2023: The Year in Review

Posted on by Astrid

Hi everyone. It’s the last day of the year. I am dealing with a nasty cold and very much overloaded by the early fireworks. I really expected the institution town to be quiet, but it isn’t. Regardless, my sense of duty is stronger than my wish to crawl into bed with a PRN tranquilizer and that sense of duty tells me I need to review the past year. So here goes.

I started out 2023 cautiously optimistic. I mean, I admitted in my hopes for 2023 that my day schedule, though better than the one my then support coordinator had given me, was far from ideal. In the months that followed, it would turn out that “far from ideal” was really a euphemism and that the intensive support home wasn’t suitable for me. I know my staff there blame my critical attitude, but honestly my current day schedule is pretty much ideal and, moreover, at least my staff try to think in terms of validating my needs rather than fueling competition for care.

By late January, I had pretty much decided I didn’t feel I could live in the intensive support home long-term, but it took till mid-March for a meeting to formally make the decision to start moving plans again. Then I waited two months before hearing any steps had been taken, then another two before that awesome E-mail from my now assigned staff to my mother-in-law asking what color of paint I wanted on my wall.

In the meantime, I didn’t sit still, though sometimes it felt like it. I indeed wasn’t as active as I was during 2022. I participated in the April #AtoZChallenge on my blog, which was really my only active month this year.

I also helped set up swimming for the intensive support home. After all, the idea to ask the institution pool whether they had a time slot for me and a staff to try out swimming, came from me, and then it turned out this time slot wasn’t available just once, but each week.

For the most part though, over the spring and summer, I struggled. It didn’t help that my support staff came up with the conclusion that I got more one-on-one support than I was getting funding for. This led to regular arguments with my former staff about how to cut those hours once I moved.

When I actually moved and my hours had to be cut, the staff soon enough figured out that this wasn’t a viable situation. Thankfully, I got my hours back, first through my care agency and then through funding from the Care Office.

Once this had been sorted, my life significantly improved. For one thing, I was spending more time creating things out of polymer clay. I also explored other activities, such as baking.

In the health department, 2023 was a mixed bag. I did reach my goal of getting to a healthy BMI, but over the past couple of months I have been struggling to get in the movement needed to meet my activity goals. That is, I haven’t met my movement goals several times this past month. One reason is the weather and the fact that, now that I’m at my current care home, I cannot (yet) go swimming regularly. Another factor though may be the fact that I’ve lost weight and haven’t adjusted my movement goal accordingly. Still another factor may be laziness though.

Lastly, 2023 was the year I left Christianity for good. I mean, I’m still spiritual, but I don’t care for a God that condemns the vast majority of people to eternal suffering, many of whom simply for being themselves.

The Wednesday HodgePodge (November 29, 2023)

Posted on by Astrid

Hi everyone. It’s been four weeks since I last participated in the Wednesday HodgePodge, so I thought I’d join in again. For those who don’t know what it is, the Wednesday HodgePodge is an opportunity for bloggers to answer a diverse selection of questions. Here goes.

1. Does anybody really know what day it is? Last week we skipped the Hodgepodge and I just assumed this week would find us in December, but nope. Still November. Do you wear a watch? Use a paper calendar or strictly electronic? What’s your favorite hour of the day? Why?
Well, usually I know what day it is without looking it up, but I was confused yesterday too. I told my staff, when she was looking up who would be working today, to look at the 28th. Nope though, it’s the 29th already.

I do wear a watch, ie. my Apple Watch. I bought it primarily for its activity tracking purposes, but honestly now I find myself using it as a timekeeping device too. In fact, my assigned staff at my former home said I’d keep track of staff’s whereabouts by the second. That wasn’t true, but oh well.

My favorite hour of the day is probably 8PM, as that’s when I’m most energetic. I am currently writing this blog post around that time.

2. Tell us something about how you celebrated the Thanksgiving holiday.
I didn’t. It’s not a thing here in the Netherlands. I did want to benefit from Black Friday, which is a thing (of course, since companies benefit from it ultimately), but when ordering something online that day, had forgotten to check the store’s newsletter whether they had any coupon codes.

