Hours worked: 9.25hrs

Meals: 1

Water: 1 delicious honey, ginger, lemon tea

Toilet breaks: 0

Finally, my last day of work for the week. I have been looking forward to my weekend as I felt I needed to hermit for awhile. The pharmacy crew have been having cravings of comfort food all week, myself included. This is when you know you are energy deficient and badly in need of high calorie fuel. I am determined to make chocolate chunk waffles in the weekend. I also need some self-care time to relax and ease my racing mind.

Hours worked: 8hrs

Meals: 1

Water: 2 cups

Toilet breaks: 1

Despite being in lockdown the country seems to have returned to normal. I walked into work today with my locum while staring dumbfounded at the number of people queuing outside the store. As far as I could tell, the line circled at least half of the mall. Cars started filling the parking lot as the day went on. Good news for business, but not so much for the war on Covid-19.

Hours worked: 9hrs

Meals: 1

Water: 2 cups

Toilet breaks: 0

Today was much like yesterday. I worked on paperwork while the rest of the staff handled the dispensing and customer service. There were a lot of work to catch up on, especially for the first of the month. I am grateful for the locums we were able to hire, locums who had the choice to stay home and stay safe but instead chose to join the fight on the front lines. Without their help my staff and I would not have had the luxury to focus on jobs that had been neglected for a very long time.

Hours worked: 8.5hrs

Meals: 1

Water: 3 cups

Toilet breaks: 0

My working hours are gradually returning to normal. I'm starting to feel less stressed and anxious. Though I am still alert as I continually reassess my risk assessment in order to stay ahead of the infection. We can never be too careful and we can't let our guard down. We are only in the beginning and there's still a long road ahead.

Hours worked: 9hrs

Meals: 1

Water: 3 cups

Toilet breaks: 0

I am back at work after a weekend of rest. Unfortunately while my mind feels a bit more rested, my body still hurts - especially my lower back. I think it will be hurting for some time to come. Walking into work this morning I am greeted with notes of requests to trespass two customers. Once again my staff have been abused and the store's property damaged. But I know the police still won't help. People take advantage of a situation like this and get away with it. There's only so much the store's security can do. I sigh and proceed to make a note on their files to warn staff to refuse service of these two customers in the future.

Hours worked: 11hrs

Meals: 1 + a short sit down

Water: 4 cups

Toilet breaks: 1

Day two of lockdown. Things were getting easier. A routine has been set and we are getting used to the new way of things. People are now getting the message, stay 2 meters away and no physical copies of prescriptions and money. It's all about the hygiene and social distance.

Hours worked: 11hrs

Meals: 1

Water: 3 cups

Toilet breaks: 1

It is D-Day of lock down in New Zealand. The roads were a lot quieter on my drive to and from work. Though there were still a number of people out and about without many promised police in sight. Work still had numerous customers though much lessened than the panic rush from before.

Hours worked: 11.5hrs

Meals: 1

Water: 2 cups

Toilet breaks: 0

Today we began the process of taking back control. The lessons learned yesterday proved valuable as we continued to modify our approach to the situation. For the first time I felt like we could do this. A drastic difference to the emotional wreck yesterday.

Hours worked: 12.5hrs

Meals: 1

Water: 1 cup

Toilet breaks: 0

Last week I returned to work after being sick at home for almost two weeks. If I'm honest, I'm not completely recovered. But I lead a pharmacy and it was time for the general to return to the war zone as the world around us imploded. But that is another story for another time.