[healthwork, plague diaries] notes

[kaberett]

Yesterday morning: phone call with UCH endocrinology. They validated my total failure to have got bloods done prior to the appointment, and also the entire call can pretty much be summarised as "... shrug.emoji?" -- which is honestly about what I was expecting.

This afternoon: phone call from physio re ankle! With a student physio to run me through the take-in questionnaire. I continue to not know Anything about anatomy, which made explaining what hurt where in response to which actions An Adventure; it was quite clear that a laying on of hands would have... helped.

("... and you had no follow-up at all?" said the physio, in terms of restrained incredulity, before trying to pick his way delicately through explaining to me that it sounded like Really Quite A Bad Sprain and also like there was Tendon Damage and, well, maybe we can get some improved stability and range-of-motion...)

Anyway I have three sets of very gentle exercise to be doing between now and when I see them in about two weeks' time (pain permitting: cross legs, press little toes together, hold for approx 10 seconds, three times twice a day; while seated, lift heels up such that I'm on tip-toes 10-15 times, every few hours; standing, push up onto tiptoes 5-10 times) and maybe if I'm super organised I'll manage to book in blood tests while I'm out at the hospital anyway.

Agoraphobia: a work in progress. I... really need to decide how I'm prioritising "managing debilitating and dangerous anxiety" versus "not engaging in logical fallacies that increase everyone's transmission risk", sigh.

Comments

[cesy]

I relate to that last paragraph a lot.

[kaberett]

I'm aware that part of the reason I'm not going out is that I've been dodging out into the road in a way that's frankly dangerous in preference to passing within 2m of other pedestrians (for a total shared airtime of less than five seconds), which is the wrong answer to the relevant risk calculations and is, well, some of why I haven't been.

So, on the one hand, I can probably calm my hindbrain down a bunch by just... wearing a mask whenever I'm out, and passing people within 2m if the alternative is a lengthy backtrack or running into the road! On the other one of the Downsides of masks is they give people a false sense of security and encourage them to engage in riskier behaviours than they otherwise would in ways that are broadly detrimental to society and also are exactly why I'd be wearing them (because it's not like the difference they make to the transmission risk in the specific scenario I'm talking about is even quantifiable.) On the third hand, I'd be further normalising Correct Mask Wearing...? ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

[fyreharper]

I also go out Much Less than I used to because playing dodge-the-zombies is stressful, but this is what I’ve settled on for making outdoor navigation viable (ymmv depending on things like “how dense is the potential-zombie population out in your area” etc):
1. If I am going out (further than “across the road to fetch something from the car”), I bring a mask.
2. If I encounter people that I can’t avoid by at least a good 3 meters or so, I put my mask on (or maybe more than that - People Anywhere Near Remotely Near Me - for the purpose of normalizing mask-wearing). Likewise if I’m going into an area where I expect there to Be People, and/or where there is enough traffic to make it unsafe to walk in the street, I will preemptively mask up. (Wandering around empty streets where mostly there are no humans and no cars, with occasional distant humans, I might not bother masking. But I’ll have it with me and easily accessible, and be paying attention to whether people are around.)
3. If I have to pass another person on the sidewalk and both of us are properly wearing masks, my brain screams a little bit but it’s fine (IT’S FINE IT’S FINE IT’S FINE). If I have to pass close another person who *isn’t* properly wearing a mask... often I will hold my breath until I am far enough past them. Because it doesn’t *matter* so much what they’re breathing out, if *I’m not breathing in*. (And either way I’m likely to walk fast. Because Ugh Zombies Get Away.)

I think if the “riskier behaviours” that your mask-wearing is encouraging you to take are “passing near occasional other people for a few seconds outdoors”, that’s probably not a thing to worry about - I suspect at that point you may just be tricking your brain into using more realistic risk-assessment? (Unless you actually just aren’t okay even in the abstract with accepting the level of risk that goes with passing someone briefly, in which case it sounds like your current avoidance of doing so would be Accurately Corresponding To etc.)

[vass]

<3

[kaberett]

♥

(i always like hearing from you)

[sfred]

<3

[kaberett]

♥

[silveradept]

I witness this, and continue to wonder why there are so many zombies out and about.

Strength and health to you and your exercises.