Battling the bugs and the boredom…

I have a few things that always seem to happen to me, in relation to my health. I have a delightful (sarcasm) collection of maladies and afflictions. By the time Parkinson’s had come along, I already had a bout of depression, I have got a hiatus hernia and arthritis is basically attacking every joint in my body. The latest one is my left foot – no the other foot is happily behaving itself – and because I had an injection in my foot a couple of days ago and while not exactly on bed rest, there is a significant restriction on any terrain other than that which is level both inside and out.

Also, I have to buy some walking trousers so I can wear them walking in the UK . I am not able to fit those I previously wore – that’s what four years of being unable to do much of anything in the way of exercise does to you. I don’t want to spend too much money, but would just hope they have something for me. I rang an outdoor type of shop and asked – after checking the website – whether they held any trousers that zip off to shorts and that are light and comfortable to wear on the plane. I had seen a couple of possibles but they did not seem to have the larger size in the store. The salesperson – who won’t make many sales with this attitude – when I rang the store, she answered and half-heartedly went to see if there was any showing on the database. She responded that I needed to use the size chart and find what size I should be and could order them online. I then asked if they have any trousers in the size I needed. It all seemed like I was an annoyance to this young lady, even if I didn’t buy anything, I seemed to be destroying her peace and tranquility in the store as the mean girl clears outsiders away. I pointed out that I would like to try the pants before I bought them and that doesn’t work so well when we are ready in a few weeks to fly to the UK. She mumbled something about another store having a particular size, which by the way, which was over the other side of town. The largest size was about two sizes too small for me and so that’s a chunk of my life that I will never get back! In the end I went online and took a punt, so hopefully when they arrive in the mail they will be the right size.

I am now accustomed to doing a variety of activities most every day, which started on the very first Saturday after I retired. So, I usually play Rumikub which is a fun game, but hubby wasn’t very excited when I taught him how to play. My friend and I might have a couple of games a week, but I don’t think my husband will become as fond of it as I am. We also play cards at the local library and they provide tea/coffee and biscuits.

All of these activities usually keep me busy and entertained. The problem at the moment is that I have this horrendous cough that has been lingering for about two weeks. Every time I think it is gone, I have another bout of coughing. I have tested for COVID and influenza and both results were negative. At least that’s something to be grateful for. The thing is though, that even if you don’t think you’re contagious people treat you like a Pariah even if you wear a mask. It can be very awkward when out and about and you get glared at! So, outing and abouting is very restricted.

I also usually swim three mornings a week, lengths and also aquajogging, which gets my heart rate up. But, I can’t go swimming with this cough and am not in any hurry to discover how to use my snorkel whilst coughing up whatever is in my lungs!

I can’t go to cards, in case I do have something and give it someone who might have compromised health. It is also very unpleasant when having a big cough it does put a strain on continence management!

I am not supposed to walk too much after having a steroid injection in my foot, so that rules out going for even a short walk.

We have a peer group meeting tomorrow night which we would usually go to, but I’m unsure whether I will be well enough to go even to that!

I had teed up another interview for my show “Parkies Patter – a chat about all things Parkinson’s” She has already done one for me and she did a very good job, despite having some communication/voice issues. We were going to do a second recording this week, but with my voice and cough going on, I might cough and croak throughout the whole session. Hopefully, we can get another recording done before we go on holiday in early May.

So, despite all of my cleverly curated and organised activities, I can’t go out amongst all the people I usually do these things with, lest I give them a bug and they have a worst time of it than I have.

Much more time and I will be climbing the wall with this lack of activity. I know my husband will suffer less interruptions when I have my activities back.

Hopefully, the battle of the bugs and the boredom of such a lack of my usual activities will soon be gone and I can get on with enjoying my retirement again!