food delivery man protective mask passes paper bag with food customer door in china

Accustoming To Self-Quarantine – Mad Chaos: January 25, 2020

Views: 724

I woke up today to the sound of my son calling “Baba, baba, baba” from outside the door

I roused to open the door.  Seeing me, my son walked over and gave me a leg hug.

He warmed up my mood.

A Day Of Self-Quarantine In China, Guangzhou

Today was our third day in self-quarantine in China, Guangzhou (广州市), while the coronavirus (冠状病毒) spreads rapidly around China, and around the world.

Coronavirus infections have spread across Europe and Australia.  Australia has its first coronavirus case confirmed.  The Australian crayfish industry halted exports from its only customer – China – due to the coronavirus outbreak.  A doctor in a hospital in China’s Hubei province also died, reportedly from the coronavirus.

From noon and for the next few hours I came to play with my son on the floor.

With all his toys and party balloons strewn on the floor, we played the game of “give”. He gave me the ball and I gave it back to him.

When he got into his plastic box I slid his box around.  He was laughing at that.

Pretty soon I turned on the TV.  He would walk around wherever he pleased and occasionally look back to the TV to listen on to the ABC song.

My wife blended watermelon and added the puree into our son’s water bottle to drink.  This was a new taste for him.

I cracked open Macadamia nuts that were given as a birthday present last week to our son.  I gave 3-4 little shards of these nuts to my son so that he could try new tastes.  He actually enjoyed eating it.   This was a bad mixture however because after he ate the nuts he threw up saliva, watermelon, and bits of nut.  His one-year old digestive system may not be ready for nuts.

Teachers, Students, Schools, Language Partners, all in the one community. Jiaoyu Community.

Developing Headache Symptoms

A slow, mild, headache began to build in my left temple.  I took a Panadol to relieve the pressure.

I also tried to keep a distance from my son due to my cold sweats experienced last night, followed by these mild headache symptoms today.

Not much is known about how the novel coronavirus spreads, so I treat all cold and flu symptoms with heightened alert.

Order Takeout From Guangzhou Restaurant

In the late afternoon, while my wife gave our son an afternoon nap, I used WeChat to browse nearby restaurants to order food.  If not for cashless online payments to order takeout, it is near impossible to survive a coronarivus outbreak in self-quarantine.

When the food delivery arrived I told her, “I am going to have a nap.”

My wife ate lunch, while my son woke back up.

Two hours later I slowly woke up still with headache pain in my left temple.  I had a shower to relieve the tension.

“We had better cook the eggplant otherwise it will go bad,” I noticed the eggplant had been in the fridge for 1.5 weeks.

She said, “I can make rice with the eggplant for you.  Do you want it?”

“Yeah.  I feel pretty fat now, but I can eat some later.”

I ate a lot of watermelon last night and today to help build up my immune system.  We have already gone through half of the 17 pound watermelon that roughly fits in the bottom part of the fridge where two-liter water bottles stand.  I had a bloated face all day.

Exercising To Build Immune System

Into the evening I looked after our son.  I chased him and scared him.  He pushed himself around on his scooter and was entertained with Peppa Pig on TV.

Soon, we took our son to the television room to watch the Chinese 4-hour New Years Eve gala on TV.

I hopped onto the exercise bike for an hour while she baked small cakes for our son to eat.

She soon took him to the bedroom to have another nap.

Order Coffee Takeout

Neither of us had been outside today.  I felt a little stifled.

When she returned from breastfeeding, I mentioned, “I am going down the street to get a coffee.  It is raining right now.”

She said, “I don’t want you to go outside because you might get a cold.  I can order you a Luckin coffee (瑞幸咖啡).”

I conceded, “Okay, do that then.”

She returned to tell me, “Luckin is closed now.  It is after 8pm.  I can get you Costa Coffee instead.  They recently started to offer delivery.”

My wife rarely indulges in coffee anymore because she says it is bad for the baby when she breastfeeds him.  I encouraged her to order two coffees, and this time she obliged.  She scanned through the menu to order a latte for herself.  With my cappuccino and the delivery fee, all up it cost 69元.

Costa Coffee Latte Cappuccino

Organizing Grocery Run Tomorrow

We also discussed how we had run out of food.

I said, “I can buy food from the markets tomorrow.”

She suggested, “Maybe I can go out tomorrow to get all the fruit and vegetables while you take care of our son?”

I replied, “Yeah, I can do that.”

Playing Fun Indoor Games

While my wife cooked dinner, our son woke back up.  We played a funny game tonight with the door.

He got to the study room door and tried to close it while I was on the other side.  Every time he closed the door I got him to pretend hit my head with the door.

I made a bang noise and said “Ow!”

I looked at him.  He chuckled out.

He repeated this twenty times.  He chuckled out a lot.  That was a fun game.

Discussing Coronavirus Outbreak Over Dinner

While we ate dinner over a movie , we discussed the latest coronavirus outbreak events.

Hong Kong has declared an emergency, as the death toll from the novel coronavirus climbed.  America is chartering a flight to evacuate Americans and diplomats out of Wuhan.  China suspended Chinese tour groups abroad, as the number of infected people hit 1,370 worldwide, and 41 people died.

Headache Symptoms Continue

Later on in the night I also felt a slight, mild tinge of pain in the back left of my throat.  Every time I gulp I can feel something is there.  It does not seem to be getting worse.  It is very mildly persistent at the back left of my throat.

Much later into the morning I started to feel cold tightness in the middle of my chest, which feels like it became slightly harder to breathe.

I took a second Panadol and reminded my wife, “I am taking a Panadol now.”

When I felt chest tightness I mentioned to her, “I am feeling chest tightness.  These are all symptoms of the coronavirus.  If you experience a tight chest, cold sweats, and a sore throat.  They are all part of that virus.  But I don’t think I have it.”

I have also been getting tired today.  I napped 3 separate times today.

Struggling To Find Free Time

For the next few hours we juggled putting our son to sleep.  He woke up three times, excited to play.  He would sleep for half an hour, then later for two hours, until we finally had him sleep from 1am through the night.  He did not want to sleep today.

My wife watched TV series episodes as I worked in the study room.

She came to sleep in the bedroom.  I cautiously decided to sleep in the study room again because of my cold symptoms.

It was a long day indoors today.  Choosing to be prudent during the coronavirus outbreak in China, we did not venture outside our apartment all day.

Choice Matters. List Your Business On Vax3dom.com

Diary Of A Mad Chaos: Coronavirus In China
Read Previous Page
| Read Next Page

Comments: 0

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked with *

Subscribe to Diary of a Mad ChaosThe Shortest Story I Ever Wrote Was 26 Years Long...

Diary Of A Mad Chaos is a daily diary written from 1996 until today. Be the first to be updated when new diary entries and book releases are published online.

Next Post
Diary entry for January 26, 2020. The coronavirus causes a…