The Prepping Thread - A Newer Beginning ;)

thriftwizard

Oh dear, Elaine, I do hope you feel a bit better soon, one way or another. "Knowing" people who have been through it, even online, makes it clear that this is no "mild" illness at all & we shouldn't be taking chances, even down here where the infection rates are very low.

To that end, I had to take my 94 y.o. mother to the drive-through test centre yesterday; her care at home cannot be re-started without a clear test result, so my fingers are crossed as I have to return her tomorrow to have her BP & medicines checked, & tweaked if necessary, by her own surgery. What a surreal experience! Hordes of masked & uniformed "guards" waving us around line after line of cones & notices, and stopping us here & there for no apparent reason, as we were the only "customers" in sight although they're clearly set up to deal with thousands. Mum was actually vastly amused by it all, but I must admit that it did all seem somewhat OTT and dystopian, like something out of a post-civilisation horror movie. We are certainly living in interesting times...

mothernerd

I went to town on Friday, first time I've been home (I'm staying with mum in her bungalow as her carer and chief shopper) for 8 weeks (I kept going back for garden stuff, didn't go in the house) and the first time I've been in shops since March 20th. I have kept checking the local authority website and last week the library reopened so I needed to take my library books back. Went from here to there (my house is on one side of the car park, library and town hall are on the right side and facing the back of my house respectively) as early as I could, with mask and plastic gloves. Sat in my garden, drank one of the cans I took with me (only took my mask and gloves off in the back yard).

Set off for will co (they open early) and acquired several useful garden, diy, cleaning, personal care items, including some on offer or reduced to clear, some of which are only available in store. Wooden pegs as mum's plastic ones have been breaking and the peg bag is half empty and a rubber bristle broom which I'm hoping will help me scrub the floor of the shower without having to get down on my hands and knees. Called in at a cs (former Ethel Austin so large shop and easy to see how many people are in there from the doorway) to drop off a bag of carrier bags. They had good procedures in place and asked me to put them (and another lady had some donated items) on shelves in a cupboard - think it's supposed to be a changing room but have never seen it used as such. As I walked back across the town hall square people were queuing (properly distanced) to go in the library, so I went back to get my books.

The library was a very easy transaction and I didn't get further than the foyer. Security guard and two librarians were in there. On assistant asked what I was there for (CAB and local authority hub are both housed in there now) and they had a wheeled shelf to one side for returned books. The lady after me was going in the library so was directed to the sanitising station. Back home and was getting hungry so ventured into the central shopping street (went to will co on a busy traffic street but scarcely populated - closed down bank, couple of pubs that do meals and takeaways that only get busy in the evenings). 

Left my shopping just inside my front door (ignored the pile of pizza boxes and empty cardboard boxes - the grand-chinchillas have finally got their larger cage but I think the one who was being bullied has the original one to herself) and veered to the right after crossing from the civic side to the shopping side. At one point there were 10 people on the pavement in front of me (one bus stop, two crossing points and two open shops) but that pavement is about 16 feet wide so lots of room. Turned onto the pedestrianised main street and it was really pleasant, much more like a Sunday afternoon than a Friday morning (usually like trying to swim through a shoal of fish). Some people didn't social distance properly but no-one brushed past me and all the shops (less than half open) had sensible queues - except spex savers, whose queue went out across the width of the street (they were properly distanced but still had to pick the most distanced pair to nip between). The only crowded spots were the benches, nearly all occupied with safe spaces.

Went in a cs (double width shop). They had changed their layout slightly and had direction arrows on the floor. Bagged 20 books and 4 quality jigsaws for less a pound each (books were less). Went further up the street to the quiet end to get cash for mum from an atm the ones at my end are on narrow pavements and get people traffic from the turnpike (4 way) crossing or alternatively bus station and market (didn't go near the market or the 'mall' at all). Called in at B**ts (thanks to the recommendation on here) and got more gloves and pills and 5 ys food items for less than the price of a ready meal. Was tired and hungry so paused to consider my options - settled on 'farm shop' (potato and meat pie, potato cakes and a ham shank - all to delight mum) and then return home via original cs to bag a Thai silk top for 2 pounds and 20 books (5 for a pound). 

