Halfway

Chiang Mai 

Sunday, March 22, 2020

Day Seven

I'm halfway through my self-imposed, 14-day quarantine and things are going smoothly, thanks to a lot of help from others.  I've established a routine that works for me--a slightly paranoid, over-70 woman with alergies, sleep apnea, and a hypersensitive upper-respiratory system.   

Someone put a box, wrapped in shiny blue wrapping paper, outside my door a day or two after I got home from Italy and that box now serves as a place for leaving things like hot meals and groceries.  I put hand sanitizer and a box of gloves there for people who are picking up things like trash and laundry.

Here are some things I'm doing:

• The jet lag has finally let up.  Now back on Thailand time, I do my best to go to bed by 9:30 and get up by six.
• Because I live alone, I let my neighbors know when I'm going to bed and when I get up.
• I put a note on my door when I'm in the shower or napping. 
• I use distilled water (available at gas stations) in my CPAP machine and spray colloidal silver into the water chamber. 

• I put my trash outside my front door every day at noon for pickup by a neighbor.
• I eat three meals a day, and snack when I'm hungry.  (There's a good bit of stress-eating going on, too.)  I have two hot meals delivered every weekday and incorporate citrus fruits into my diet every day.

• I take medications and supplements as prescribed, including zinc.
• I run two air purifiers and a dehumidifier all day, keeping the indoor AQI below 10 and the humidity level below 55. 
• When I need water, I put the case of empty bottles outside my door and someone takes it downstairs.  The office delivers a fresh case and leaves it outside my door.
• When I have laundry to go out, I put the laundry bag outside my door and someone takes it downstairs.  WashDrop picks it up, washes, irons and folds everything, and delivers it to the front desk.  Someone brings it up and leaves it outside my front door.

• I wash my hands before and after handling anything that comes into my apartment from outside, before and after handling food, before and after cleaning, and before and after eating.
  
• I use Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream skin protectant for dry and chapped hands, applying it before going to bed. It's a thick, gooey ointment that won't rub off the way creams and lotions do.
• I take my temperature throughout the day, and right before bedtime.
• I drink eight glasses of water daily and a lot of hot tea.
• I stay in touch with friends and family through email and communication apps.
• I watch a lot of TV, especially CBSN, for US news.
• I watch movies on Fire Stick TV thanks to TorGuard, my VPN.
• I shower and put on clean clothes and perfume every day, even when I don't feel like it.

As the sun sets on day seven, I'm feeling great with no symptoms and a normal temperature.

I just attended a virtual worship service online, via Zoom, where I joined 26 of my fellow All Saints Chiang Mai members, scattered around the world in Hong Kong, Tenerife, Malta, the UK, Chiang Mai, and southern Thailand.  Watching from my living room with a few crumbs of bread and some juice next to my PC, I participated virtual communion--something that would have been unthinkable a few weeks ago.

The service is available on You Tube at:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XWNqpWcsixg

The times, they are a-changing.