Here’s the link to my last thread:
https://www.divorcebusting.com/forums/ubbthreads.php?ubb=showflat&Number=2877668&page=1Well CMM woke up this morning all hung go to do his chemo today - then proceeded to barf for an hour after breakfast.
His oncologist wisely concluded that he should wait a week and decided to just give him some IV fluids today. I’m relieved.
Okay now - a few words about coronavirus:
It’s not the zombie apocalypse. It’s not likely to be quite as bad as the 1918 (Spanish) Flu pandemic.
It IS probably going to cause several times the average number of deaths we see from flu.
Hospitals will probably be overloaded with pneumonia patients and elective surgeries may be postponed.
Airlines are cutting flights and businesses are cutting travel and doing more videoconferencing.
Most people who get this virus will have mild symptoms.
The true fatality rate per person infected is lower that the case fatality rate quoted on tv - likely only 0.3 - 0.6%, maybe 1.0 % at the worst - not 2%.
Alcohol will kill it on surfaces, as will bleach. Wash your hand with soap and water of us alcohol based hand sanitizer.
Quarantines and school closures will be starting in the next few weeks somewhere. Be prepared.(Opps. School closures in Oregon just announced due to infected school employee).
Depending on your line of work, you may have your hours cut. Anticipate whether you will need extra funds to get by.
It may or may NOT be seasonal - nobody knows for sure.
Sorry about the typos, typing on my tiny phone.
thank you. I've got plenty of food in the freezer, but worry about fresh veg. I will do a quick stock up tomorrow. Sorry CMM is having such a rough go. Turkey tails tea, perhaps?
Oh - and since I typed that summary, a fourth community acquired case in Washington State in a high school student was announced plus another person in Washington State who had traveled to South Korea.
kml,
Thank you for the info on the virus. This winter I have seen so many people going to work and parents sending their kids to school sick. I hope people take this situation seriously and realize just how easy it is to get something like this. Maryland has 3 people that they are testing to see if they have the virus. Looks like Virginia had 1 case, but the individual got the "all clear".
Just learned someone has passed away from the virus in the US.
Keeping CMM in my thoughts and prayers. Glad chemo has been postponed for a week.
I’m in Asia, so people here definitely have a more heightened awareness for covid-19 than people in the U.S.
Job- it is true that we need to do the very basics to keep our communities safe: keep your sick kids home. Hand washing. Stop touching public surfaces.
Also culturally Americans have a different attitude about wearing masks. Here in Asia it is very normal for everyday commuters to wear masks taking public transportation just to protect themselves from bad air quality and the flu before this Coronavirus outbreak. So now almost 90% of the population will wear a mask when they go out.
My kids have to get their temperatures measured by the teachers before entering classrooms. It is a scary time!
Stay safe you guys. I’m praying for everyone around the world.
Wooba, please take care of yourself as well. We all should be praying for everyone around the world. I'm praying that they find a vaccine for this virus and can get it on the market very soon.
A vaccine will take 18-24 months. Don't hold your breath.
Wash your hands or use alcohol based hand sanitizer, keep your distance from people in public (3-6 feet), get your sleep, eat healthy, take vitamin D if you're deficient, drink your coffee if you like it. (There's a study from last year on a different, milder coronavirus which showed it was sensitive to caffeic acid, a component of coffee - NOT caffeine). About 200 mg in a cup, so if you like your coffee, feel free to drink a cup. If you find yourself starting to feel sick, suck on zinc lozenges.
I was told that a daily regimen of prune juice and a high colonic is the best prevention. I don't think I'm going to be able to do that for 18 months; I'm already walking funny.
Well this weekend my one son who doesn't live with me had a medical crisis. he has bad asthma and has had a URI for the last ten days. He was on oral prednisone because of his asthma. He called me this weekend after having seen his doctor the day before, who did a chest xray and a urinalysis because of his complaints of frequent urination, but apparently did nothing when it showed he was spilling a large amount of sugar in his urine. Son refused to take metformin that I prescribed to him over the weekend, I ended sending youngest son up to him with a glucometer and his glucose level was 300 (very high but not quite diabetic ketoacidosis going-into-a-coma levels). He saw his doctor on Monday who said he wouldn't prescribe metformin unless his HgbA1C was 7 (what does he THINK it's going to be with a glucose of 300, blurry vision and frequent urination???). So of course yesterday his glucose level was high again and he ended up taking a Lyft to the emergency room. His hgbA1C was 8.6!
So now he has steroid-induced diabetes on top of all his other health problems. This is a big issue because, while he could probably reverse it with diet, he's already struggling pretty badly with his anorexia and this will be very difficult to manage with that going on. And I can't bring him down to my house for a few days because he's still coughing and I can't afford to get sick right now or give it to CMM.
Pretty sure my ex knows nothing about this, not that he would be any help anyway. I love my kids and am glad to be there for them, but it's the one thing I really cannot forgive my ex for - he has basically dumped all the hard parenting onto my shoulders since the divorce.GRRRRRR.
kml,
I am so sorry that your son is having medical issues. I can't believe that doctor wouldn't prescribe metformin for your son. His glucose level was too high. I hope things are getting better for him. Poor guy, it's got so much going on w/his health right now.
I hope that his doctor can bring that level down and your son can manage it a bit better when he's feeling better. You are very wise not to have him come to your home while he's still coughing. Gosh, when it rains, it pours.
Keeping all of you in my thoughts and prayers. Please, please take care of yourself. All of your family and CMM need you at this moment.
Thanks - I am taking my vitamins and getting my sleep.
Son #2's blood sugar was a hair better yesterday - 170 fasting, still bad but not so high to be causing him symptoms like he was having over the weekend. He's tolerating the metformin so far (I made sure he got the extended release form because he has a lot of gI issues and sometimes people get diarrhea on the regular metformin but tolerate the ER which is only slightly more expensive.) He's been in close contact with his dietician and his therapist . I've offered to pay for a few weeks of a meal delivery service if he thinks that will be helpful to him (like a Paleo type diet mostly) - he's going to discuss it with his dietician.
CMM is still feeling rather crummy, chemo is supposed to resume tomorrow and I think he can do it but he's gonna be wiped out afterward I'm sure. Still, I want him to get chemo tomorrow because I'm not sure it will be available next time he's due if the coronavirus is widespread.
