I decided to separate this part from my previous post. I will be adding updates to it!
(Original text, 13 III 2020)
COVID-19 made its way into my home town. As far as Poland is concerned, Leżajsk was one of the first places with an officially confirmed case of coronavirus infection. This was very surprising to me because it's a small town with about 13,000-14,000 inhabitants or so. My mom and cousin told me that hundreds of people moved out in the past year, so it may be even less than that. There are more officially confirmed cases of infection now and certainly more unofficial ones too. That first person is a 57-year old woman, my mom's acquaintance.
(Original text, 13 III 2020)
COVID-19 made its way into my home town. As far as Poland is concerned, Leżajsk was one of the first places with an officially confirmed case of coronavirus infection. This was very surprising to me because it's a small town with about 13,000-14,000 inhabitants or so. My mom and cousin told me that hundreds of people moved out in the past year, so it may be even less than that. There are more officially confirmed cases of infection now and certainly more unofficial ones too. That first person is a 57-year old woman, my mom's acquaintance.
My
tonsillectomy was cancelled, almost everything closed down, Leżajsk
might be put under quarantine soon, meaning nobody will be allowed to
leave or enter the town. Apart from taking the dogs for the walks, I
don't go anywhere, I also stopped visiting my grandparents because I
don't want to put them at risk. My mom is still going to work every
day... I asked her to consider shutting down for a while, but she told
me we wouldn't have enough money if she did that. My dad is using the
outbreak as an excuse to drink and party with the neighbours, which is
extremely irresponsible. Two of our neighbours are doctors and they most
likely dealt with infected patients, one of them almost certainly
did. My drunk dad couldn't care less.
I
felt quite anxious and scared one evening, but overall I remain calm
about this situation! Since I hardly ever go to public places or
interact with people this lifestyle is nothing new to me, I don't mind
it at all (I just wish I didn't have to be with my dad). I wash my hands
every 30-60 minutes, I clean various objects before using them, I keep
my towel and toothbrush in my room, I don't let anybody touch my bed. I
check the news here and there, but I definitely don't obsess over
anything. I'm used to all the fear mongering in media, but here's one
thing that I did not expect - the instant rise of hatred and xenophobia.
One
man sneezed on another man in a local shop and a fight broke out, it
was bad enough that one of the eyewitnesses fainted and an ambulance had
to be called. People from other towns and cities are sending threats to
people from Leżajsk, blaming the outbreak on us and that poor woman who
happened to be the first person in Podkarpacie (our province) diagnosed
with the virus. The situation is bad enough, why are people so
hell-bent on making it even worse? I can't wrap my mind around all the
unnecessary aggression, it's not helping anybody. My heart breaks for
those who died, lost their friends and relatives, are fighting for their
life or became separated from their loved ones.
This
is not the first pandemic and it won't be the last. Humans destroyed
this world beyond recognition and made it much more hospitable for
dangerous viruses and bacteria. This is our home now.
Stay safe, everyone!
(Update, 15 III 2020)
Sunday was bad. In the morning my parents found a dead cat in our front yard, we think somebody just threw the body over the fence at night and left. It's very unlikely that the cat entered our yard on its own - most people around here don't have any dogs and we have two, no cat would ever think about crossing our fence. Additionally there were no sounds of fighting that night (the dogs barked, but they always bark), no traces of blood or ripped flesh/fur. I didn't get to see the cat, but the rest of the family did and they said the body wasn't mutilated at all. My younger brother told me the cat looked similar to Dimka, which freaks me out!
The cat is now buried in the woods. We have no idea how and when it died, but if that person who put in our yard was its owner... I can only imagine it had a horrible life and died in a nasty way. Who on earth disposes of their pet's body like that? People are heinous. And what if the cat was diseased? Fortunately the dogs seem to be okay, mom called a veterinarian and she advised us to bathe them, and so we did. Then they spent 5 hours indoors and showed no signs of sickness, so we released them back outside. While they were at home, I had a close call with Robin: at one point he tried to attack both of my cats. I yelled at the bastard and made sure all three didn't come into contact again, but now I'm worried because it looks like the situation with the dead cat has piqued his aggression towards cats. He was mostly gentle with them before.