3. What’s a sound you hate to hear?
Where to even get started? The vacuum cleaner and lawn mower come to mind now as most common sounds I hate, but I am generally very sound sensitive. Oh wait, a particularly annoying sound is people whistling.

4. Where do you not mind waiting?
Uhm, nowhere. I’m not very patient and can’t handle long periods of nothingness.

5. I really wish____________________________________.
That my one-on-one gets approved real soon.

6. Insert your own random thought here.
I’m having a nasty cold. Or maybe it’s COVID, since I didn’t get tested. I doubt it though, since I’m still at roughly the same fitness level I was last week. That is, my cardio fitness level according to my Apple Watch has decreased, but it isn’t like I can no longer go for 45-minute walks.

Gratitude List (January 21, 2023) #TToT

Posted on by Astrid

Hi everyone. I’m once again (or still) struggling a lot. Each time I think I see a glimmer of hope, it gets crushed one way or another and the bottom line is that I’m probably stuck in this dark pit for a while still. For this reason, I thought I’d do a gratitude post once again in order to remind myself there are still positives out there. As usual, I’m joining in with Ten Things of Thankful (#TToT).

1. I am grateful for Apfelstrüdel. This is, or so I believe, a German type of baked goods with apple and cinnamon. Last Sunday, my husband and I went to have lunch at La Place, a type of restaurant, and their Apfelstrüdel was on sale. Even though it’s sweet, I decided to have it as my main part of the meal.

2. I am grateful for a trip to Action, a discount store, with my husband on Sunday. I bought cleaning wipes, toothpaste and crocheting supplies.

3. I am grateful my assigned staff is back at work after being on vacation for a couple of weeks.

4. I am grateful for another visit from my mother-in-law on Tuesday. It was good.

5. I am grateful for apples, bananas and blueberries. We didn’t have fruit during most of the week, so on Sunday, I bought apples and bananas when at Aldi with my husband. Then on Tuesday, I bought blueberries. I am grateful that, on Tuesday, my mother-in-law reminded me to buy my own peeling knife. You see, the care home’s kitchen is being reconstructed, so all kitchen supplies are in boxes. Had I not bought the peeling knife, my staff wouldn’t have been able to peel and cut my apples.

6. I am grateful for sleep. Over the past week, most days, I got at least reasonably good sleep.

7. I am grateful my cold, which I’ve had all week, seems to be getting a little better. At least I’m not sneezing like crazy anymore.

8. I am grateful my husband ordered new walking shoes for me, to be delivered to my in-laws today. He isn’t coming by for a visit tomorrow because of my cold symptoms, but will bring them along next week.

9. I am grateful a staff helped me manage the chain stitch of crocheting today. I already had some practice with it before, but it was always hit and miss. I am hoping to learn some more stitches someday once I get confident working with this one.

10. I am grateful for a long walk this afternoon. I am also grateful that, despite having limited energy this morning, I was able to have a relatively good time for most of the day.

What are you grateful for?

The COVID Chronicles, #2: Just a Bad Cold (In My Case)?

Posted on by Astrid

I didn’t write a blog post yesterday, because I was too tired. Other than that though, COVID seems to be treating me relatively well. On Wednesday and yesterday, I was horribly sneezy and, by yesterday evening, I started coughing and having a sore throat. That seems to be gone now though. I’m still a little sneezy and sniffy, but other than that, I feel okay. It’s still morning, of course, and my symptoms tend to worsen by mid-afternoon and into the evening.

Yesterday afternoon, I was going to have a lie down, but couldn’t really give in to the need for rest. I still have this weird thought, instilled in me since childhood, that, if you have a fever, you’re sick and if you don’t run a fever, you’re not sick. My staff took my temperature yesterday and I didn’t even have a slightly elevated temp.

Of course, I am lucky that I don’t have a fever. My sense of smell and taste are also mostly still normal. Or almost as normal as they would be with an ordinary case of the common cold anyway. Water did taste slightly bitter yesterday, which sucks, since I do of course need to stay hydrated. Now, it’s back to tasting okay. I can even have coffee and enjoy it, something my staff who had COVID recently said took a while for her. Overall, I’m pretty confident that, if I do get enough sleep, I’ll be symptom-free enough to get out of isolation by Monday when the five-day required quarantine is up.

