a language learning app, etc. I kept myself as “busy” as I could but it was still very difficult. At 2 months post op I was allowed to put more weight onto the leg and I would go to my condo’s pool or walk outside on crutches but I wasn’t cleared for driving until 3 months post op. I basically am watching everyone go down the black hole of being home bound the way I had to be. I emerged fundamentally a little different. The long time off work and in isolation made me anxious and depressed and I ended up needing to go on medication.
Stay sane and busy everyone. Though I’m working and seeing patients every day, I’m having some flashbacks to my ordeals just by being stuck at home every evening and weekend. I relish my brief grocery excursions.
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