Long summer holidays during Covid

 This is the second year we are stuck in Singapore in the summer due to Covid. So far summer holidays have been spent 2 weeks in some location (2017-Japan, 2018-  , 2019-Switzerland) with a month in India with parents. Since the lockdown from March'20 we are not allowed to leave Singapore till who known when.Day to day life has been ok with the kids only spending about 3 months totally doing HBL with the rest of the time back at school, though sports have been severely curtailed. Office has been largely a mix of WFH 3 times a  week and RTO 2 times a week except for when the country goes into lockdown in which time its all WFH.

The problem has been in the vacation time. Last summer we were still enthusiastic, We took 2 weeks off, hired a car and made a daily schedule to go exploring Singapore. The kids did 3 weeks of 1/2 day camps and the long 7.5 weeks holidays went by. This year nobody is feeling the same level of enthusiasm. My worry about when i can go visit parents in India is overshadowing all plans to go explore within Singapore. A boredom and ennui has set in. Cannot visit the Zoo another time. Gardens by the Bay is boring now. No more roller blading. Cycling enough. Hubby and kids are against staycations. Kids are already moaning about the 2 summer camps they are enrolled in at school.

And the unfariness of the situation doesn't help. Their friends who are PRs here have flown away to US/UK etc for the summer. They are allowed to travel out and come back and do the quarantine. Strange isn't it. It seems Covid doesn't impact PRs and citizens only EP holders. 

Have to keep myself and the family cheerful and positive and try to enjoy the holidays. Hubby has taken one week off and im plannign to take 8 days off in two stretches. current restrictions for dining out at 2 per table. So if we go out to eat we will have to sit at different tables. Still waiting for my second vaccine and S first vaccine. Fingers crossed i will have something more cheerful to post next time. 

On the positive side, there is one family member who is enjoying the restrictions fully. And that is Fido. He's happy to have us all home, no holidays where we leave him behind and me and the hubby largely WFH. He's better trained in the new house also with this sleep and potty habits. Need to stop his indiscriminate barking - everyone walking past our gate (young kids, familieis, workers) etc are subject to this and jumping/barking at everyone who comes home.

 

Of broken bones

 Its been a difficult last 2 months. I broke my humerus bone from a fall while cycling on the Green Corridor. It wasn't that i was particularly speeding or trying any stunts (as some have suggested) just a fall which in most people (with stronger bones) would have just been a small injury but in my case led to a 3 part fractured humerus. 

The initial X ray suggested that immoblising with a sling would be sufficient but a friend who is an othopaedic surgeon suggested a CT scan which revealed a breakage in the lower tuberosity for which surgery was recommended. The surgery was a 3 hour ORIF under general anasthesia and I was very apprehensive to go infor that so i looked for a second opinion. The doctor saw the CT scan and suggested that natural healing would be fine, but asked me to take a 2nd CT scan a week later. After the 2nd CT scan he suggested surgery. Either he was a fool who didn't see the first CT scan properly, or worse still a thief who wanted to steal my surgery from th 1st doctor. In any case i had kept in touch with my first doctor and went back to him for the surgery.

I was extremely nervous teh night before the surgery and kept imagining the worst outcomes. Touchwood the surgery went smoothly with my last memory being the anathetist injecting me in the OT and then me waking up in my room. The hubby and A came to visit me and they said i kep asking the same questions for the first 1/2 hour. 

The overnight stay was ok. I was on extremely strong painkillers and manaegd to sleep on and off. The nursese were very helpful and attentive and I ended up wishing for a 2nd day in the hospital for a better recoviery as i knew at home there would be so much going on. 

I took the first 6 days off from work and tried to rest as much as possible. The pain was manageable withe the painkiller which i gradually reducd from 4 a day to 1 a day (by 4 weeks). From the 6th week i am on 1 painkiller once in 3 days. PT staretd the day after surgery with the doctor asking me to do basic arm exercises. PT started after the stitches were removed (2 weeks post surgery) and each session she is pushing me further. The doctor has said that i don't need the sling anymore in the night but I still prefer to wear it - think i've just got used to the security of wearing it. During the day i wear the sling less and less, and mostly only for going out. I do stilll need to lie down every few hours and support my arm while sitting.

N is also recovering from a slip disc and we are both unabel to do much physical stuff with the girls. so its been a couple of months of relaxed weekends at home. The girls haev been back to HBL for last 4 weeks so have asked them to go out adn do one physical activity daily- eitehr swimming (mainly playing in the pool), or roller blading, or running or cycling. But nothing particularly exciting. 

With the restrictions on travel for the last 1.5 years the work week is merging into the weekend and a slow monoty and ennui has set in. My first trip will be to see parents in India but no clue when the situation will allow that. Sometimes i get pretty stressed and feel helpless about the situation we are in but in a way this fracture has helped with that. So much of my tiem goes in PT exercises and i know i can't travel till the bone heals so in a way I've come to terms with the situation. Its also helped me slow down considerably. Otherwise between the girls activities, Kuchipudi dance, cycling, walking with Fido and office work it was non-stop with no breaks or time to sit down and reflect. 

Hopefully by my next post i will be typing a lot faster with my left hand!