I haven’t addressed this yet, but it’s of course on all of our minds. None of us really expected this, it has created a new world we are living in now.

The VIRUS.

Maybe I see this differently as I am a nurse and knowledgeable about infectious disease, but I don’t think this will be over until we have a vaccine or an effective anti-viral drug to treat it. I don’t see a vaccine being available for at least another 12-18 months, and then billions of doses will have to be manufactured and distributed and paid for. Anti-viral drugs are few and far between, so I don’t know if we’ll find another treatment for it.

I’ve never been a terribly social person. As a college professor, I am now teaching my classes on-line, so I am able to stay at home. I have lots of things I like to do; sew, crochet, play piano, read, write, hike- so I am doing fine with the stay at home orders. I live near the Dunes State Park, so go hiking there 2-3 times a week, so I still get “out”. I’m going on a solo camping trip next week.

But I know many others struggle. I did go out to get vegetables etc. for my garden (I have an N95 mask I wear whenever I am out), and I was surprised at the number of people I saw out and close to each other and not wearing masks. I think they just want life “back to normal”. I think we’ll see another spike in cases.

But I think people are still watching out for each other. I was in a grocery store the other day (with my mask of course) and the floor at the entrance was wet and I fell. Three people (also wearing masks) rushed over to see if I was okay and to help me up….they weren’t 6 feet away, I told them that but they didn’t leave. That really had an impact on me! It seems especially when times are hard, people look out for each other.

But I think of all of you. I at this time don’t really feel vulnerable to cancer. I’m trying to imagine what it’s like for those of you actively fighting cancer. I told you uncertainty was what made my cancer journey most difficult. How would I have felt if I was dealing with the virus too at that time? When I was dealing with cancer I always knew I could die soon, how does it feel to have your life threatened now by both the virus and cancer? Or maybe I would have felt the virus was much less of a threat, the death rate from cancer is much higher. Maybe the virus wouldn’t have had much of an effect on me compared to cancer.

I’d like to know how you feel. You can leave a comment here or email me, or maybe we will talk about this a bit in our next support group.