Author: Gaynor Leech, Founder of L-W-O
If you are following these self-isolation blogs you will know that most of you will be a week behind us because we where in self-isolation for a week before official lock-down started.
Sunday 5th April, the L-W-O groups have been quiet today. For us it has been very much a family day, catching up with eight out of our 11 grandchildren via What’s App and Messenger and we are so grateful to have access to these facilities but even more grateful that as they are growing up from the little ones to the older ones that they want to speak to us and check we are OK. Truly blessed.
Sadly our Prime Minster was taken to hospital with Covid-19 which drives home that none of us are immune. It was nice to see those that could put politics aside and wish him well and there were lots of posters on social media invoking the war time spirit of “Your Country Needs You”. Many of us will have listened to our Queen who addressed the nation, this wonderful lady who is 93 years old is a steady hand at the helm and an inspiration who has dedicated her life to our country and the commonwealth. As she finished her speech, she too invoked the war time spirit though Vera Lynn’s song “We’ll Meet Again”.
Monday 6th April - hubby was up early for the elderly persons hour at Aldi, he was armed with his mask, gloves and can of disinfectant spray for the trolley. Last week he was in and out in 10 minutes but despite having a list he only came home with 50% of what we needed. This week however, with the help of the list he got everything except two items which weren’t in stock. Who would of thought that doing a normal grocery shop would put such fear into our generation? No online slots available at the major supermarkets. Today we sat out in the garden and I planted some Dahlia tubers and I found a packet of seeds that I happily sprinkled into a planter.
Tuesday 7th April - we had discussions on L-W-O on prescriptions, using electronic services and checking expiry dates of medication and would they be safe after their expiry date. I was sad to receive notification that the Value Based Lymphoedema Symposium scheduled for June in Swansea had been postponed, however in these unprecedented times this was absolutely the right thing to do. There has been a suggestion that it would be rescheduled for December, if that’s the case its highly unlikely that I or the few members I have spoken to will attend. I personally try to slow down and usually take December and January off from running L-W-O to make sure we and our family have a good Christmas and New Year, unless of course there is an emergency on our support groups which I pick up via my mobile phone.
This also started a conversation away from our group as to conferences being held in September and October while we are all hoping that lock-down will be over by then. There is still the question as to whether social distancing will be in place and how will the organisers plan for this?
Wednesday 8th April – My phone bleeped to remind me it was Hairdresser day oh NO! Its been cancelled. My hair is exceptionally curly there are now bits growing in different directions I managed to keep my tremors reasonable stable to cut my fringe, having curly or wavy hair has its advantages, there are no straight lines. Hubby managed to drop his phone a couple of weeks ago smashing the screen and now its temperamental as to whether it will work or not. We have an unwritten rule in our house when his phone is no longer fit for purpose, I get a new phone and he has my old phone that’s the theory. "I wonder who made that rule?" She says, with a smile on her face.
Mental Health issues, Vitamin D and gardens were today's topics on support groups, including the children’s group. My hubby has always said "Everyone should have a hobby" and this is so true in these present times. Therefore, this week I had a complete change of direction and picked up on my Family History which I was surprised to find I hadn’t touched since 2010 as other life events took over. It was great fun reading back all that I had written, and I decided to revamp my two-family history websites. I have both my Maternal and Paternal families going back as far as the early 1600’s. For those that follow me closely, will know that, I am not a fan of Word Press, but I have had an account since 2015 so I persevered and managed to set up the first few pages. It isn’t as responsive as the L-W-O website and as yet, I can’t find the features that would make the appearance how I want it. However, for now I will persevere and see where it takes me. Mentioning genealogy on support group I was pleasantly surprised that other members where also interested.
Chinese Proverb
"To forget one's ancestors is to be a brook without a source,
a tree without roots".
Thursday 9th April unfortunately two of our members have reported this week that they have a recurrence of cellulitis and they either had emergency antibiotics or were able to get them prescribed. It still baffles me why we are unable to figure out that some of our members regularly get recurrences of cellulitis. One of our members is in hospital, reason unknown, but she is battling to get the staff to listen to her as to why injections, blood pressure readings shouldn't be given on her affected side even though, she was issued with a coloured arm band to say she is at risk. It has been very clear today while several of our members are doing their best to keep busy and are spending as much time as they can in their gardens. Others are not doing so well; you can tell by the writing patterns and the words they use that life is a struggle.
I continued with the Family History theme and have also put a few finishing touches to a video presentation I have been writing for the last month. Hubby is managing to keep himself very busy in the garden and his workshop. One of our sons, my daughter-in-law and granddaughter came around at lunch time to pick up their Easter Eggs, luckily, I had bought all my grandchildren’s eggs before we started self-isolating. It was so alien to put the Easter Eggs on the doorstep, then stand two meters back so that they can pick them up, when they can no longer just walk into the home they grew up in and you can’t hug them when they leave. Then my eldest son came around for his daughters Easter Eggs and brought a Victoria Sponge which our 16-year-old Granddaughter baked; she is a good baker.
Friday 10th April – Leaky legs (Lymphorrhea) was the topic of conversation today and one member experienced a leaky hand, this is the first time I remember hearing about leaky hands so there were conversations on how best to deal with this. I really must put something together on the importance of continuing to wear compression I sense there has been one or to slips and we are also seeing signs of members needing to be remeasured.
The last few weeks I finally published a new video presentation to our YouTube channel I am thrilled that I have now found a way to put more presentations on this very underused social media platform of ours. Please subscribe if you haven’t already, the more subscribers we get the more likely I am to add content. Our latest video presentation is on Deep Breathing & Meditation for Lymphoedema. The video presentation I am presently working on is the benefits of gardening, only each time I design a page it leads to another page. There are all these ideas swirling around in my head. I wish they would stop on this one I have changed direction so many times.
Saturday 11th April - we have survived another week in lock-down it was lovely warm sunny day and we were able to go Alfresco all day with drinks, snacks and our main meal out in the fresh air. Never been so grateful for our garden and I can’t begin to imagine what our lives would be like if we lived in a flat or a home where there is no outdoor space.
What have we learned this week?
Even though the majority of us are more than aware of why we have to stay self-isolated, we understand the need to protect each other, but the loss of being able to hug each other, the touch of an arm or handshake, the warmth of being near your family and friends the pain at times becomes unbearable. We are now clearly seeing how some people are really beginning to struggle with the lack of human contact. Please keep in touch with your family and friends, make it a priority to talk to someone everyday whether that is by phone, or via social media or the internet. Remember to say;
Hello