Back to my house for lunch and a drink (had lots of real tap water, supply at my house is beautiful, mum's tastes dreadful, I'm filtering it to make it drinkable) then set to tackling the 'jungle'. Rosebay willow herb forest came up easily but nearly filled the green bin and then tackled what I could of the brambles colonising the back door, plumbing and pipeworks and the 'weed trees' (starts as a weed, is quite a pleasant 'background' shrub but then gets to tree height if you don't keep it under control - next door neighbour has them as high as the house and the back yard wall is bellying out). Very very tired and wanted to escape back to the sanity sanctuary of mum's house and didn't think I could push the trolley back over the bridge so called at the taxi office to book a taxi then rearranged all my bags. From Friday midnight going into my own house (aka mixing with another household) was banned again. Strictly speaking I shouldn't go in my own yard but DS3 and Beloved obviously haven't set foot outside the back door for weeks (the brambles would have tripped them up) so I can go and do a bit more when I have some energy (still have some link-a bord stuff, two large 1 m x0.5 m x 0.5 m heavy duty recycled fabric containers filled with soil, an old dustbin and many many plastic bottles aka bottle garden). I even have the pieces of an 8' x 4' wooden raised bed but not sure I could transport it safely although it would help social distancing compliance.

Mum has accepted that I will be with her for quite a while longer and also realised that this might even be more difficult for me than for her. Her friend (they are the only two left alive from their class at school) told her that he had watched a professor who said it might very well go on until next winter, not this. I was aware of this but have been trying not to scare her. I told her that food prices were rising rapidly and that I had no guarantee that the things I ordered would be available or would arrive (mostly ok at present but no guarantees). We agreed on the amount she needs in the bank to feel 'safe' and that when it rises near to the the next thousand I should start buying again (I was already working to these guidelines but now she has approved them).

I am grateful for all the things I managed to purchase on Friday and all the extra bits I collected from home (my lovely new sheets - festive present - rather than the box of old 'make do' ones DS3 found, the candles, savings jar, large boxes of matches he claimed he couldn't find, 3 'best' jumpers - I have old semi-felted ones that I'm using for gardening and diy but more layers will be needed soon and these go from thick t-shirt upwards, the ginger mountain and treacle and golden syrup pools.

I'll be building raised beds as soon as things harvest - having everything just a foot off the ground is infinitely easier than having things at ground level. Will be going with link-a-bord in blue with my old black ones behind the shed (may try painting them to semi- match). Have decide on link-a -bord (recycled plastic) as it's lightweight and easy to handle if I don't do long lengths - were  2 and 3 m lengths suit me as I can accommodate the dog legs in mum's outer fence and do one bed at a time (my original beds at home were done with the cobbles we dug up - they didn't cover the whole yard - but they would be too heavy for me now). saw an advert on bookface for reclaimed pallet boards but they were collection only so can't have no matter how cheap or desirable they might be. The 'bords' I have are over 10 years old and still going strong (may need to buy a couple of joints)

Will just keep doing what I can with what I have and what can be delivered.

greenbee

elaine241 said:

greenbee said:

This is what I had too - with antibiotics in case of secondary infection due to continued spiking temperature after a month. I had the doxycycline/amoxicillin combo which was horrible. I then stopped taking my temperature as soon as I had two days of normal readings and have avoided doing so since. Picked up around week 6 with just odd bouts of fatigue, then crashed majorly at 18 weeks. Apparently the 35-50 year old age group are the ones who are predominantly getting it this way. Mild/manageable initial symptoms but ongoing issues with symptoms that are difficult to explain - bloods are fine, lungs are fine, ECG is fine despite chest pains and weird HR issues. We’re being warned not to exercise, to rest and to eat a varied diet - in my case I’ve been specifically told to go back to low carb. My only identified issue is low calcium which I am addressing through diet. I’m also continuing vit D and Vit C supplementation in medical advice but knocking off the iron.