And just a little coronavirus update for y'all:
Great press conference last Friday by member of the W.H.O. who went to China and formed a joint task force to evaluate the epidemic. Bottom line is, basically, that the Chinese did a ridiculously good job of reining it in - and we are in no way prepared to do the same. You can expect a rapid increase in cases in the US over the next month I believe. Plan accordingly.
Also - just because Washington state has identified cases doesn't mean it's not other places too - they used a flu research project to skate around the CDC to do local testing for the coronavirus, that's how they found the teenage boy in Snohomish.
Also new research today shows kids are just as prone to get the infection as adults, they just don't seem to get as sick. Expect school closures in the future.
Scary stuff. Thanks for keeping us up to date. I did hear this morning that low levels of these virus can be carried around on pets.
More and more places are starting to lock down. I'm seriously reconsidering the amount of time that I spend on the subway each week.
Great press conference last Friday by member of the W.H.O. who went to China and formed a joint task force to evaluate the epidemic. Bottom line is, basically, that the Chinese did a ridiculously good job of reining it in - and we are in no way prepared to do the same. You can expect a rapid increase in cases in the US over the next month I believe. Plan accordingly.
Very interesting info KML. I’m just curious who is claiming the Chinese did “a ridiculously good job” of handling this breakout? Was it the Chinese themselves saying how great they’ve done? I ask because I recently met with some, I believe, well informed, and I know, high ranking state medical officials who claim otherwise - that the Chinese have not done well and are in fact not being truthful with the rest of the world. For one they believe that the number of Chinese cases are much higher than they have reported - which is likely a good thing as it would make the death ratio much lower as the number of deaths are accurate but may be based on as many as double the reported cases, therefore half the death rate. The folks I talked with also assert that the belief the US not being prepared is, yet again, politically motivated. It’s always all Trump’s fault ya know. Lol.
Who knows who is correct or what the real truth is going to end up being. It just sounded to me, at least from these folks, that it’s not nearly as bad nor deadly as hyped or feared. I’m hoping they are correct. Again only time will tell.
His name is Dr Bruce Aylward, a Canadian doctor in the W.H.O. He wasn’t the only member of the team but he did most of the speaking in the presser. They were in China, in Wuhan and other places. He felt the drop in numbers was real because they could see the empty beds in the hospitals.
You can find the whole two hour presser with q and a’s on YouTube - look for coronavirus WHO expert global news. Well worth watching .
His name is Dr Bruce Aylward, a Canadian doctor...
You can't trust him; Canadians will say anything for cold a Molson and some poutine.
You can't trust him; Canadians will say anything for cold a Molson and some poutine.
Which type of Molson? It's actually Molson Canadian and back bacon that can really entrap a Canadian. Bob and Doug McKenzie were the sign-posts of my generation.
It does bother me how this very real health issue is being politicized. Viruses don't vote nor are they affected by polls.
In the reading that I've done it does seem that the rather draconian measures that the Chinese have taken has limited the spread there but as those from the WHO have stated, the countries with weaker health systems can be quite at risk. Listening to the commentators on Bloomberg News which is on my daily listen list, more and more smart people are adjusting their plans and financial forecasts to accommodate for this being a real hit to economic activity for several months to come at least not to mention the real tragedies of those who lose their lives.
Time to go wash my hands for probably the 5th time today. Stay safe everyone and take prudent precautions.
kml,
How is CMM? How is your son doing? Now, the most important question is...how are you doing?
yes, kml - hoping you are taking it easy and your son and CMM are both doing better.
Another day, another ER visit:
CMM has been doing well after Friday’s chemo. Energy level was good, no vomiting, eating well. Woke up about 4 am and seemed uncomfortable, some gagging in the bathroom and said he temporarily felt like he couldn’t breathe, but his oxygen level was good, breathing seemed normal, and he went back to sleep. Had a normal text conversation around 1:00.
Texted him at 6:30 to let him know I was on my way home - no answer (not too unusual for him). Got home at 7:00 to find him asleep in our bed with a fat lip and dried blood all down his cheek. I woke him up and all he could tell me was he fell in the bathroom - didn’t know when, or how, couldn’t tell me if he’d eaten today or anything.
So got my son to help me get him downstairs and hustled him out to the car for a trip back to the ER. Waiting for a head CT right now, they’ll probably keep him for observation as he’s still confused.
yikes
Kml, how is CMM? I hate that you guys are in the hospital getting exposed to who knows what, but it's best when there is a fall and other issues, I get it.
How are you doing?
How is CMM doing? Gosh, he's really having a tough time of it. Keeping all of you in my thoughts and prayers.
CMM was kept overnight for observation, CT scan was normal. His memory came back today. He was at the sink in the bathroom and had myoclonus (muscle jerks, likely due to a recent increase in medications ). His legs gave out and that’s what caused him to plant his face into the tile counter, then fall back on the floor and hit his head.
We are decreasing his meds. This should fix the problem.
ok. now what about you? are you getting enough rest? eating? exercise?
Ok folks, I need to talk to you about the coronavirus for a minute. This is not a drill. Things are going to get seriously worse in a very short time and most of what I see around me is denial, denial, denial.
The situation in Italy is terrible. The Italian College of Anesthesia, Analgesia, Resuscitation and Intensive Care has published triage guidelines for determining how to allocate scarce resources like ventilators. Doctors are having to make decisions about who gets a ventilator and who doesn't. We are only 11 days, at best, behind Italy in this pandemic and nobody seems to be really grasping that this is serious. Social distancing 3-6 feet and staying home as much as possible, washing hands frequently, are the only real tools we have to slow this down so it doesn't exceed our hospital capacity. Changes in behavior need to start right now.
And what does get serious mean KML? Just what would you like be done. We’ve already lost our minds and are trying to shut down the country. How/why is this different than swine flu or Ebola or SARS. We’re closing schools, shutting down near every social event from sports to broadway to Disney. What in the hell else should we do?
Well, we have taken this very seriously where I live/work. Social distancing, no one person meetings, hand washing out the wazoo, of course. Everything being cancelled. School preparing for online study. Our local nursing facilities are not allowing any visitor in unless their loved one is actively dying.
We had our positive case in the hospital I work in. And it’s a small community hospital. We all have contact with eachother.
