As a family with a vulnerable person in our household, we went into lockdown on March 17th after we were advised to do so by Public Health England. We are looking at a minimum of 12 weeks before we can even resume any semblance of normal life and even that is dependent on whether the current advice changes and/or the nationwide lockdown is extended again. We are expecting to remain home for a considerable period of time, much more than the current advised amount. In all honesty, though, this lockdown hasn’t made too much of an impact on our everyday routine.
Before we were advised to remain home, we were not overly worried about this pandemic. Yes, there will be people who will think we are being ignorant, but when you have spent the past two years watching your child go through treatment for cancer, you generally tend to add this as another thing to the list you need to be prepared for. That doesn’t mean we are not worried about what it could mean for any of us if we were to catch the Coronavirus, but we also already know and understand the importance of washing our hands and keeping contact to a minimum. Since Charlie was diagnosed with cancer, he has only been admitted to hospital three times over infection concerns and not once did it result in him ending up in Intensive Care. Being asked, therefore, to remain home for an extensive period of time is not a major issue for us if it is providing an additional way to shield and protect our child from a potentially deadly virus for him.
Charlie has technically been social distancing/isolating himself since September 2019. After an incident at his new school, he refused to attend in person. He now attends school via a robot, which connects to his tablet, that allows him to watch and interact with his lessons. Since then, Charlie has only left the house to attend appointments, scans and blood tests. This lockdown is an absolute breeze for him as it is nothing new or different to his usual daily routine. He just gets the added bonus of his siblings and parents remaining at home all day, every day.
Unfortunately, Charlie cannot avoid leaving the house completely, due to the need to attend the hospital for scans and blood tests. His main hospital, UCLH, were quick to arrange for his Chemo meds to be couriered to us on the weeks he is due to take them and his appointments with his oncologist are now done over the phone. While it still makes me nervous to know Charlie has to leave the house, the hospitals he cannot avoid attending have taken numerous steps to minimise any potential issues, including providing necessary transport and introducing social distancing measures in reception areas. I cannot thank them enough for doing all they can to minimise Charlie’s contact with other people when he has needed to leave the house.
As for my other children, they have found the transition to attending school daily to remaining at home relatively easy, but their reactions have been varied. Matthew was excited at the prospect at not having to go to school. As he attends a special school, due to being autistic, he was classed as child who needed to attend despite lockdown. However, he has remained home due to our need to shield Charlie. His school ended up closing as it was too much of struggle for them to enforce in any social distancing measures. Unfortunately, Matthew didn’t take the news of him needing to do school work at home too well, which has meant, so far, he has done none. We are hopeful that will change as we have recently been informed that the pupils at his school are all receiving a Google Chromebook, thanks to a very generous donation from a charity.
Owen was actually pulled from school, with the intention to home school, just days before we went into lockdown. A number of factors had impacted his attendance over the past year and, after looking at multiple options, we chose, after he agreed, to home school him. His former school, who have only been supportive and helpful to our family, have kept him on their register during this period of lockdown as to help us with any educational materials we may need and to provide us with the food vouchers that are being given to those entitled to free school meals. Owen has settled in quite well to do school work from home, with an enthusiasm for any work on the topic of Earth and Space, even though he has left me wondering how his teachers ever coped with him in class.
Rachael, on the other hand, was not happy about having to remain home, due to the fact she was due to take her GCSEs this year. It took us a few days to even get her to understand why she could not attend school or see her friends, but that did not help reduce the disappointment and worry she felt about her exams being cancelled and how it would impact her future. She had been offered a place at her first choice Sixth Form in the weeks leading up to the lockdown and was on course for high grades across all her subjects. While we have seen people on social media saying school kids should stop being selfish and worry more about the pandemic, I made it clear to her she had every right to be worried about the impact when we didn’t know what would happen. She is much calmer now, completing work her school has set, while also doing reading on topics that will be covered when she starts her A-Levels, thanks to receiving the necessary information about how she will be graded. With them using mock exams and other school work, Rachael still appears to be on track for high grades. We are just now waiting to find out what will happen come September and how any potential extension on lockdown or shielding for vulnerable people will affect her beginning sixth form at her new school.
As for me, I kept myself busy (or distracted) through writing posts for my blog, a lot of baking (seems everyone has gone down that route), writing/reading fanfiction, watching a variety of theatre shows, home schooling my children, and many other things. Basically, I have just kept myself busy with all my normal activities with a couple of additional activities that have become an option for me since we went into lockdown. Surprisingly, I have found myself settling into an actual routine and being more productive than I was two months ago. That’s not to say that I don’t have days when I cannot be bothered to do anything but sit in bed and watch TV and movies, but I try and keep that to the weekends as to not interfere with the home schooling schedule we have set.
As I said before, remaining at home is not a problem for us, but the pandemic and the daily news it brings definitely messes with your mental health. It has gotten to the point where I barely look at any sort news to do with it. The majority of what I now see is news that I cannot avoid because it comes up on my social media feeds, but I do not actively look for it as it definitely messes with my head. I don’t like thinking about it so I am constantly distracting myself to keep myself away from overthinking. Now we have settled down into a routine of sorts and I have begun avoiding the news (including the daily press briefings), I am definitely far more calm than I was at the start of this lockdown (when I had a couple of panic attacks, thanks to news reports), and I will hopefully remain that way as long as I have distractions and can focus on making sure my family has what they need.
So, please STAY HOME, STAY SAFE AND SAVE LIVES!
Baking & Tantrums 