2.1 Behavioral Changes to Exercise |
“I do an exercise program at the [Alberta city] [gym] with a personal trainer. My wife and I do. We’ve kept that on. Well, [gym] is closed as all health clubs are. But she [neurologist] does a routine for me on the… Virtual on the computer, so I can see the exercise she wants me to do. She does it and then my wife and I, we do it in the basement.” (Participant 406) |
“Doing exercise program with stretching and stuff. And another thing I probably do miss, is, uh, I, I, attending yoga classes. But, I, uh, you know, I can do yoga on my own, so. They’re, its gone virtual also. Well I, I just do my own stuff.” (Participant 412) |
“I found this, uh, program on, uh, on YouTube that, uh, I really like and it’s, it’s, I think it’s, it’s a lot vigorous exercise than, uh- … than the Parkinson’s one. I don’t know if it’s quite as good. Uh, you can follow him. He’s designed very specific for, for Parkinson’s, but, uh, it’s a good workout, and I’ve doing that almost daily.” (Participant 409) |
“I’ve been depending on the association, uh, for a lot of support, and we have a month, we actually, it’s this Thursday. And, um, uh, support group meeting. It’s over the phone. We have a teleconference; it’s not on Zoom. That’s been a consistent thing, along with the exercise groups, and I’ve been doing quite a few different ones. Some of them are still available, like the dancing one and some of the exercise classes. Others, uh, you know, are temporarily suspended, I guess. But that’s, yeah, that’s kind of my main engagement.” (Participant 405) |
2.2 Isolation |
“And when I go into town to shop, like [Participant name] hasn’t been off the farm or seen anyone. And so mental health, this is really tough. Like I haven’t been off the farm since, for the last two months since the, the pandemic was announced. And myself, I feel like a caged cat.” (Participant 421’s Spouse) |
“One has to deal with this isolation, as I said, because I’m on my own now. It’s a little more challenging. You can only do so many puzzles.” (Participant 405) |
2.3 Managing Boredom |
“I might go for longer bike rides, I guess. I don’t know. I haven’t found my way through that one. Right now we’re spending an awful lot of time doing nothing, so I’d like to change that.” (Participant 403) |
“I’ve been doing hobbies around the house that probably should have been doing for some time, but just haven’t had time to do. Repairs and this, that and the other thing, a little more cleaning than I’m used to doing, that sort of thing.” (Participant 400) |
“Well I’ve got a whole list of things that I wanna do, (laughs). So, I- I feel that, you know, I’m looking forward to getting into them, um, is, takes away any boredom. Well, I just finished, (laughs), my, um, quilt top for, uh, my last granddaughter… and now I’ve- I’ve got, uh, five to make for my grandsons, (laughs), so. Um, we’ve been doing some organizing in our basement, and- and garage.” (Participant 408) |
2.4 Interpersonal relationships |
“I think the hardest is not being able to, um, uh, have my grandchildren come over and give them a hug. And the same thing with my parents, who are in their eighties. Um, we’ve tried to, y- you know, we- we’ll drive by and wave at them…and stuff and to talk to them a lot on the phone, but not being able to, um, give our loved ones a hug.” (Participant 417) |
“So her and her- her partner came over yesterday and we just sat in the driveway and had a visit, but we did a Zoom every day or something. So to handle all… And we did a virtual family things, like we’re doing here now, we just learned to do this. My wife gets her six siblings on the phone in Ontario and, once a week. And we did this, I do this with my siblings, and- and we have, uh, tomorrow we do, some of us have retired from [company] to, uh, a virtual, uh, happy hour e- every couple of weeks, covering people from Nova-, from Newfoundland to BCs, so it’s kind of fun.” (Participant 411) |
“We both recognize that being in closer quarters for longer periods of time and not being able to get out as much, it’s going to be a strain on the relationship, but it’s been pretty good so far. I mean, hell, we’ve been married for like 32 years. I think if anything, it’s got a little better. We’ve always had a good relationship, and I think we’re a little more cognizant of giving the other person a break because we know both of us are going to feel a little bit irritated by the things we can’t do.” (Participant 401) |