So how is everyone doing, really?

mountainhick wrote: Well, it was downright scary being in the hospital 8 days last week with pneumonia related to my compromised immune system from leukemia.

I was tested and negative for COVID though.

Now back to the same isolation at home since last November when I became immune compromised. Boring, but just the current status quo for me. I am grateful that I can still get up each morning.

We've had a few nicer days and sitting on the bedroom porch is a welcome change. Another storm and 10" snow due this weekend.

I've read that the COVID test is false negative 30% of the time. You might want another test at some point.

Geez, I wish I could just transfer the motivation I have to run right now onto my fingerboard instead, but somehow I just can't. I guess I am a little spoiled, used to train with lots of great tools they have at the gym. My fingerboards feels not up to the task in comparison, and just not as appealing. I mean I'm doing some stuff, but mostly maintenance not to be a totally atrophied pile of shrunken muscles once some sort of half-normal life restart. Outdoors >>>>>>>>>>> indoors....

Franck Vee wrote: Geez, I wish I could just transfer the motivation I have to run right now onto my fingerboard instead, but somehow I just can't. I guess I am a little spoiled, used to train with lots of great tools they have at the gym. My fingerboards feels not up to the task in comparison, and just not as appealing. I mean I'm doing some stuff, but mostly maintenance not to be a totally atrophied pile of shrunken muscles once some sort of half-normal life restart. Outdoors >>>>>>>>>>> indoors....

If it’s at all motivating...

“Funny thing is, my best season came after a winter spent focused on the hangboard.” https://www.trainingbeta.com/bare-naked-hangboarding/

Primary things that usually keeps me from hangboarding is (1) not having one nearby (2) impetuously wanting to save my strength for actually climbing (3) anxiously worrying about how to optimize the hangboard workout to the point where I give up trying.
Seems like 1 is solvable, 2 is invalid at this moment, and for 3, I’ve found just ignoring optimization until I’m regularly getting bare minimum sessions with regular frequency and enjoying the early-in-the-development-curve progression.
P.S. if anyone is selling a hangboard.....

Franck Vee wrote: Geez, I wish I could just transfer the motivation I have to run right now onto my fingerboard instead, but somehow I just can't. I guess I am a little spoiled, used to train with lots of great tools they have at the gym. My fingerboards feels not up to the task in comparison, and just not as appealing. I mean I'm doing some stuff, but mostly maintenance not to be a totally atrophied pile of shrunken muscles once some sort of half-normal life restart. Outdoors >>>>>>>>>>> indoors....

I feel the same, and I know a lot of people do, too. I’m no stranger to hangboard, and even doing dedicated hangboard-only cycles, RCTM style. But it’s a lot easier to do when you are in the “off-season”, and looking forward to being strong for your coming season. 

This is different. I have trained through the winter, and was looking forward to a good spring. Now we are sitting inside through the best conditions, with no end in sight, and even if the quarantine is lifted in May (unlikely), I would have lost the season here. And can’t even plan a trip to a place with better conditions. So hangboard feels pointless.  

BUT... it isn’t! Yes, it sucks. But you have to work with what you’ve got. If not thi spring, or this summer, it will pay off next fall. It’s not as far away as it feels right now. 

Lol, having said all that, I’m also, simultaneously, holding a strong belief that, as recreational climbers, it is sometimes better to walk away from climbing for a few weeks, if you feel this way. If you feel like running, go running! Don’t guilt  yourself about the hangboard. Go running until you scratch that itch.  

Gunkiemike wrote:

I've read that the COVID test is false negative 30% of the time. You might want another test at some point.

Thanks for the info.

Whether COVID or not, I was released from the hospital Apr 6 and am starting to very slowly show some improvement.

And, due to one sided upper lung location of the pneumonia, the pleural fluid drawn off by thoracentisis being mostly blood, and lack of other specific pneumonia related symptoms, it is likely a fungal infection. I am on a strong anti fungal drug in addition to prophylactic antibiotic, and antiviral and meds for the cancer treatment itself.

