IM-PCP – Page 51 – Physician In Numbers

A Day Of Firsts

Today was a day of several firsts. Thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic, everything is changing, quickly.

I started this series of posts at the end of October 2018. I had just cut back my hours from full time to 90%, and wanted to use my new free time wisely. Some of that time was to relax, but I also wanted to improve my fitness, make my home a more pleasant place to stay, and work on becoming a more well-rounded human being.

My last update was in January of this year, with a few wins, and a bunch of misses. I set new goals, many of which are not going to be possible to hit given the new recommendations around social distancing (#flattenthecurve).

I had planned to follow up at the end of May, but I would like to review my progress so far, and offer some course correction to my goals for the next few months.

This Is What You Have Been Saving For

The last few days have been a whirlwind of unexpected spending: food, electronics, and, yes, toilet paper.

All of this has come with a price tag, and I see the savings accounts dropping and dropping and dropping, which makes me anxious.

My husband points out, though, that this is what we have been saving for. An emergency.

While it would be great if the COVID-19 pandemic skips over our community, leaving little impact, we can’t count on it.

Fitness Log #73

Just because I am a doctor, and encourage patients every day to exercise, doesn’t mean that I don’t have my own issues with getting sufficient exercise. Long hours, tiring days, family obligations, illness: they are all stumbling blocks, no matter what your occupation.

I have been recording my exercise weekly, mostly to keep myself accountable for reaching my goal (sometimes this works, sometimes I miss). If anyone reads this, I hope they will take this as encouragement to keep going, acknowledgement that it isn’t always easy.

The Second 100 Blog Posts

I am surprised and thrilled that I just finished by 200th post this week.

It feels a little narcissistic to go over them all, but what else is this blog but a place for me to write what I like, and hope someone else finds it helpful and/or entertaining?

And with that, here we go….

The Stories We Tell Ourselves

This week, I was supposed to be attending WCICON20 in Las Vegas. I have been looking forward to going for months.

I wanted to attend the first meeting, in Park City, but couldn’t arrange the time off. Many people posted how much they enjoyed it, and I was looking forward to meeting people who want to talk about finances, education, and even wellness. More, I was looking forward to meeting people who aren’t all internists. Maybe I even had some fan-girl interest in meeting the people behind the blogs I read (or podcasts I listen to) each week.

Not to mention, I was looking forward to 1 week away from the office, away from the EMR, and possibly in some sun.

However, in the past weeks, we have had to deal with the arrival of the novel coronavirus in our country, and the prospect of quarantine (or self-quarantine).

Fitness Log #72

Wednesday Woolgathering, Procrastination Edition

Yesterday was a long day, and the post I was planning just didn’t get done. I’m putting it off to another day, and instead have some short snippets and updates, mostly about procrastination. Fitting, since I am publishing this late in the day.

My Goals Versus COVID-19

The weather is wintry, but the lengthening days tell my hind-brain that Spring is coming. And in my home, Spring means Spring Cleaning. Tidying. Emptying the kitchen cabinets and all the closets of old, unusable items.

On the other hand, this year we have the novel coronavirus, the cause of COVID-19, making its way across the globe. There are currently only a few known cases in the USA, but very likely there will be many more soon.

It has been 11 years since the swine flu outbreak, but I do recall hospital policy: you were not to come to work if febrile. If you had proven swine flu, you were to stay home for quite some time, until you were unlikely to spread your infection to patients and other staff.

My husband is very concerned about the possibility of having to self-quarantine. In addition to the possibility that we might get stuck in our home for a while, he also has to worry about his 2 elderly parents, who live just a few miles away. He worries about possible food shortages and how they will get supplies if this virus hits our city hard.

Author: IM-PCP