On top of that my dad's behaviour has been absolutely atrocious during the weekend. He's completely drunk all of the time, to the point he's barely registering anything that is happening around him. It doesn't stop him from trashing the kitchen, though - he did it 3 times in one day. He's constantly impeding every single thing we do. Just cleaned the kitchen after he made a mess in it? He will come and make another mess, probably worse than before. There is nothing he can be trusted with, he has to be treated like a toddler who attempts to insert a fork into an electrical socket every time you look away. I can't stand him. It blows my mind how many negative traits can one person have. He's lazy, dumb, irresponsible, lying, exploitative, unhygienic, noisy, obnoxious, mean, spiteful, manipulative, selfish and immature. He can't see past his own inflated ego. He makes me wish I never had a dad.
The situation with the virus is getting worse too. It's spreading, there are 8 confirmed cases in my town (that I know of). One infected man went to the hospital on March 6th, there he was misdiagnosed and moved from place to place, my mom told me he's in critical state now and there isn't much hope left for him. I feel so sorry for him, I can't help but think there are hundreds of similar cases all over the world. The entire hospital is under quarantine, new patients aren't allowed in, which means many people won't get help in time. The town looks deserted, but this is a good sign: people are in their homes, most of them treat the danger with seriousness. Thankfully my mom said she won't go to work too. All of us are feeling well, but my older brother's fiancée is sick. She's in my prayers now, she's such a wonderful person that has been through a lot already, her father was also an alcoholic and died in a car accident. I sincerely hope she will recover soon.
(Update, 17 III 2020)
We're all still feeling well, there are no worrying symptoms. Unfortunately my older brother's fiancée is in a bad shape :( She hasn't had a chance to see a doctor yet, so nobody knows whether it's COVID-19 or not. God bless her, she's a strong woman with a very positive attitude, I believe she will be able to combat the disease. My mom decided she's going to treat some of her patients - but only urgent cases, with all the necessary precautions taken. I think it's a reasonable choice. My dad finally ran out of booze, so today he gave us much less trouble than usual. I'm beyond certain he's going to stock up very soon, but at least we had an opportunity to catch our breaths.
As for the man I mentioned in my previous update, he passed away yesterday... May he rest in peace. The death toll is rapidly growing worldwide. I'm not particularly scared of catching the virus because my overall health has improved lately. I'm not even scared of being defeated by it since I'm not very attached to my life. I am really concerned about my loved ones, though - there are many people I deeply care about, losing them so suddenly would be soul-crushing for me... Out of my 4 grandparents 2 are disabled, I also have one wonderful non-biological grandma who is a smoker, meaning she's in great danger too. I hope for the best for them all.
I try to remain as calm as possible. Anxiety and stress paralyse your immune system, they should be avoided at all costs. Since my younger bro doesn't go to school now, we spend a lot of time together. We go to the woods, play some games, watch movies every evening and such. I'm proud to have a brother like him!
(Update, 20 III 2020)
I think I may be on the onset of being ill. Nothing particularly alarming yet, but I have a sore throat and a bit of a stuffy nose... I'm trying to nip this in the bud. My brother's fiancée still isn't doing well, darn. Another person died nearby, this time a 27-year old woman who just gave birth to her child. She was most likely infected by her mother who came back from Italy. The saddest thing is that her life might have been saved, but the hospital (not the one in my town) refused to take her in. My mom has a lot of doctor friends and one told her that almost nobody wants to treat people with COVID-19. Media are covering it all up, but Polish healthcare system is severely underfinanced and inefficient, we have a bit over 400 confirmed cases of infection at the moment yet the hospitals are already struggling, running low on their supplies and dismissing people in need.