I would actually be ecstatic if I actually made it through COVID19 alive as I am extremely immune compromised. Theoretically I don't have the functional immune cells (B-cells) to develop immunity to anything. I expect I will have to live in quarantine for a very long time to come.

Lena chita wrote: Lol, having said all that, I’m also, simultaneously, holding a strong belief that, as recreational climbers, it is sometimes better to walk away from climbing for a few weeks, if you feel this way. If you feel like running, go running! Don’t guilt  yourself about the hangboard. Go running until you scratch that itch.  

Yeah I'm trying to tell myself that. To some level of success. And I do enjoy the running when I'm at it... I'd just like to transfer a few dozen miles a week onto finger strength magically...

 ========

One of our thing was restaurant breakfast. Every few weeks we'd go, we have a few ones we like & just rotate among those. Obviously not a thing these days, so we did a beefed up grocery stop this week to make our own beefed up, restaurant-style breakfast. I was OK, but nowhere near our typical week-end sortie. I'm not sure if that's because we suck at breakfast, or if because it was in a somewhat nostalgic way a reminder of normal life and thus was always bound to feel somewhat sad, given the situation...

mountainhick wrote:

Thanks for the info.

Whether COVID or not, I was released from the hospital Apr 7 and am starting to very slowly show some improvement.

And, due to one sided upper lung location of the pneumonia, the pleural fluid drawn off by thoracentisis being mostly blood, and lack of other specific pneumonia related symptoms, it is likely a fungal infection. I am on a strong anti fungal drug in addition to prophylactic antibiotic, and antiviral and meds for the cancer treatment itself.

I would actually be ecstatic if I actually made it through COVID19 alive as I am extremely immune compromised. Theoretically I don't have the functional immune cells (B-cells) to develop immunity to anything. I expect I will have to live in quarantine for a very long time to come.

Please stay safe, take care, and don't hesitate to let us know if/how we can help.

One surprising thing has been that I seem to be more sensitive to sights/sounds/tastes, presumably because I'm not as over-stimulated as I was before the pandemic. The colors of plants seem brighter and more beautiful than I remember them appearing in springs past. I'm reallllly enjoying food, which is great since it helps keep up the motivation for cooking. Sounds are crisper, too, especially birds (yay) and cars (less yay).

It’s barely a month since this nonsense started, some of y’all are musing about like it’s been years you have seen people or went outside. Relax, the world is not ending anytime soon, we’ve got maybe a year till the vaccine, until then cheer up, it ain’t that bad.

I live in the north of Italy, and the situation is hard...
Anyway, guys, it's important to stay at home and limit the contact outside!
I haven't been going out of the house since the beginning of February because I'm afraid to get sick, besides now it's spring and pollens are getting very high... damn pollen allergy!
Only my wife leaves the house, but she's got rules too... She only goes out shopping twice a month...
Could you do that?

I'm actually pretty psyched. I found someone through the RVs for MDs Facebook page who will let me park my trailer on their property for the next 6 weeks. Not exactly glamorous but I won't have to sleep in the back of my truck anymore.

So the Cabela's parking lot seems to have maintenance work at night. Most recently, a street sweeper with a short in the horn. It was randomly honking while making it's rounds. Yep, I won't miss that.

Can everyone stop saying "Dont go outside", please? 6 feet, maybe more if youre high risk, is all you need. Acting like people cant go outside is beyond ridiculous. Anyone doing that to themselves are just becoming less healthy and potentially increasing the severity of the virus if they do happen to get it. You can be "responsible" and still go outside. Please stop acting like leaving your house is a death sentence for yourself or someone else. It's not.

Brent Kelly wrote: If anyone wants a cribbage partner, it’d be fun to get my ass kicked by fellow climbers instead of getting my ass kicked by random strangers.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/cribbage-pro/id409644287

I’m BLK2112.

Bonus points if you can explain to me why I’m so terrible at this game.

A bunch of esoteric rules, and bluffing. Kind of like climbing, really...

Fehim Hasecic wrote: It’s barely a month since this nonsense started, some of y’all are musing about like it’s been years you have seen people or went outside. Relax, the world is not ending anytime soon, we’ve got maybe a year till the vaccine, until then cheer up, it ain’t that bad.