I’d thoroughly recommend taking the resting advice seriously. I think my crash (and that of others from what I’m hearing through the support groups) is down to deciding I was better and not resting enough. As someone said, people used to convalesce after things like TB, glandular fever or even flu. PM me if you have any questions.

Oh - and up the fermented foods to help with the antibiotic recovery too!

I have been on the doxycycline for a week and no improvement at all. They are sending me some other antibiotics but not penicillin based. I am not allergic to penicillin but when I had sepsis/flu/pneumonia combo I reacted to the antibiotics as well! I am trying to rest as much as possible but I have also been told to keep moving. The doc has  said she is as certain as possible , without testing, that I have had covid and I am experiencing the continued post viral symptoms including fatigue,cough and viral pneumonia ( oh joy!!). I am 54, did not have seriously bad symptoms when they started but just have not got any better and symptoms continuing. I haven't "seen" anyone to take bloods or respiration etc I suppose that will be next if my symptoms continue. I am feeling tenderness around the glands in my neck which I haven't seen reported anywhere. Fingers crossed I will feel better soon, I am having to do paperwork whilst watching daytime tv! A cruel and unusual punishment!! :-)

Guidance is changing all the time, but I did the double dose of both doxycycline and amoxicillin at the same time, doubling up the double dose of doxycycline for the first 3 days. Wasn't nice at all. Hence stopping recording temps as soon as I could My ongoing symptoms are primarily fatigue (can't get out of bed at all some days kind of fatigue, although this has got better in the last couple of weeks, and the brain fog has gone), chest pains,  muscle pains and wildly erratic and weird heart rate! No exercise, lots of rest. Pottering about is OK, but if my HR goes up to high I have to lie down with my knees up... I'm starting to do a bit more pilates and yoga, but having to pick and choose classes based on what is OK and what makes things worse. 

I haven't had issues with glands, but some people in support groups are flagging it up. There are so many symptoms, and so little consistency, but it may be that some of them have had other viruses - there's also a possibility that some of the testing is picking up pre-existing undiagnosed issues in a lot of people. It'll be a long time before we have decent data and analysis to really understand what's been going on. But stick with resting as much as you can. 

Thriftygifty

Floss said:

Thriftygifty said:

4 - one of our children managed to get something stuck in their ear, off we went to a&e (urgh!!)  They couldn't remove it and referred us, discovered accidentally getting shampoo in his ear when decontaminating managed to dislodge it and I was able to safely remove it with my fingernail. 
5 - what toilet roll is everyone buying that is cheap, we use to get it in HB

Can I ask what it was about A&E that made you go "urgh"? From a professional point of view, as I work in a busy hospital.

Also, Tesco's had 18 roll packs of Andrex for £4 on Saturday, cheaper than their own brand packs.

Sure, however please don't read the above as if I wasn't appreciative of the NHS, which of course I am however there were/are several reasons for the urgh.  One being that as it was middle son, he has a current issue whereby he constantly has his fingers in his mouth which causes massive anxiety from a germ point of view.  You also never know how long you will be, and also because of Covid I didn't know what to expect.  I can't say I walked away feeling comfortable and reassured that we were as safe as possible from a Covid point of view. 

Floss

ThriftyGifty, thanks for that...am I right in thinking that you're not in the NW? I know our ED, Health & Safety and Buildings teams have recently put a lot of time, money & effort into making A&E as COVID-safe & comfortable as possible and we have always had wait-time indicators too. Also for info, our A&E was never closed even when we had C-19 patients.

Thriftygifty

Floss said:

ThriftyGifty, thanks for that...am I right in thinking that you're not in the NW? I know our ED, Health & Safety and Buildings teams have recently put a lot of time, money & effort into making A&E as COVID-safe & comfortable as possible and we have always had wait-time indicators too. Also for info, our A&E was never closed even when we had C-19 patients.