My dad's behaviour is nasty as usual, he continues to drink every day, he also has frequent outbursts of this stupid, childish anger over the smallest things. We're all hiding in our rooms, we don't want anything to do with him. Goodness, I'm so thankful for my mom and my bro - I'm especially impressed with my mom since her life changed immensely, but she's handling it well! She does seem quite lost and doesn't know what to do with herself because she had a very fast-paced routine up until the outbreak, yet she's trying to adapt as best as she can. All of my grandparents are doing fine so far, but they have to rely mostly on themselves now. I hope the situation calms down soon, at least to a point where we can safely visit and help them out.
I checked my emergency fund and it's shrinking rapidly, ouch. I'll transfer the money to the most unaffected fund as soon as I can, or just send the whole sum to my regular bank account. I used more than 1/3 of it in January and February and I don't have any other savings besides those. If I lose everything on that fund, I will have to open commissions again... And it's the last thing I want to do right now, holy smokes. I couldn't find a job before all of this started, I'm even less likely to find it now and it's beginning to get me down. I mean, don't get me wrong, money isn't my biggest concern at the moment, but I can't forget that I'm going to need it sooner or later! My mom is the sole provider for the whole family and I won't lie, I do have guilt issues because of that.
This was a pretty grim update, so I'll finish it with something a bit more uplifting: our pets are healthy. They have no idea what is happening in the world, so they're simply enjoying the fact we're all at home! I'm thankful they can't contract this disease and I really hope things stay that way.
(Update, 22 III 2020)
Just a brief update: it's snowing! We had a completely snowless winter this time, without a single snowy day in December, January and February altogether, so I welcomed today's snow with open arms. The temperature decreased very rapidly this weekend. I wonder if this snowfall has anything to do with the fact that air pollution and CO2 emissions dropped significantly since the outbreak. This drastic change of weather was most likely the cause of my recent health issues, but thankfully I feel fine now. I never respond well to sudden changes in temperature - especially when it goes from cold to hot, so this case wasn't too bad. And holy moly, it's nice to watch the whole environment turn white this one more time.
(Update, 31 III 2020)
It snowed a couple more times (including today) and the temperature dropped below zero too, but it's going to get warmer very soon. We're all feeling well in the household, everyone else in the family is also doing fine. My brother's fiancée has finally started recovering, thank God! That woman who was the first patient with COVID-19 in our town left the hospital last week. Right now it's next to impossible to receive medical help in Poland, so it's important to put most of our efforts into protection - we don't leave the house unless it's necessary. I feel a bit tired (hence my updates became more sparse), but other than I'm doing okay.
I'm trying to pay less attention to my dad... which is difficult. He's aggressive when he's semi-sober and completely moronic when he's drunk. Me and my younger bro called him out on his bad behaviour several times, but to no avail. My dad fails to understand many things, one of them is the simple fact that you can't treat people like shit, then demand their respect and friendship. Thankfully he's an exception and everyone else has been super kind and supportive to me, relatives and friends alike! I'm in touch with my therapist, we talk on the phone once a week for about half an hour. She's approaching those calls with full commitment and I appreciate that a lot. I also spent some time on the phone with my cousin today and with my distant auntie yesterday, had a very nice chat with both of them.
I'm not sure if I'm going to add more updates. If anything major happens, it will most likely appear in a separate blog post!
(Update, 15 III 2020)
Sunday was bad. In the morning my parents found a dead cat in our front yard, we think somebody just threw the body over the fence at night and left. It's very unlikely that the cat entered our yard on its own - most people around here don't have any dogs and we have two, no cat would ever think about crossing our fence. Additionally there were no sounds of fighting that night (the dogs barked, but they always bark), no traces of blood or ripped flesh/fur. I didn't get to see the cat, but the rest of the family did and they said the body wasn't mutilated at all. My younger brother told me the cat looked similar to Dimka, which freaks me out!