As for my fellow clients, four out of the original five who contracted COVID last week, went back to the day center on Wednesday. The fifth one is still rather poorly. I’m praying he’ll make a speedy recovery too. One client, the one I had the nightmare about earlier, will be out of quarantine tomorrow or so I think. Another is supposed to be quarantining till Monday like me. Two are still negative. I’m praying they’ll stay that way.

The COVID Chronicles, #1: The Two Red Lines on the Reddest Day

Posted on by Astrid

Yesterday was February 22, 2022. In the European way of writing the date, it was a palindrome: 22-02-2022. Not only that, but we won’t get any more twos (or the same numbers at all, for that matter) in a date in our lifetime. The number two is red in my synesthetic perception. How ironic that, on this day, I got the two red lines on my COVID test. Oh well, I got the PCR test, not the self-administered lateral flow test, so no red lines at all, but you get the idea. Yes, you read that right: I’m positive for COVID now.

I had the PCR test at around 11AM. Before then, I was feeling mostly fine. Well, I wasn’t feeling 100%, but I hadn’t since Thursday and my two lateral flow tests had been negative. I trusted those, sort of. Then, I started having teary eyes, but both the staff and I attributed that to the test. I still had a headache, but no more severe than I’d had since Thursday.

By mid-afternoon, I was having trouble not sniffing a lot, but was still in denial. After all, the thought of my staff having to wear PPE, my inability to be in close physical contact and my need for five more days in self-isolation triggered me.

By 4PM, my assigned home staff came on. She had had COVID a week ago and we started joking that she wanted me in the positive camp. By this time, I was truly experiencing significant sniffiness, so if it wasn’t COVID, it certainly was a bad case of the common cold. I also had a bad headache and what I jokingly called COVID brain, ie. an inability to find words (I just had trouble finding the word “find”), etc. I think it’s an actual thing though.

The evening staff came by my room at 9:15PM, but I was too busy to notice she was wearing PPE. I finished what I was doing and turned to face her. She told me calmly that, sadly, I have COVID.

I didn’t sleep much at all last night despite taking paracetamol before bedtime. In fact, I awoke at 3:15AM and couldn’t get back to sleep. Despite this, I’m not feeling very fatigued as of yet. As such, I consider myself really lucky that I seem to be having a mild case of the virus.

Five Favorite Cold Remedies #5Things

Posted on by Astrid

Today’s prompt for #5Things is favorite cold remedies. Now I must say I personally don’t believe in preventing or treating a cold with home remedies. There might be measures you can take to prevent infection, but I’m not even sure. Once you’ve got a cold though, whatever you do, you’ll just have to ride it out.

That being said, I do believe in things that can relieve the discomfort from your cold symptoms. I’m not sure these should be called “remedies”. Here they are though.

1. Green tea. Green tea is almost good for everything. I mean, people here at the facility even get it for constipation. I am not sure there are actually antiviral substances in green tea, but a hot cup definitely helps me feel better when I’m having a cold.

2. Chicken broth or soup. I remember my husband at one point telling me that he’d read that chicken soup treats colds because of its antibacterial properties. My husband’s point being, of course, that the common cold is a virus. That being said, similar to green tea, chicken soup or broth definitely helps me feel better when I’m feeling under the weather.

3. Black licorice. I know, I know, black licorice is a pretty risky type of candy, with even small amounts raising your blood pressure significantly. That being said, sucking on some licorice definitely helps me when I’m having a sore throat or cough. Plus, it’s far less yucky than other throat-comforting candies or remedies.

4. Essential oils. I don’t really believe in treating actual diseases with essential oils, but I do believe in relieving discomfort with them. There are a number of so-called immune boosting and seasonal discomfort blends out there. For a cold, I personally prefer blends with peppermint, eucalyptus and/or lemon essential oil in them.

5. Fresh orange juice. I don’t normally care for orange juice, but it does feel comforting when I have a cold. Besides, if its vitamin C won’t boost my immune system, at least it won’t harm it either.

What’s your favorite cold remedy?