I think it is being taken pretty seriously.
hand washing out the wazoo
OMG! You should use a sink with soap and water.
Spent most of today in pandemic planning meetings. All non essential travel has been cancelled. We're working with our business partners and carriers to minimize contact while still keeping the trucks rolling. No visitors will be allowed on site without an appointment and all documents that used to be hand delivered will be reviewed to see if we can do without them or get them electronically.
We supply water treatment plants and need to ensure a steady supply of product. One of our biggest concerns beyond the safety of our own people is the possible disruption to our carriers if the drivers come down sick or refuse to work.
Each staff member who can is going to trial working from home. I will not visit the corporate office which required a ride on the subway until all clear is given
We've had customers return sports tickets saying they aren't allowed to go. It "was" just the Maple Leafs but still ...
DonH - yeas it’s different.
SARS and Ebola, because of their high death rates and short incubation periods, were actually much easier to control.
Swine flu caused many deaths but people could be vaccinated.
The problem here is surge capacity and flattening the curve. Left unchecked, this virus will overwhelm our hospitals. We don’t have enough ICU beds and ventilators. Doctors in Italy are already having to make tough choices about who gets a ventilator and who doesn’t.
We are about 11 days behind Italy. We need to flatten the curve - slow the rate of spread so that, instead of 100 patients in a week, a hospital might only have to deal with 35 patients in a week. If your hospital capacity is 50 patients a week, it’s the difference between being overwhelmed versus being in control and able to render care.
The ONLY tools we have to flatten the curve are hand washing and social distancing. Be prepared for the possibility of having to be quarantined at home. Schools are closing in my town and people are being converted to working from home.
E’s schools just closed indefinitely. Today my daughter has a two hour delay tomorrow to learn from home. The colleges switched to online and sent their students home if they lived on campus.
I, however, will never work from home. We actually could, though. But I’m making a point in our huddle this morning ( which is now via Skype call) that we do not need to be seeing every single patient, every single day. If a plan is established, I have no reason to pop in that room. And just about anyone with a respiratory symptom , not even diagnosis, is on contact and droplet precautions.
Our N95 masks are locked up somewhere and we have no clue.
And I’m running out of toilet paper
Our university went to "remote instruction" as of 5:00 yesterday and will remain all online until April 13. How the h3ll am I supposed to do hands-on lab activities online????? Oh well, my problem to deal with. Students were sent home and only those who absolutely cannot go home or have nowhere else to go (mostly a very small number of international students) are allowed to stay in the dorms. Those students are restricted to their dorm and the dining hall and are not allowed into any other buildings on campus for any reason without being accompanied by a university employee. Most of us are working from home part of the time with sparse office hours on campus to service those who require face to face interaction for whatever reason, but this is VERY limited. Sparky works for a small company that only has 7 employees so for now, they are going about business as usual, but I am staying home as much as possible. Sparky can be a bit of a germophobe anyway, so other than going to work, we are ordering groceries online and not eating out or going out for entertainment purposes. We live out in the country, in a fairly remote area so I think we have the social distancing thing down. We had planned to go see a movie this weekend, but have decided to just stay home and work outside, weather permitting. If it rains as it is supposed to, we'll hang out in the house and read, visit, play games, whatever.
Like everyone else, we are mainly mostly inconvenienced by the lack of TP. I'm not saying this is all hype or anything, but good Lord people...………..who needs 15 cases of toilet paper? I'm going to have to brave a few stores today in search of some, not because I need to hoard, but because we are down to 2 rolls.
This whole thing was actually a great jumping off point for a very open and frank discussion with my class yesterday because a young man asked me when he came in what I thought about all of it. I asked him to hold that thought until class started and we would talk about it and we did. It was interesting to hear a young person's perspective, especially those of people who are just now really feeling their independence for the first time, so this may be the first adult thing they have really had to face. It served as a great discussion and we talked about the importance of washing hands, social distancing, being very cautious, making hard adult decisions about NOT going to do that fun thing (whatever that may be, assuming it isn't cancelled). At the time of the discussion, we didn't know our university would be going all online by the end of the day, but we talked about what if and why that was a good thing and what the potential bad parts of that was. Believe it or not, they did actually have some bad points to go with their good ones, which kind of surprised me because I thought I would get a lot of answers about it being good because they would be able to sleep late and do their coursework late in the afternoon or in the evening or not having to actually attend class but being able to just go online and do it on their time.
I appreciate your comments, kml, and I appreciate that they were general and not necessarily aimed at anyone in particular, but I think it is imperative for informed people to continue to speak out and HOPEFULLY get through to some of those not so informed people. I am not necessarily saying I'm super informed, but I do think I'm reasonably intelligent. I'm not going around saying this is all a hoax, but I'm also not panicking and buying 700 rolls of toilet paper (clearly, since I am down to 2...LOL). I am going to do my part and help my husband do his part and we will also help his mom do her part, since she is actually one of those in that great risk factor category (elderly, has an immune-compromised health issue already). We are going to keep to ourselves and avoid crowds and buy what few groceries we need online until all this blows over. I wish those tp hoarders would just calm down and do the same.
I wish those tp hoarders would just calm down and do the same.
Why are people hoarding TP? It sounds like a bad joke.
My sons have spring break next week. My XW will have the boys during spring break. She'd planned on taking the boys, and a couple of their friends, to Disney World during spring break. Unfortunately, Disney World will be closed starting Monday; they were planning on going down there on Tuesday and staying for a few days. They'll be disappointed.
The first official case hospitalized in my suburb was announced last night, 6 so far in my city (up from one Tuesday). Undoubtedly many more but the lack of testing makes it invisible.
The top health official of Ohio estimates they probably have 100,000 cases undiagnosed!
I will be running a couple necessary errands today (office is closed Friday) but with my mask and hand sanitizer at the ready.
Btw if you need a mask ( let’s say you were around someone with a cough and now you need to go attend to an elderly relative and want to protect them from your droplets) I did see a handy video online on how to make a mask from parchment paper. Basically you cut a rectangle, accordion pleat it, lay a rubber band over each end. Fold the end over the rubber band and staple it. It’s not ideal but might be helpful for some.
I wish those tp hoarders would just calm down and do the same.