The cat is now buried in the woods. We have no idea how and when it died, but if that person who put in our yard was its owner... I can only imagine it had a horrible life and died in a nasty way. Who on earth disposes of their pet's body like that? People are heinous. And what if the cat was diseased? Fortunately the dogs seem to be okay, mom called a veterinarian and she advised us to bathe them, and so we did. Then they spent 5 hours indoors and showed no signs of sickness, so we released them back outside. While they were at home, I had a close call with Robin: at one point he tried to attack both of my cats. I yelled at the bastard and made sure all three didn't come into contact again, but now I'm worried because it looks like the situation with the dead cat has piqued his aggression towards cats. He was mostly gentle with them before.
On top of that my dad's behaviour has been absolutely atrocious during the weekend. He's completely drunk all of the time, to the point he's barely registering anything that is happening around him. It doesn't stop him from trashing the kitchen, though - he did it 3 times in one day. He's constantly impeding every single thing we do. Just cleaned the kitchen after he made a mess in it? He will come and make another mess, probably worse than before. There is nothing he can be trusted with, he has to be treated like a toddler who attempts to insert a fork into an electrical socket every time you look away. I can't stand him. It blows my mind how many negative traits can one person have. He's lazy, dumb, irresponsible, lying, exploitative, unhygienic, noisy, obnoxious, mean, spiteful, manipulative, selfish and immature. He can't see past his own inflated ego. He makes me wish I never had a dad.
The situation with the virus is getting worse too. It's spreading, there are 8 confirmed cases in my town (that I know of). One infected man went to the hospital on March 6th, there he was misdiagnosed and moved from place to place, my mom told me he's in critical state now and there isn't much hope left for him. I feel so sorry for him, I can't help but think there are hundreds of similar cases all over the world. The entire hospital is under quarantine, new patients aren't allowed in, which means many people won't get help in time. The town looks deserted, but this is a good sign: people are in their homes, most of them treat the danger with seriousness. Thankfully my mom said she won't go to work too. All of us are feeling well, but my older brother's fiancée is sick. She's in my prayers now, she's such a wonderful person that has been through a lot already, her father was also an alcoholic and died in a car accident. I sincerely hope she will recover soon.
(Update, 17 III 2020)
We're all still feeling well, there are no worrying symptoms. Unfortunately my older brother's fiancée is in a bad shape :( She hasn't had a chance to see a doctor yet, so nobody knows whether it's COVID-19 or not. God bless her, she's a strong woman with a very positive attitude, I believe she will be able to combat the disease. My mom decided she's going to treat some of her patients - but only urgent cases, with all the necessary precautions taken. I think it's a reasonable choice. My dad finally ran out of booze, so today he gave us much less trouble than usual. I'm beyond certain he's going to stock up very soon, but at least we had an opportunity to catch our breaths.
As for the man I mentioned in my previous update, he passed away yesterday... May he rest in peace. The death toll is rapidly growing worldwide. I'm not particularly scared of catching the virus because my overall health has improved lately. I'm not even scared of being defeated by it since I'm not very attached to my life. I am really concerned about my loved ones, though - there are many people I deeply care about, losing them so suddenly would be soul-crushing for me... Out of my 4 grandparents 2 are disabled, I also have one wonderful non-biological grandma who is a smoker, meaning she's in great danger too. I hope for the best for them all.
I try to remain as calm as possible. Anxiety and stress paralyse your immune system, they should be avoided at all costs. Since my younger bro doesn't go to school now, we spend a lot of time together. We go to the woods, play some games, watch movies every evening and such. I'm proud to have a brother like him!
