Self Isolation: Day 7

The past few days have been extremely tough, especially on my mental health. I've had three, what I'd describe as 'anxiety attacks', where I suddenly feel short of breath and cry a lot due to the stress I am under. I have experienced these a lot over the past few months but yesterday was a particularly bad one. The current stress of the 'unknown' and the stress I was already under before this pandemic has been quite scary. I never used to experience this at all in my life so it's been a difficult time, but I just have to keep reminding myself I am strong and I can get through this.

Living with CF, I am used to 'flare ups' involving infections, struggling to breathe, high fevers, sickness bugs you name it. Over the years, this has also involved ambulance rides, IVs, blood cultures and countless hospital stays. But Coronavirus can cause a lot more damage for someone like me and my body wouldn't be able to handle it. So I have followed the government guidelines over the last week, to keep myself safe, and have only left the house to go for a walk. I have been trying to walk as far as my lungs will let me and walking for as long as possible so I am not sat at home, alone, feeling down. Yesterday I managed 4 miles, which has got to be my biggest achievement with CF yet. It made me smile a little that through all of this, physically my body is well and the precision drugs are doing their job. It's just a shame I can't say the same about my mental health.

I also haven't managed to see anyone face to face in seven days, except my sister Abbi when she comes home from work in the evenings. But she is keeping her distance by not sitting in the same room as me. Regular facetimes with family/friends are the only contact I can have with people close to me currently. I am literally counting down the days until mum and dad arrive back from Costa Rica!

However, now the latest government guidelines is that those 'at high risk' (including CF), should not leave their house AT ALL for 3 months. Which sadly means no more walks and not even answering the door to the postman! Therefore, even if you are not at risk, please comply with social distancing and stay home! You can still go for a walk or pop to the supermarket, so be grateful that you can do those two things, unlike me.


Just another 11 weeks to go :(…

Noni x