Wow, it has been FIVE months since the start of staying at home

It has been a completely different month. Last month I thought I was one day away from finishing the 3rd raised garden bed.  But within a couple of hours of posting my fourth stay-at-home month update, I injured my back moving garden soil from the front to the third raised bed.  It took about three days before I was completely stopped. It took time to get in to see my doctor and get an MRI given how every Doctor is seeing fewer people each day. But three weeks later I learned I have a 3cm bulge at my L4/L5 that is pushing against my right leg nerve. So this week I got a shot to reduce the inflammation so that surgery can be done. I am waiting for the date for the surgery.   The good news is that my condition is fixable. So my days of kicking up my heels on the dance floor are not yet over.  I am looking forward to mountain biking, skiing (once the slopes reopen…someday), and being able to garden again.

So my days basically consist of lying on my back. I can walk about 20 feet before the pain makes me stop. With a cane, I can go about 80 feet. For getting around in the yard or to get in for Doctor’s appointments, I am using a wheelchair. Mostly, I spend the day reading, working on fundraising for MubakuSchool.org or researching the developing science of COVID19. You can see my latest update on that topic at   http://michaelwhughes.com/2020/08/covid19-death-rate/  I also enjoy making snarky and funny comments on a Twitter account that is not linked to any of my other social media accounts. And I will not give you the handle, so don’t ask. It is for the enjoyment of the 6,300 plus people who now follow me. Note: I started with 32 followers two months ago.

I’ve also had the time to see how other churches are holding their services online. Many do a great job. I’ve only seen one train wreck. It is very different to worship online but it is how we demonstrate that we love our neighbors by protecting them from the COVID-19 spread.

But outside of that, not much else. I have gone from walking/jogging at least 10,000 steps a day to just a couple hundred steps a day.  The pain results in me sleeping a lot more than normal.

The highlight of each day is time with my now 15-month-old Granddaughter. Her sign languages skills are increasing and she can sign; I want milk, I want food, I want that, I want more, I am all done with this, I want to go to bed, pick me up and she has learned to add a please to her requests. And she can walk so fast! I can’t keep up with her when she gets moving.

COVID-19 is still ranging in our country. Other countries have gotten past this.  We are many months away from doing what other countries have done. I don’t think things will get better until there is a vaccine.

‪I feel like we are in the movie JAWS when some people are pissed that the beaches are closed because the shark keeps killing people and they KNOW it’s killing people and they go to the beach anyway.  That is what this pandemic feels like.

If people would all wear masks this would have already been behind us.

Anyway, Our trips to China and Peru have been rescheduled to next June and July. The company moved them so no cancellation fee. I know we will be traveling again. we just need the USA to take COVID19 seriously.

I continue to read more about how different our world is for people of color.  I wish I was shocked that there is already a movement claiming Harris doesn’t meet the birth requirements to run for VP.  Another claim is that she is not really black as her dad was born in Jamaica.  You can dislike her politics, but to claim she is not a citizen or not black is way over the line.

Systematic racism is something that our country must address if the words of Lincoln at Gettysburg are ever going to be true for all “that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

I am looking forward to getting a date set for my back surgery so I can get back to being my active self.