Why are people hoarding TP? It sounds like a bad joke.
It took a while to sink into my thick skull; it is a bad joke. People are hoarding TP so they can wipe out coronavirus.
I'm very sorry; I couldn't resist.
this is when being the child of two depression-era, wwII rationing surviving hoarders comes in handy. Found Dad's stash of masks this morning. And 12 rolls of toilet paper.
I *may* have a cold brewing, scratchy throat yesterday, a little congestion, runnyish nose. I'm wearing gloves and mask with mom and working from home. My boss told me to come in yesterday, so I did and I made sure to complete everything that needed to be done onsite. I developed a plan with a co-worker so the office can run fine with us all working from home. We're good. There's plenty of food in the freezer.
Our Governor announced that all public schools in MD will be closed effective Monday for two weeks. Now, Cardinal in DC has announced masses and Catholics schools will be closed as well. Priests will still be officiating for weddings and funerals, but only immediate families can attend.
Our particular county was spared...but this morning...one local middle school closed today because of suspected students showing signs of the virus.
Local community activities shut down, hospital, senior centers and nursing homes are now closed to the public. For the ER and the local walk in clinics, call first and they will advise you as to what to do before attempting to come there.
We have also been advised to cancel all non-essential appointments and reschedule them for mid to late April.
People need to take this situation seriously. I can't emphasize enough to wash your hands and keep a distance from others when out and about.
Washing hands - absolutely... little downside there. Limit contact, especially shaking hands - easy to do and little downside. But masks???? More and more I’m hearing and seeing this is a BAD idea that may actually make things worse as the person constantly touches or readjusts the mask thereby increasing the chance of transmission by touching their face rather than decreasing. I’d re-think masks by non medical people.
It’s going to be very interesting to look back at all of this 6 months and a year from now. That includes all of the telecommuting and distance learning. If it’s good enough to continue to earn credits or work from home now, why not into the future? One of many many discussions we will have I’m sure.
I also totally agree that the number of unknown and undiagnosed cases is already huge - which is why over time we will see the death rate is not nearly as high as first thought and reported.
This has already been an unprecedented response to a virus. Only time will tell if it’s made any difference.
I live in the worst place in the US for the virus at present (literally 1 mile away from 90% of the state death total). Have not put this on my own thread for what I hope are obvious reasons. Our schools just closed for months, public gatherings are limited in size. There has been hoarding, but we now have stuff back on the shelves. My aged mother who lives nearby and has a lung disease and cardiac issues will die if she gets it. I have ordered her not to leave her house and we are leaving stuff outside her door for her as she needs it. My gym has implemented strict stands on how far apart people have to be and I have hand sanitizer (that a client got for me elsewhere because I can't get it here) at the ready for everything. I've had the court of appeals on the other coast cancel oral argument and make decisions on briefs and I have an injunction hearing across the country next week I'm trying to decide what to do about because the client is freaking out about traveling. That said, life is seeming to go on relatively normally. People are out and walking about and jogging on the trails, etc. My assumption, perhaps jaded, is that anyone not sitting in their houses and not going out at all will get it at some point. I am looking forward to hearing more information on how those of us who are healthy and middle-aged will experience this, since it sounds like the young will be ok and the old will die.
Own people I know here who are in your profession are saying that civil cases are most likely going to be postponed and criminal cases are likely to be as well.
I'm making my own hand sanitizer and adding in a high quality pure lavender essential oil for it's anti microbial, bacterial and viral qualities. super easy (aloe vera gel and alcohol -keep the alcohol at least at 60%).
I'm in the same boat with my mom re lungs and heart issues. Her doctor just emailed me that things are moving fast and to limit contact with her as much as possible.
Stay safe and take all precautions.
Rubbing alcohol is Isopropyl alcohol - C3H8O for you chemistry nerds out there and is the active ingredient in most hand sanitizers usually I believe at around 70%.
You can get it from many sources.
From what I've read, old fashioned hand soap is still very effective and probably better on your skin. We're using the IPA on wipes here at the plant to disinfect the equipment the guys touch at the beginning and end of every shift. Sort of a double-check as it were. Before we divested that unit, we used to sell a lot in to the printing business for cleaning. Industrial use IPA though should "NOT" be used for skin contact. It may contain trace amounts of heavy metals and other contaiminants.
Good luck finding rubbing alcohol! It's out of stock here and it's back ordered on most sites to get it sometime in April. I just happened to have 4 bottles on hand and have given several to my sister for herself and her two kids.
My mother is 86 and has some health issues, but she's still going about her business. She has a box of latex gloves and puts them on when she's out and about. Washing her hands is an old habit from teaching. In fact, she was in the grocery store this morning at 6 and said that people where in there with carts loaded and checking out.
I am keeping everyone in my thoughts and prayers as this is a really nasty virus. Please stay safe, use good, common sense and wash those hands more frequently than you have ever done before.
Hope all are healthy and safe this weekend. My oldest son had a scratchy throat before he went to bed; hoping he’s not coming down with anything.
I went to Costco to get an eye exam - I’m overdue and realized I was going to run out of contact lenses. Waiting until almost closing time tonight to go try to exchange some wine I bought the other day (CMM has decided he wants the better stuff. Honestly I can’t tell the difference. Only a couple dollars difference so whatever).
After this I’m not going anywhere but work and home. Think I’ll move my drum kit downstairs to the living room and crank up my practicing (it was living in my walk-in closet which is the quietest place but oldest son sleeps upstairs afternoon and evening for his graveyard shift job, and CMM watches tv upstairs, so downstairs may be better right now). I need to beat the drums right now so I don’t beat CMM and my youngest son, who have been clashing. Also, I just joined a great FB group for women drummers and it has me fired up.
xoxo glad you are playing music! xoxo
ExH has recently retired and I had to email him as I had not received my share of the pension check yet. (Especially important since, as you may recall, I am supporting S2 totally on my own without any help from ExH while S2 looks for a new job).
After sending the email twice in the last five days and not hearing from him, I had to send him a text message to look at his email. To his credit he did reply fairly promptly with the figures I asked for; I check his math and of course he got it wrong (in MY favor, actually). However some of the other figures need checking (years of service/years married during years of service don't look quite right to me) so I wrote back asking him for more info and telling him I would redo the calculation once I got the info. I suppose I could have lied by omission and just taken the extra $80 a month but really don't want to have him come back to me for the money at a later date.
