Day 23 Lockdown
18 April 2020
3034 cases
Recovered: 903
Deceased: 50
My husband is still hospitalised, in intensive care at the George Mediclinic. He has something wrong with his pancreas. Pancreatic inflammation or something like that. The medical staff on the ward are also waiting for more blood test results to make a definitive call. None of us are allowed to go near the hospital. He is not allowed to have a phone with him. I tried to call the hospital only twice today, but we are very worried, of course. The twins doesn’t know that he is sick. There is no simple way to explain it to them, and when we know more, we’ll tell them. They are pretty used to him working away, so there are no questions to field.
I have so much respect for our frontline medical teams right now, in the midst of Covid-19. They not only have to carry on with their normal workload, which is hectic as it is, they also have to deal with this virus on top of everything else. The nurse I spoke to today was calm, professional and helpful. My husband is in good hands.
Whatever dreams I had of being a full-time homeschool mom has disappeared like wispy mists before a blazing morning sun. I am not that mom. I do not have the patience, the knowledge, the resources or the skills to teach very busy toddlers. I am frustrated by my twins – much as I love them, I have zero personal space, and I have nowhere to go for a little peace and a few minutes on my own. Even my trips to the bathroom has an audience and a running commentary on every action. Alice: “Why is mommy taking such a little bit of toilet paper?” James, with all the wisdom in the world: “Mommy is not pooping, Alice, she is having a wee.”
Today I continued decluttering my art supplies storage room (the previous owners of the house built a bone fide bunker in the house – we took off the very heavy metal door and put in a standard one, added some shelves, and presto – the perfect storeroom) and my library. I found two hand and foot mould kits that we must have bought years ago when the twins were babies. I used them today as lockdown memory prints, and half the clay is actually still usable. The other half, not so much. I added some pottery clay we got from the pottery teacher at the school, here’s to hoping it works, otherwise I’ll make another plan. If all else fails, they’ll just have hand prints, and I’ll use the second space for something else. But early days still – hopeful it works.
It is absolutely amazing how much awesome stuff you find when you declutter. I have discovered treasures I forgot I own, and there is a huge black crate full of items I’ll be donating when all this is over. I suspect there will be more added to that – there is still much stuff to wade through. Also so much stuff that I’ll be selling. I did however learn another valuable lockdown lesson with all the decluttering. That big home clean that I’ve been saying will happen when I have more time – nah, time was not the issue. I just really really dislike house cleaning. Who knew?
faikonta 