Evidence of the pandemic?

[LaceWingMother]

Just idly wondering whether it's clear from any aspect of my life that the covid era ever happened.

Fortunately, no one I knew died or became seriously unwell from it, DH and I don't work from home because of it, DC now going through secondary school as normal, I didn't make any large purchases linked to it (one friend built a home office and a feckless neighbour bought a now-neglected dog). Apart from a few face masks stuffed in a drawer and forgotten about, I don't think there's any evidence of it in the house.

Does the impact of the pandemic appear in your life now?

My dad got very ill with it that first spring, when it was so scary, on a ventilator for weeks, and that fear that he would die really affected me I think even though otherwise covid didn't have such a big long term impact on my life. I'm not in the UK, lockdown in my country was short and nowhere near as severe. My DD was out of school just for a couple of months, and after the first week or so the school had set up distance learning so I didn't have to teach her myself and my youngest was a toddler and unaffected except perhaps in a positive sense because he got more time with his big sister who he adored, as I was at home with him at the time anyway.
But the constant fear I had for the first year or so, to the point that I was asking my lawyer about step-parent adoption in case I died so I would know that my DD would stay with my partner (her step-dad) and her little brother rather than potentially be sent to live with her dad's relatives (her dad was dead), really stressed me and who knows what long term impact that has on the psyche,

I feel it stole the last five years of my life. Due to ill health, my DH needed to shield and whereas it was two years for most, we took it into a third. On the fourth year we decided to return life to normal but that’s when DH’s illness started and we spent the last two years in hospitals pretty much every week.

Although DH didn’t die of anything Covid related Covid stopped us doing things in 2020 and 2021 and 2022 that we would’ve. He passed away recently and I had a very big birthday just before Christmas.

One minute I just turned into a new decade of my life and was enjoying myself immensely and then puff it disappeared before I knew it.

Same here, ITU nurse working through the pandemic. Too many deaths, too many people dying alone and scared without loved ones with them. Will stay with me forever. The fear in their eyes.

The room where we stored patients processions, who had died. So family could collect them after at some point.

The young learning difficulties patient who just wanted their mummy to cuddle while on a breathing machine - terrified and scared.

Not having correct PPE at the start resulting in too many staff with covid.

Our ITU unit having to expand as we ran out of beds and begging for equipment from other ITUs.

i moved out of my work place 5 years ago, to a different building, just been allowed back, and i now realise i need to smarten up clothing wise! new shoes required.

I have ongoing health problems after getting covid. Something called vertiginous migraine. It’s absolutely awful, and still hasn’t been sorted. I got covid in 2021.

I have a garden office built in my garden as I now wfh quite a lot. So overall for me i think the impact is quite positive. I like not having to go into work every day.

on a more negative side Dd got a pulmonary embolism from either the vaccine or Covid and has had ongoing issues, will be on blood thinners for life. Dh’s health took a nose dive and he got diagnosed with a 2 in a million autoimmune illness which I always wonder if it was related.

@LaceWingMother
You must have been living in a bubble through the pandemic with no awareness whatsoever of the trauma going on in people's lives at the time for you to post what you've said OP.
I can't believe that anyone with any ounce of sensitivity would post what you've posted.
You must be phenomenally insensitive.
Our darling, beloved Godmother died from Covid. She was fit, healthy, no medical conditions, and she loved her life.
My DM suffered terribly from mental health issues whilst being made to isolate for months on end twice through shielding due to government advice. She lives alone and her contact with her family, us, and the outside world stopped overnight and lasted for months and months on end. It impacted her terribly. The damage it did to her mental health is ongoing.
My stress levels at work went through the roof. I'm a senior registered nurse and the trauma I saw patients and colleagues go through will remain with me forever. Looking back, I cannot believe what we as clinicians were put through. Our workloads trippled. The stress and fear and upset whilst at work was unmanageable. All of us were told to work increased hours, in a role that was beyond the expectations of what anyone should have to endure. We were on our knees. Nursing people with multiple complications caused by the virus. Watching death after death of frightened people dying alone with family members banned from being allowed to visit them in their final days. Yet we were left to it. Nobody supported us. No measures were put in place to help us cope. Nothing was done to help us mentally process what we were going through. No HR input to be seen anywhere. No management of our wellbeing. No counselling. No time to grieve. No time to recover.
I've got Long Covid. All these years later I'm still living with debilitating symptoms which make it really challenging for me to look after my young children and carry on working. I've had to change the area of nursing I work in because I couldn't cope with hospital work anymore once Long Covid developed. This meant I lost my senior role as ward Sister which I'd worked so hard for.
The loss of education has had an impact on my DD who already had delayed learning due to SEN. The school closing for all that time compounded this and she can't catch up.
I'm glad the pandemic has left you unaffected and unscathed.
But maybe keep it to yourself and quietly give thanks for your situation, whilst thinking of those who have lost so much.
Starting a thread with an idle post on mumsnet about how unaffected you are by the pandemic is void of any empathy towards the people you walk this earth with.