His email was polite as was mine back - just wondering if I'll ever get to the point that seeing an email from him in my inbox doesn't give me a pit in my stomach? It's been 11 years! But I still dread opening his emails.
what is it, half the years of the relationship? I hoped that was not the case, but its seeming so for me also, though you are more than double my time post BD/D.
Well it was a 26 year relationship, so I have two years to go?
Actually the pit in my stomach is anticipating the negativity and attempted gaslighting that is usually in his emails. I don’t think that’s a function of time since divorce, since I’d never want him back in a million years. It’s more like not wanting to open the email is like not wanting to open that old Tupperware of leftovers you found in your fridge - you just don’t know what nasty thing you’ll find inside!
Thankfully his email was relatively well behaved this time.
I know that pit in the stomach all too well. Thankfully, right now we are incommunicado. Unfortunately at some point within the next few months that's going to change, as I cannot support the entire family on my own.
Yeah. It's sooo much easier when you have absolutely nothing to do with them. It's been so long since I've had any form of communication with my ex I don't know how I'd react. There's been times I could have used her assistance with parenting but even in the one time that I did reach out last year, there was no response.
Spent the weekend sewing masks for healthcare workers.
My office is still open although most patient visits have been turned into telemedicine visits. We don’t see sick patients anyway and I made masks for all my staff over a month ago. We did see two patients in the office today, one new, I think our small volume office is safer than the grocery store.
I have gotten calls from three patients in the last four days who all probably have CoVID. (Haven’t seen any of them in months so not an outbreak related to our office). This just shows how much worse it is than what’s being reported - we have less than 200 confirmed cases out of 3 million people but I’ve got three CoVID patients in four days??? It’s spreading like wildfire I’d guess.
sigh. do we know what the time is between exposure and getting sick? isn't it two weeks or something crazy like that? how is CMM and how are you and your sons?
Median incubation period is something like 3-5 days BUT up to 24 days is apparently possible. We are all well and being very careful with handwashing and the like.
Andrographis has been studied in Dengue fever (which is a +ssRNA type virus like coronaviruses) so I am taking that, hoping it will have some value as a preventive. Coffee may also help according to a study on a different, milder coronavirus from last year.
How is your mom doing? Still can't believe your stupid cousin putting her at risk.
It’s can be up to 8 days.
And thank you for sewing the masks. They need them desperately. They are using one for the shift. A hospitalist who’s first day was today took his and put it in a brown paper bag for reuse.
Median incubation period is something like 3-5 days BUT up to 24 days is apparently possible. We are all well and being very careful with handwashing and the like.
Andrographis has been studied in Dengue fever (which is a +ssRNA type virus like coronaviruses) so I am taking that, hoping it will have some value as a preventive. Coffee may also help according to a study on a different, milder coronavirus from last year.
How is your mom doing? Still can't believe your stupid cousin putting her at risk.
It’s can be up to 8 days.
Thank you both. Same here with the hand washing etc.
Andrographis is in a formula that i've taken at onset of cold symptoms, but the bulk of the formula is echinacea and elderberry, (with a little ginger, probably as the activator). I'm now afraid to take it because of the alleged cytokine storm from elderberry with this virus. it's a product that I've purchased, not one I've made myself. I do think I have andrographis in tincture form. but not much ...
does it matter if the coffee is decaf? how much should we drink per day do you think?
There's 200 mg of caffeic acid in a cup of coffee, the green coffee extract capsules I bought from Life Extension have 400 mg in a capsule with only 12 mg of caffeine so I imagine decaf should still have enough. A couple of cups a day should do you.
I found a nice journal article from 2002 showing that nicotinamide is a potent inhibitor of proinflammatory cytokines.
Poor CMM is not tolerating this lockdown very well. I've done all the shopping. This morning he was complaining that I bought the "wrong" brand of disinfectant wipes - apparently Chlorox brand are cheap and flimsy compared to Lysol wipes. Of course I explained to him that these we what Costco happened to have while I was there so I bought them - they were out of toilet paper, lysol, paper towels, rubbing alcohol, but they actually had gotten in a load of wipes so I bought them (we weren't out but I knew my office needed some and we would need some more soon). With his OCD he seems to be having trouble processing the fact that it's cathc as catch can out there shopping - you take what you get.
CMM doesn't have any real idea of what is going on out there in the world like you do. When you see something that you think you will need soon, you have to get it while you can. I have never seen anything like this. It must be very difficult for CMM right now. I really do feel for him because of his OCD.
How are you doing? How is your son doing?
We're doing ok! Oldest son is still stocking grocery shelves at night but being very careful to wash his hands frequently and stay 6 feet away from us.
Middle son finally got a new job! He starts in 2 weeks and it's the job he really wanted, in a private practice with a large LGBTQ clientele, very close to his apartment. He'll be doing virtual visits for the near future. I'm relieved he'll finally be having an income coming in again since my ex was not helping me support him and I'm expecting some loss of income myself during this lockdown.
Youngest son pretty much stays home or takes the dog for walks, he's not an infection risk, I just try to keep him and CMM separated as they do not mix well and this quarantine doesn't help matters.
Most of my patients have been moved to virtual visits although I did see three this week in my office. None are sick but we take every precaution, masks, cleaning, distancing as best we can. I'm grateful to be able to keep the lights on and my employees paid so far.
Looking forward to a three day weekend, I'm going to try to do something fun at home, not sure what. And maybe take CMM out for a drive, think he's going stir crazy.
glad you're well. the SBA ppp forms are due today if you want to apply for one to protect payroll xoxo
Excellent news on the boys kml.
I can certainly imagine that CMM is like a hen sitting on an ant-hill right now feeling twitchy. Is there anything you can get him to organize for you? Maybe plan your adventure in a way that minimizes human contact / things shut down.
Stay safe.
Yeah my business partners husband is sending me the forms ( although I don’t think they’re “due” today, today is the first day you can file them I think. Banks will be swamped.)