(Update, 20 III 2020)
I think I may be on the onset of being ill. Nothing particularly alarming yet, but I have a sore throat and a bit of a stuffy nose... I'm trying to nip this in the bud. My brother's fiancée still isn't doing well, darn. Another person died nearby, this time a 27-year old woman who just gave birth to her child. She was most likely infected by her mother who came back from Italy. The saddest thing is that her life might have been saved, but the hospital (not the one in my town) refused to take her in. My mom has a lot of doctor friends and one told her that almost nobody wants to treat people with COVID-19. Media are covering it all up, but Polish healthcare system is severely underfinanced and inefficient, we have a bit over 400 confirmed cases of infection at the moment yet the hospitals are already struggling, running low on their supplies and dismissing people in need.
My dad's behaviour is nasty as usual, he continues to drink every day, he also has frequent outbursts of this stupid, childish anger over the smallest things. We're all hiding in our rooms, we don't want anything to do with him. Goodness, I'm so thankful for my mom and my bro - I'm especially impressed with my mom since her life changed immensely, but she's handling it well! She does seem quite lost and doesn't know what to do with herself because she had a very fast-paced routine up until the outbreak, yet she's trying to adapt as best as she can. All of my grandparents are doing fine so far, but they have to rely mostly on themselves now. I hope the situation calms down soon, at least to a point where we can safely visit and help them out.
I checked my emergency fund and it's shrinking rapidly, ouch. I'll transfer the money to the most unaffected fund as soon as I can, or just send the whole sum to my regular bank account. I used more than 1/3 of it in January and February and I don't have any other savings besides those. If I lose everything on that fund, I will have to open commissions again... And it's the last thing I want to do right now, holy smokes. I couldn't find a job before all of this started, I'm even less likely to find it now and it's beginning to get me down. I mean, don't get me wrong, money isn't my biggest concern at the moment, but I can't forget that I'm going to need it sooner or later! My mom is the sole provider for the whole family and I won't lie, I do have guilt issues because of that.
This was a pretty grim update, so I'll finish it with something a bit more uplifting: our pets are healthy. They have no idea what is happening in the world, so they're simply enjoying the fact we're all at home! I'm thankful they can't contract this disease and I really hope things stay that way.
(Update, 22 III 2020)
Just a brief update: it's snowing! We had a completely snowless winter this time, without a single snowy day in December, January and February altogether, so I welcomed today's snow with open arms. The temperature decreased very rapidly this weekend. I wonder if this snowfall has anything to do with the fact that air pollution and CO2 emissions dropped significantly since the outbreak. This drastic change of weather was most likely the cause of my recent health issues, but thankfully I feel fine now. I never respond well to sudden changes in temperature - especially when it goes from cold to hot, so this case wasn't too bad. And holy moly, it's nice to watch the whole environment turn white this one more time.
(Update, 31 III 2020)
It snowed a couple more times (including today) and the temperature dropped below zero too, but it's going to get warmer very soon. We're all feeling well in the household, everyone else in the family is also doing fine. My brother's fiancée has finally started recovering, thank God! That woman who was the first patient with COVID-19 in our town left the hospital last week. Right now it's next to impossible to receive medical help in Poland, so it's important to put most of our efforts into protection - we don't leave the house unless it's necessary. I feel a bit tired (hence my updates became more sparse), but other than I'm doing okay.
I'm trying to pay less attention to my dad... which is difficult. He's aggressive when he's semi-sober and completely moronic when he's drunk. Me and my younger bro called him out on his bad behaviour several times, but to no avail. My dad fails to understand many things, one of them is the simple fact that you can't treat people like shit, then demand their respect and friendship. Thankfully he's an exception and everyone else has been super kind and supportive to me, relatives and friends alike! I'm in touch with my therapist, we talk on the phone once a week for about half an hour. She's approaching those calls with full commitment and I appreciate that a lot. I also spent some time on the phone with my cousin today and with my distant auntie yesterday, had a very nice chat with both of them.
I'm not sure if I'm going to add more updates. If anything major happens, it will most likely appear in a separate blog post!