I dunno. I agree it's good to keep things in perspective. At the same time, I've been surprised by how strongly some of this has affected me. Loneliness is a real thing, and for me it hit me sooner and stronger than I expected it to. I think it's also brought up some unresolved stuff around grief and other things.

There can be a fine line between processing and ruminating, though, for sure. One of my friends and I were talking about how we feel like sometimes we're back in a weirdly teenage-like emotional place--all the intensity and novelty, and the importance you attach to those feelings. Sometimes probably in less than helpful ways :)

My musical tastes and habits have definitely gone to a teenage/college place quite a bit lately, haha.

Fehim Hasecic wrote: It’s barely a month since this nonsense started, some of y’all are musing about like it’s been years you have seen people or went outside. Relax, the world is not ending anytime soon, we’ve got maybe a year till the vaccine, until then cheer up, it ain’t that bad.

Don't know. To me, it feels like it's been... longer. Good on you if this feel smooth and time doesn't feel like it doesn't flow anymore!

Ma Ja wrote: Can everyone stop saying "Dont go outside", please? 6 feet, maybe more if youre high risk, is all you need. Acting like people cant go outside is beyond ridiculous. Anyone doing that to themselves are just becoming less healthy and potentially increasing the severity of the virus if they do happen to get it. You can be "responsible" and still go outside. Please stop acting like leaving your house is a death sentence for yourself or someone else. It's not.

I don’t know if your actually in Kentucky but there are some places where it’s exceptionally difficult to avoid getting within 6 feet. The issue is I normally would just drive further away but we’re also not supposed to do that.

Ma Ja wrote: Can everyone stop saying "Dont go outside", please? 6 feet, maybe more if youre high risk, is all you need. Acting like people cant go outside is beyond ridiculous. Anyone doing that to themselves are just becoming less healthy and potentially increasing the severity of the virus if they do happen to get it. You can be "responsible" and still go outside. Please stop acting like leaving your house is a death sentence for yourself or someone else. It's not.

There are places in the world where hospitals are put to the test...
Here in Italy there was a municipal with 200 places in intensive care.
In less than 2 weeks the places filled up, and those who were sick were transported to another region.
Some ended up in Germany and Switzerland.
Now, you imagine that just for a walk, you hurt your ankle and the state has to give up even just 10 minutes of a doctor who can save lives.
We're supposed to treat your ankle just because you feel like taking a walk?
See, one can act responsibly and not overload the health care system.
Or you can give a crap and die from a fracture.
Your choice...
100+ doctors dead since February... (here in Italy)

Fold PV wrote:

There are places in the world where hospitals are put to the test...
Here in Italy there was a municipal with 200 places in intensive care.
In less than 2 weeks the places filled up, and those who were sick were transported to another region.
Some ended up in Germany and Switzerland.
Now, you imagine that just for a walk, you hurt your ankle and the state has to give up even just 10 minutes of a doctor who can save lives.
We're supposed to treat your ankle just because you feel like taking a walk?
See, one can act responsibly and not overload the health care system.
Or you can give a crap and die from a fracture.
Your choice...
100+ doctors dead since February... (here in Italy)

If youre scared of going outside, then you should stay in your house, but stop telling other people to be irrational just because you are...is my point.

Guys, this is like the one place where we're not arguing about that fucking thing.

Could we just, please, keep an island of semi-sanity? There are dozens of other threads you could copy-past all that into seamlessly....

Fold PV wrote:

Now, you imagine that just for a walk, you hurt your ankle and the state has to give up even just 10 minutes of a doctor who can save lives.
We're supposed to treat your ankle just because you feel like taking a walk?
See, one can act responsibly and not overload the health care system.
Or you can give a crap and die from a fracture.
Your choice...
100+ doctors dead since February... (here in Italy)

I absolutely agree with you, in the big picture. But I would like to point out that staying home isn’t a fool-proof recipe for avoiding accidents. 

In US, in the past month there’s been an increase in home accidents due to Brooke doing more (and more ambitious) cooking, and home improvement projects...