Yeah my business partners husband is sending me the forms ( although I don’t think they’re “due” today, today is the first day you can file them I think. Banks will be swamped.)
that's why our accountant told us file asap
Still putting one foot in front of the other, work was very slow this week but I've submitted my application for the loan to pay employees salaries and am getting some organizing done which was very needed. All three of my probable Covid patients are recovering although it is a long, slow, up and down process. which is apparently common according to the FB survivors group. Things here in California are not bad, we are not exceeding our hospital capacity and are supposed to be almost to our peak according to the models.I think it is a combination of relatively early lockdown, a more suburban sprawl, and there's a possibility that the predominant strain here is not as aggressive as the predominant strain on the East Coast.
I'm entertained by all the amusing videos that people are making during their quarantine downtime. So much creativity!
Wrote a long post and then got logged out for some reason and lost it! I'll try again.
All's quiet here. Still working but everything is very slow, I'll definitely be needing that SBA loan to meet my payroll, and am taking some money out of my retirement funds to pay my own expenses for the next couple months. I'm lucky that I have it and am old enough to withdraw it without the 10% penalty.
Meanwhile middle son who I was supporting with no help from Ex will be starting his new job soon so that expense should go away.
Youngest son has a online DJ gig coming up as part of a virtual festival with several musicians he admires so I'm glad he has that creative thing to look forward to.
Oldest son is still working at the grocery store nights and doing his best to keep us all safe at home by cleaning up when he walks in the door.
I'm doing ok, feel fine actually but have had some PVCs (unrelated to my thyroid dose) which I think is a sign my body isn't handing the stress quite as well as I think I am.
CMM has chemo again on Friday, he'll see his oncologist by telemedicine visit and then goes into the clinic for the infusion by himself - he's not allowed to bring me in with him these days.
I'm still sewing masks for friends who have requested them, I'll need to order some new fabric soon. I was quite a good seamstress in my youth but probably haven't sewn anything in twenty years - I'm finding it relaxing.
Hope you all are doing well and staying safe.
kml,
I've been thinking about you and your family. I'm glad you posted an update. Stress is a sneaky thing because you think you are doing okay and then it sneaks up and reminds you that you need to relax a bit and get rid of some of the tension that you've been holding in. Sewing might be a good way to ease up some of that tension.
Glad your sons are doing okay and that CMM is holding his own for now.
Please, please take care of yourself.
I echo Job, I've also been thinking of you and glad you have posted an update. I'm really happy that you're finding relaxation in sewing. I want to thank you for the link to blueprint ... i actually took advantage of the 50% off offer and signed up for a year. Really looking forward to bombing through the art and baking classes!
We went through the bank we've done business with for several years, and the loan came in Friday. We applied on 3/30. Hope that timeline is helpful in your planning. It definitely helped that we had a personal relationship with this bank, which is a local one rather than a huge national.
Glad the boys are well and CMM is holding steady. Hang in there sistah! xoxoxo
Yeah my business bank is B of A and it took them a week just to get the me the information on where to upload my supporting documents and when they did email me they sent at 6 pm on a Saturday night). I'm not holding my breath.
I'll be lucky if it ever gets funded.
CMM had a rough weekend with his chemo this time - not vomiting a lot but not eating much either. Last night he was finally feeling better.
Work is excruciatingly slow, still waiting to see if I'll get any of this second round of the Paycheck Protection money. But I'm far better off than most, at least I have retirement funds I can draw on and I'm old enough not to have to pay the tax penalty on it.
Watched a fascinating documentary this weekend on Amazon Prime called Jacob. About polymath Jacob Appel, who has a bachelor's in history, 3 advanced degrees in history and related fields, a Harvard law degree, medical degree, has published novels, plays and books of poetry. Works as a psyciatrist and teaches bioethics. Oh - and he's a certified NYC tour guide
poor CMM glad he's finally feeling better. Hoping you'll get some PPP money xoxoxo
New info on coronavirus: as I have always suspectsd, but now we have some evidence, vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased severity of disease.
This may explain part of the increased death rate in the elderly and African Americans, two groups with low vitamin D. Big experts in the field want to increase the RDA for Vitamin D to 2,000 IU/d. In my practice, when people have low vitamin D, we use 5,000 IU/d to bring it up. Vitamin K should be taken with high dose D unless you are in warfarin/Coumadin (vitamin k inactivates it). People with high blood calcium, kidney stones or sarcoidosis should try to get their vit D from the sun.
Vit D helps you absorb calcium, vit K helps direct that calcium into your bones where it belongs.
In the study, 96% of the mild cases had adequate vitamin D levels. Among critical patients, 52-55% had severe vit D deficiency and 41-44% had moderate vitamin D deficiency, while only 4% had adequate levels.
If you live in the northern half of the US (even northern CA) you cannot make vitamin D from the sun in the wintertime because the sun’s rays are too weak.
You can find info about the study on grassrootshealth dot net
And note, two caveats:
1) it’s a preprint study, so it hasn’t undergone peer review yet
2) it doesn’t control for age
A better study would control for age, as the elderly often have low vitamin D due to being indoors a lot and having aging skin that doesn’t make vitamin D as well. However, these results are consistent with current knowledge about vitamin D and immunity. I imagine that even if you controlled for age, you would still see a significant effect.
Getting a bit outside of my core understanding but is this then why it does not seem to do well in warm areas? So people thought it was the disease not liking to live in heat but really it’s the lack of D that is allowing it to thrive in the body rather than the cold or lack of heat outside. Is that the idea?
Of much greater interest to me, what do you make several places now including California and the latest being New York showing antibodies in as many as 20% of the population? More and more studies in a variety of locations seem to be starting to show this. If true it means for sure the death ratio is far far lower than thought and far far far more have been infected with no symptoms. Of course the number dying is still more than many viruses but rather than a 1 or 2 % death rate it may be one tenth of one percent. Any thoughts?
The more this all goes on and the more we find out the clearer things start to get. Right or wrong things are also clearly starting to slowly re-open both over seas and in parts of the USA. If 1/5th are already immune with antibodies that won’t mean the infections will climb as much. By me many insisted that in person voting at an election now 18 days ago would cause a spike in hospitalizations and deaths. Now that enough time has passed, we see that never happened. Hospitalizations here have gone down for nearly two weeks now - just in time for the overflow hospital to open tomorrow - to no patients. Meanwhile the largest hospital laid off 7,000 staff today. This is amazing to watch. Anyhow now I’m rambling. Just wanted to see if I was following things accurately.
