Today marks day 1 of my self isolation, or quarantine for the coronavirus COVID-19. A 14 day quarantine to reduce the risk of exposure for other people and to monitor yourself for any signs and symptoms of the COVID-19 disease. Follow me on my 14 day journey.
Why? Because I visited the Netherlands to see my family and friends. When I booked my flight in January, the virus was relative unknown, I for one had not heard about it yet. When time got closer to leave March 9 2020, more reports and news became available. But still most cases were reported in China, and later in Italy.
Should I have canceled my flight? Maybe, but at that point the outbreak was not world wide, at least not that I was aware. While I was in Holland, it became clearer in the first few days, that we may have something far more serious going on than we at first had thought.
It did not take long to start implementing the guidelines of social distancing.
While I was there, I mostly limited my contact to include my parents and brother and his wife. Usually we do quite a bit of visiting and shopping and some sight seeing. But all that was cut off voluntarily by the weekend of March 14th. The rest of the time we spend at home, mostly indoors, with just a couple of trips to get groceries.
I was able to return home to Canada on March 26th. Lucky enough I had disinfectant wipes brought with me from Canada, and I used them liberally during the train ride to Amsterdam. And later on the plane ride. After some delays in Toronto, because of flight cancelations, I arrived back in Winnipeg at 12.35 at night.
The husband and son were there to pick me up, and I drove my own car home, while they went home together in their truck. It was very strange not to hug and connect with my family as I would have normally done, but keeping our distant.
The husband informed me that he was going to stay with our son and his family and we would talk more the next day. So I was staying in the house now, and had kept myself isolated in the bedroom most of this first day. After talking with the husband it became clear that he will be staying with the son for the 14 days.
This first day was long, also because I only slept about 3 hours. When I woke up, I realized I should have some disinfectant ready to wipe down surfaces to reduce the spread of germs. So I made a solution with my favourite Shaklee Basic G, which kills almost everything including SARS viruses.
When ever I went out of the room, I had a cloth with me to wipe down everything, and I confined myself to mostly the bedroom. I played Mayong and started a new book and emptied my suitcase.
Then at supper time fatigue hit me like a brick wall and I slept for almost 6 hours. I have been awake for a few hours now, trying to get my emails, which every time I have been oversees is a pain to get at again.
Something to do with different servers, but it is very annoying not to be able to connect the easy way. Well, I think I will leave it for now, and as we head into day 2 of the self isolation, I will try and sleep a bit more. Tomorrow is a new day.
Day 2 of self isolation
I was able to sleep until about 7 AM, and felt much more rested. Again, no fever today, just a slight cough, but I have had this for most of the winter.
This self monitoring is different. It gets the paranoia going. I keep asking myself: Am I feeling sick; is my cough worse or different, do I feel hot? And many other questions. Then I realize what I am doing and have to tell myself to smarten up. I am fine.
So after my morning coffee, I decided to tackle the bathroom. While I was away, the husband had renovated the bathroom. He installed inflow heating and tiled the floor and bathtub. It looks so wonderland neat! He was able to save the mural I had painted several years ago.
With any kind of renovations there is always a lot of dirt and dust to clean up, so today I cleaned most of the dirt. And then laundry. This kept me busy for most of the day. I also started preparing to sew face masks.
The husband and son spoke to me for a while outside, keeping our distance. Good to hear what is going on and what projects they are working on.
Day 4
Day 4 of my self isolation continues to find me busy. Yesterday I deep cleaned the bathroom, I just love the way it turned out! The husband still needs to finish a few small things , but that will come over time.
He continues to stay with the youngest boy and his family. We just have our daily chat on the deck to keep me informed about all the going ons. Yesterday, I woke up really early(3 AM) and could not get back to sleep. I decided I might as well get up and started cutting out facemarks.
The pattern I am started using is recommended by Owensboro Health. It is a fitted facemark which requires a bit more sewing, but after trying out my prototype, decided I liked it much more than the surgical type masks. Personally, I think the fitted mask will offer more protection than the surgical mask. Most people who are not health care workers, do not wear those properly, making them useless and inefficient in protecting anyone.
Taking a soiled, contaminated mask off, also is something people need to be aware of.
The masks I am making are cotton or cotton blend, double layered with a pocket. You can add tissue paper in the pocket for better protection. These masks are rated to be effective for about 50% in filtering out particles. Adding the tissue paper increases its effectiveness.
On this website I found a better pattern for making my mask. However I found the elastic not nearly as comfortable as the ties. So my next batch will be ties only.
Today I continues to do a bit more house cleaning, and went for a short walk outside. The rest of the day I spend sewing on the masks. I found the way I am currently making them is very tedious, and will make some improvements to the next lot.
Day 7
Today is the halfway point. So far still doing ok, no fever, and no change in my occasional cough that I have all winter long. Continue to make facemarks, given out 44 so far. Talked to friends and family, mostly by phone. The husband and I talk outside keeping our distance. Next project is making OR caps, our hospital likes these for the nurses, so I will give it a try.
Day 13
Last day of isolation! Yeah, I am happy to report that I am still feeling the same as the first day, so no increased cough, no fever, etc. All in all time has passed rather quickly, with me being super busy sewing. To date I have finished well over a hundred face masks, and have about as many in various stages of completion. In addition, I have finished 24 OR caps and have about 35 almost finished, with another 12 ready to be assembled.
Because I have no elastic, and thus have to make my own ties or strings, it takes me a lot longer. Making and attaching the ties takes up almost half the time making the face masks. I can almost make an OR cap in as much time as it takes to make one face mask!
So today is the last day, with this morning busy disinfecting as many surfaces as possible. This to eliminate any potential lingering germs, then when the husband comes home tomorrow, all will be well. I am looking forward to just doing the social distancing!
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