Nope other end of the country, don't get me wrong the staff were lovely, this was minor injuries at smaller hospital not main big one in the city which was the next move and app booked which I need to cancel now (phew). It was all just a little odd, went through main auto doors to be greeted by 2 people in masks with sanitiser station each in charge of a separate queue, one of them stood very close to me to explain I needed to go in the other entrance, I didn't understand why she needed to stand directly next to me and DS, her mask didn't seem to fit properly and was halfway down her nose, as it was minor injuries I needed I was directed out of main doors, right round the hospital to the back door where they had made it one way, so far so good, however the door was a manual door with a handle that you needed to pull down with reasonable force, my theory is this handle is touched by a lot of people and not cleaned? Then go in with a mask on, and in tiny corridor waiting turn, tape on floor again semi fine but distance didn't seem very big, there were couples stood together and then being told only one person allowed in, I didn't understand why there weren't any signs outside telling people this rather than them entering the building, once at front of queue asked to stand in front of heat camera I thought that was good, no hand sanitiser was given though, directed to check in behind a screen and asked to take a seat which was spaced apart, these seats weren't wiped down after each person.  Then when came to treatment, I just kind of presumed that the 2 nurses would have masks and visors and aprons on as when we took baby for immunisations at the doctors the nurse had full set on, at the hospital it was just a mask and due to it being in DS ear they were as expected very close to us trying to restrain him.  Then on the way out again manual doors, we held the 2 doors open for this elderly couple who were in a wheelchair/pushing it and they couldn't get through the doors so weren't able to distance ourselves particularity well other than if we didn't help them. 

wondercollie

Chicken Pox vaccine has been offered in my part of Canada for years.  My sons managed to catch Chicken Pox just before they were due to be vaccinated.  If you do go the vaccine route, you have to remember it isn't a life long cure.  Your child will have to be revaccinated (I think it's every ten years).  Having Chicken Pox as an adult is truly a miserable/horrific time.

I'm a hospital nurse and all I wear is a mask.  Protective gowns and visors are only used when we are with a confirmed positive patient or we are doing a procedure involving suctioning the throat or irrigating wounds.  We don't wear gloves unless required.

It's a bit of a pet peeve of mine, seeing the public running around in gloves.  Just wash your hands frequently.  Gloves just spread the germs around.  You are meant to change gloves after every interaction.  I wash my hands, put on gloves, give an injection.  Remove gloves, wash hands, put on clean gloves to change your dressing.  Repeat procedure.  Running around the shops wearing gloves?  Germ spreading.

euronorris

A&E isn't somewhere we would want to have to attend at the moment. Purely because it feels a higher risk location to be. This is heightened for us as our hospital did close temporarily due to an outbreak in the hospital. They did test everyone in the hospital at that point, and i think they found about 40% of positives were asymptomatic. They seem to have it under control again, thankfully, but we would still rather not have to go there or put anymore pressure on the already overstretched staff.

After the visit to opticians, I have a renewed respect for those wearing PPE day in day out. We were in there over 2 hours, longest by far that we've had to wear masks for, and i was uncomfortable. So everyone doing this all day, every day, especially when the temps outside are high, are just amazing!

Floss

Can I just say (and then I will get off my soapbox!) that if you or family/friends need to go to A&E, minor injuries or Walk-in centre then PLEASE GO. Do not be put off by there having been Covid patients on wards within the hospital - you wouldn't avoid a hospital just because there were patients with septicaemia or meningitis or any other infectious disease on wards would you?

euronorris

Well I wouldn't necessarily know about them to be fair. Whereas I do know about Covid-19. And this is a pandemic, whereas those other infectious diseases are largely under control and so the risk is much, much lower. And I can't help being anxious about it. I wish I could. I wish I could just turn off those anxious feelings, but I can't, so I take steps to make myself and my family feel less at risk. But rest assured, if we need to go, we will. But likewise, if it can be treated at home or via a phone or video appointment with the GP (at least in the first instance) then we will do that. I'm not going to avoid A&E if I break a leg, for example, or badly cut myself.