There's already one documented outbreak of 19 cases associated with voting (that was a couple of days ago, they've probably identified more cases and outbreaks now). It was a stupid idea.
The math: the surveillance data from New York supports my initial estimates of an overall death rate per infected person (not per identified case) of about 0.6%. Right now 21% of New York has been. If we calculate 30% of the US getting infected over the next year (a very reasonable, in fact conservative estimate given how quickly this has spread) and use this 0.6% fatality rate we get 600,000 deaths in the US. If we did NOTHING and let it spread to 70% of the population (the percentage needed to get herd immunity) you would have 1.4 million deaths.
BTW - the decreases in cases are directly due to social distancing, masks and th lockdown.
And while we are on the subject - no, you should not inject or ingest disinfectants like bleach or rubbing alcohol into the body in any form - they will kill you. And there’s no mechanism for introducing UV light into the inside of the body - it would fry your innards (remember sunburns?). I’m waiting now for some poor sucker out there to die from attempting to act on these half baked ideas, like the fish tank cleaner couple.
Get a little sun and take your vitamin D. Get your medical advice from the doctors and scientists.
I’m just wondering if the statistics are being skewed by the tests themselves? Are the antibody tests you are referring to specifically testing COVID 19? Or all corona viruses? I’m asking because I’m a healthcare workers selected to take a test for NY and was told that it’s not specific to Covid 19. Do either of you know anything about the tests and what they are testing here. And Don is What your saying based on antibody tests specific to Covid 19 which might not even be what they are using in New York.
Im wondering what the reason is for me to take a test that will only tell me if I was exposed to corona but not specific to Covid 19. (Was told if we test positive for antibodies we are not allowed to give plasma) And I am assuming this is the test available to this area and they are basing those statistics on this test. We need to know the specific tests they are basing these statements off of no?
Juju - I don’t think the statistics on the surveillance testing are being significantly affected by the test itself - because the percentage positive is so high and varies appropriately from areas of high infection to areas of low infection.
That being said - there are a lot of problems with using the tests we have now clinically. Most tests on the market have not gone through FDA certification (they were allowed to be released without that testing because it was an emergency). We don’t have good data on the sensitivity and specificity of those tests, and some of the claims of the manufacturers are being challenged . (Like the Roche rapid test).
ANY test will have some errors - it will either lean towards picking up all positive cases but giving some false positive results, or towards being really sure a positive is positive, but giving some false negatives. Which way you want the test to lean depends on what your purpose is. In today’s environment it may also depend on what’s available to you.
Let’s say you are taking an antibody test that leans towards not missing people who have the infection, but has say a 3% chance of giving a false positive to somebody who didn’t have CoVID (maybe due to cross-reactivity from very high levels of antibodies to a related coronavirus ). You as an asymptomatic person take the test and come back positive. They can only tell you there’s a 97% chance that you had CoVID - good, but not perfect. That’s the reality of testing.
Are they giving you the test for epidemiological reasons? Then it’s plenty good enough. If you’re taking the test to confirm that CoVID- like illness you had a month ago was really CoVID - it’s pretty likely. If you’re taking it to decide whether you can work with CoVID patients without using PPE - well, there’s that 3% chance you’re not immune, it wouldn’t be good to use it that way.
Btw SARS and CoVID are closely related and the tests likely can’t distinguish between them, but luckily very few people have had SARS so it’s not important.
kml,
I have a question and I hope you don't think it is a stupid one. We had a woman in her sixties pass away last week from COVID-19 and the flu. How can you have both at the same time and then determine that she had both?
I've been reading and taking in all of your information and have been taking Vitamin D3 and drinking coffee each and every day. I hope others will follow the Vitamin D3 approach. So many don't realize that they are low on D3.
Keeping everyone in my thoughts and prayers. Please stay safe and well.
19 cases is hardly an outbreak. Plus all it shows is 19 people who voted in person also tested positive for covid. It doesn’t mean they got it while voting. And how many tens of thousands voted that day? Pretty much everyone including our state officials have now conceded voting in person did nothing to move the needle. I hope you are still looking at things scientifically KML and not just in a way to prove your beliefs.
Juju while I have watched all of this very carefully and just by chance took on a new contract that has me rubbing elbows (figuratively) with some of my state’s greatest healthcare peeps, I’ve not delved deeply into the recent antibody testing reports. From what I’ve been able to find this is actual novel covid 19 antibodies they are testing for and showing near 1 in 5 have the antibody for covid 19 - not just the general Coronavirus. They still don’t know but most believe this strain has not yet mutated. So I would say if you get tested it will be for the actual novel covid 19 antibody.
The “greater New York area”, however that is defined, has had 52% of all USA covid deaths. So it’s clearly way way worse out there. Although thankfully still not as bad as feared. The NY governor asked for 30,000 to 40,000 ventilators. Trump and others told him he’d never need that many but of course they told trump he has no clue what he’s talking about. So the vents were provided, including mandating, was it GM? To build them. In the end vent use never topped 6,000 and they have now shipped the vents to,other places. Same with hospital beds. 140,000 was the number predicted to be needed. Instead it’s never topped 20,000. Off by a factor of 7. Again, 6,000 people on ventilators and 20K in the hospital is a serious deal - no two ways around it. But compared to my state with 350 patients in the hospital and less than 200 vents it’s just not comparable. NY is clearly way harder hit - so much so it’s really not comparable. You mentioned mass transit. I’ve heard that as a very likely carrier. Just the numbers of people one on top of the next... it’s hard not to transmit it. I was going to say hope you test negative but I guess it’s the opposite- hope you test positive for antibodies! You’d be safe and clear and never knew you had it!!!
kml,
I have a question and I hope you don't think it is a stupid one. We had a woman in her sixties pass away last week from COVID-19 and the flu. How can you have both at the same time and then determine that she had both?
I've been reading and taking in all of your information and have been taking Vitamin D3 and drinking coffee each and every day. I hope others will follow the Vitamin D3 approach. So many don't realize that they are low on D3.
Keeping everyone in my thoughts and prayers. Please stay safe and well.
kml,
I have a question and I hope you don't think it is a stupid one. We had a woman in her sixties pass away last week from COVID-19 and the flu. How can you have both at the same time and then determine that she had both?
