Lockdown Blog: Day VIII

Day 8 started with a little fun on our daily team Zoom call. I discovered last night that you can have a background on your calls, using a green-screen type set up. This morning I was sat in front of a beautiful waterfall scene, while another colleague chose a beach scene for her background. It certainly gave us all a little smile, and I look forward to the day when we can return to beaches and waterfalls again.

Once the fun of the team call was over, my morning was taken up by searching through my patient caseload to see who needs reviews next. Our trust started using a new computer system yesterday (planned long before the pandemic was even on the horizon) so it took a little longer than it might otherwise have done.

The saving grace as I trawled through the computer system, the garden was visited by a variety of birds on the hunt for food. I’m no twitcher, and clearly from the one image I snapped not great at photographing birds, but I think the garden was visited by two blue tits in our pear tree, two huge pigeons on the fence, a male blackbird (in the picture) on the grass and a female blackbird in the bushes, and finally a wren in the bushes. It was a busy day, and definitely a welcome distraction when the computer system was playing up.

Lunch today was a cheese on toast, followed by more time at the computer. I had a prearranged review with a patient in for the afternoon, as well as a more urgent call for someone who is struggling staying inside. It is definitely a challenge trying to review people and make plans when I don’t know if I am going to be able to review things in person any time soon. For example one of the patients has a slight twitch. This could be related to medication, or it could be something entirely normal. His mum tried to describe it to me over the phone, but it is nothing like seeing it in person, so I am left trying to decide whether I need to change his medication, which is otherwise helping him, or keep things as they are. The sooner we get back to seeing people in person, the better.

The sun came out briefly this afternoon, and the blossom on the plum tree really began to shine. If the weather begins to improve over the next week or so, or if the lockdown is extended beyond Easter, I will definitely be making as much use of the garden as I can. There is nothing quite like it to boost the mood.

Nothing particularly special happened on my walk, although it felt again like fewer people were out and about. It seems to have been getting quieter day by day, and that can only be a good thing. Once home we FaceTime’d Sarah’s family, grandparents included. I think the words chaotic and loud best sums up the conversation, with people having to shout louder and louder so the old folks could hear, but it was nice to see them all, especially coming up to Easter when typically Sarah’s family would be getting together to celebrate.

Dinner was the Sausage Ragù I had made on day 1 of the lockdown. Sarah loved it so much she requested it again, and this time I added chopped carrot for additional vegetables. Even if I say so myself it was delicious, and again I have made enough for lunch tomorrow to boot.

We are both quite tired this evening, it’s hard work staying at home…, so we might have an early night today. I only really have myself to blame, I stayed up last night watching the last couple of episodes of The Tiger King on Netflix. For anyone who has not watched it, it is a completely ludicrous and yet compelling true crime documentary, where pretty much every character involved comes across badly. Well worth a watch if you have seven hours to kill…