Exactly this.
My DC still won't sit up the table with a laptop, they have online schooling nightmares flashbacks. Simply cannot bare it. However - they loved the no school and outside time and thrived in lockdown thanks to the good weather and when bubbles were lifted by June July time they were off with friends exploring the town which is usually a holidaymakers haven, instead they had everything to themselves.
I lost family during the 1st lockdown due to covid, (caught from the care home in which they worked) we couldn't be there or even attend the funeral. I wasn't allowed to be with them whilst they passed, despite working in the same trust. Knowing what was happening to them in the ward next to me was hideous.
I had covid for second time last year which really affected my breathing this time - I'm now on COPD medication to help, when it came to filling in a return to work / post illness form with my manager they refused to put Covid on the form! Even though it was what it was (I had tested). They were instructed to use "heavy cold" which it was nothing like..

I was doing a healthcare degree at the time that needed hospital placements. I was expected to do usual placements, front line with Covid patients (not ICU though) whilst not being paid to be at risk (if you factor in the cost of my degree/ maintenance - I was effectively paying to be there!)
At the same time, on the floor below, my grandad was dying alone in a ward of people that were (understandably) too busy to notice him deteriorating.
Needless to say I didn’t finish the degree and still feel a bit bitter about it all.

I did however get a wonderful dog that kept me going so every cloud and at all that.

A friend whose health has been destroyed by long Covid. Her life now is trying to stay alive, with no specialist help from the NHS, and bewilderment from the doctors she sees in A&E when her breathing/heart issues get scary.

Covid was just like a cold for everyone I know who caught covid. Even those with serious health conditions.

A family member died during lockdown because the NHS prioritised covid and cancelled loads of appointments. Cancelled appointments meant missed diagnosis and missed treatment. Other family members and friends' health conditions worsened because their hospital appointments were cancelled. Lockdowns also had a negative impact on school aged children as they weren't in school.

My mum also died just before the Xmas which Boris cancelled, can’t even remember if that would have been 2020 or 2021. She died from cancer not covid, though I’m suspicious she had covid right at the end as had started coughing. When she first went into hospital it was pretty much open visiting, then overnight it was one visitor per bay at a time for an hour slot, or maybe 30 mins. You had to ring the ward and book your slot. Made it a nightmare. Funeral was a limited number of people and I didn’t go.

I am now in a wheelchair and have a permanent autoimmune condition, the stress of nursing a seriously ill husband who died willlive with me always, as will the awful loneliness of not seeing our family for so long. I still have nightmares of my husband dying, and I feel so sad when the impact is trivialised. My daughter now has a lifetime condition. My brother got covid followed by sepsis.

Friends who lost loved ones, inlaws who lost loved ones. 2 family members died after first vaccination and 3 had complications, blood clot and paralysis.

Less money each month. Shop bill through the roof.

I lost my aunt and uncle to covid, two years appart (one near the start of the pandemic and one near the end of all the panic and lockdowns). We also lost a much loved co-worker whose youngest daughter is the exact same age (to the day) as mine - barely a week goes by when I don’t think of her family and the pain and difficulty they have suffered.

i have also been left with some long term issues after catching covid four times (yay for working in schools! We had no protection and just had to get on with it).

so yeah, covid has left a big impact on my life, people missing who should be here.

A relative died and a dear friend was very ill and now has multiple ongoing health conditions associated with a result.

@BubbleIceTea the gaslighting about the horrific experiences of those working in hospitals is one of the true scandals of the whole thing. I can't believe people have forgotten so much (or never knew, remember those "but the hospitals are all empty!" Videos )

And on a less personal level I guess I am being affected by the crazy long nhs waiting lists to see anyone or get anything done. I was meant to have a pre op appt the day before lockdown for ankle surgery. It was over two years before I got the operation and I’ve been left with permanent mobility issues. Still a year waiting list for various specialist referrals. Waiting a year for gynae, been waiting over 2 years to have a wisdom tooth removed.

The economy being fucked up still affects us all. Maybe some of it was due to brexit but all the spending on furlough obviously would have affected it. Dd has been made redundant and can’t find a job.

oh and I also haven’t had my sense of smell return. Dh came to bed last month and pointed out the cat had pissed on the duvet and my nose was 6” from a puddle of cat piss and I had no idea!

Quite.

It's also been half a decade since these changes were made. It's an article of faith with some MNers that remote jobs are going to be offshored, just you wait and see, but the years keep mounting up!

Why did I read the OP, it has brought it all back, and I am feeling awful. So sorry for all who are feeling upset. x

when i hear about politicians travelling all over the world i do wonder why they dont stick to Zoom

2 family friends who are teachers ended up in comas as a result of Covid. Extremely difficult time for their families with lack of hospital visitations etc.
For our own little mini bubble I enjoyed doing home learning with my kids and spending time with them. We had a tiny balcony but made the best of it in terms of playing there. My children continue with the good habits of hand washing and taking a small bottle of antibacterial spray to school and trips outside.

I believe the jabs did more damage in the long run then covid itself....💉

My DS developed T1 diabetes after a bad bout of Covid. The consultant said Covid triggered it and there has been a big increase in T1 diabetes since the pandemic

Astonishing, especially having (presumably) read this thread