I've been reading and taking in all of your information and have been taking Vitamin D3 and drinking coffee each and every day. I hope others will follow the Vitamin D3 approach. So many don't realize that they are low on D3.
Keeping everyone in my thoughts and prayers. Please stay safe and well.
This is not a stupid question! Both are separate viruses and different assays from the swan. You do a respiratory panel which is one swan that tests for many respiratory viruses. And corona is a separate swab that tests for that.
I am so sorry for your loss. It’s just heartbreaking
It’s possible to have two viral infections at the same time. It will be REALLY important for everyone to get their flu shots next fall - both to reduce additional burden on the healthcare system during what MAY be a second wave of Covid, and to protect yourself from the likely deadly combination of having influenza and CoVID at the same time.
Don, the 19 people were a cluster, not random people, all associated with one polling place and I believe a couple of poll workers there included. Epidemiologists can tell the difference and in fact can do super sophisticated DNA examinations to show the same sub strain is involved in all the people in a cluster. There are likely many more transmissions not detected because they didn’t involve as many people or simply nobody noticed. My guess is if they have one recognized cluster of 19 ( and still counting last I heard) that probably at least 100 people got infected at the polls that day. Unnecessarily.
Strange thing we have encountered.... we hve this train wreck of a patient who is an illegal immigrant which means no benefits, is on HD and has one and half legs left, and is a horribly non-compliant diabetic which has lead him to the renal failure.
Anyways, we need to get him back to his home base dialysis center because he has no transport options for the one to the COVID positive unit. 3 consecutive negative tests will get home back.
One retest negative. The next day.... retest positive.
A decent amount of patients who are testing negatively, but are obvious classic COVIDs.
Testing is going to have get better real soon
Yeah they’ve seen that in China - people testing negative then positive. I don’t know how much is testing error and how much is the virus - all four of my presumed Covid patients had a very weird up-and-down recovery; feeling really good one day, then way back down the next, off and on for a 2-3 weeks. It’s like their body is wrestling with the virus, some days they’re on top, some days it’s got them in a chokehold again. It’s really weird and definitely unlike any other virus I’ve ever seen.
I like to say that the human body was put together in the dark by amateurs. It's surprising that they work at all
Shame that you can't just shine a bright light on the insides and see first hand what's going on :P
(bows head in shame at bad joke and exits)
T has it. His test came back inconclusive, yet he has so very many of the symptoms. His doctor said, "Stay home, you obviously have it."
He gets plasma infusions monthly to boost him flagging immune system (his IG panel is off and he's been getting infused for several years now)..
He began week 5 on Thursday. Each day he's sounded worse on our conversations. His doctor told him to expect 2-6 weeks of this.
I pray it doesn't get so bad he needs hospitalization.
I read about a 25 year old, the daughter of Tieraona LowDog, MD who recently posted about her battle with this illness. Google it, if you don't believe this is something that can affect anyone at any age.
Lots of people have it but test negative, for a variety of reasons. If your friend sounds worse I hope he has a pulse oximeter to monitor his breathing.
Lots of people have it but test negative, for a variety of reasons. If your friend sounds worse I hope he has a pulse oximeter to monitor his breathing.
of course not. he wouldn't let me get him one.
ugh
stubborn man!
Ginger and kml,
Thank you for answering my question about patients having both COVID-19 and the flu at the same time. It just baffle me as to how the doctors/nurses could determine that she had both at the same time.
There are tests for both flu and CoVID - presumably she tested positive for both.
I don't know that many people and I know 2 that tested negative but later tested positive. Another clearly has it and they tested negative. My state is doing well now with social distancing. I had to go out to pick up some groceries and the stores were empty. We're past our peak day and while it's not a huge drop cases are down. I don't have stats on the hospital resources.
You can google ihme covid and see a model for your state that also shows how close or far you are from maxing out your ICU beds and hospital beds.
Those models say we have more than enough resources I mean we aren't even close to maxing out. This brings me to my next question. I'm ready to see D14. She lives with H but can't stand him so she only sees him at dinner and she stays on a different floor. He's high risk but I feel better knowing she isn't having anything to do with him. She's so desperate she says she's willing to wear a mask. S19 is a germaphobe so what can I do to help him feel safe?
All's quiet here, work continues at a snail's pace and still no word on funding for my Paycheck Protection loan - I'm pretty resigned to not getting it, but it would be a big help if I could. I'm not stressing too much, looking at it as a temporary period of retirement but still having to work lol. (I'm drawing on retirement funds).
Newest data out of NYC shows 25% of the population infected and 0.77% fatality rate among all those infected (including mild and asymptomatic cases). However, if you look at the excess mortality figures - most of which could safely be assumed to be due to Covid - the fatality rate is more likely 1% or higher.
At a 1% fatality rate, if only 25% of the entire US got infected (a very conservative estimate) we could expect around 850k deaths before this is done. If 50% of the USA eventually gets infected, that's 1.7 million deaths.
Just because things are quiet where you live FOR NOW, thanks to the lockdowns, don't assume you won't be seeing more, especially once we open up and people start tp travel. So keep wearing a mask in public, advocate for others to do so as well (thank goodness they are req
requiring it in my area) and don't be the [censored] who spreads the infection because you're "too cool" to wear a mask (like our VP).
OOPs - sorry about the bleep.
She lives with H but can't stand him so she only sees him at dinner and she stays on a different floor.
Sounds like she's fairly low risk then. How about she showers before she comes, wears a mask and keeps 6 foot distance, washes her hands when she comes into the house and takes off her shoes? I know it seems like a lot but it would keep everybody safe and lessen the stress on your son.
For comparison - my boyfriend has lung cancer and my oldest son works in a grocery store stocking shelves at night. Son wears a mask at work and washed his hands and cleans his phone the minute he comes in the house - even before he pets the cat. He doesn't wear a mask inside but keeps 6 foot distance at all times. I haven't hugged him in over a month. We wipe every handle and surface in the kitchen with disinfectant before my boyfriend and I cook. I wipe down the bannister on the stairs. I am normally so NOT a germophobe but this is the reality we are in now.
thanks for this info kml - - i appreciate fact-based info, vs the "news"
I hope you and yours continue to stay safe and healthy