It just seemed like maybe a weekend was a good time for a check in thread. Even though the other one is STILL ON THE FRONT PAGE!
I have a persistent cough that's driving me bananas, and I'm hoping it's just allergies. I got another Covid test yesterday just to be sure, and I have a telehealth appointment with a nurse practitioner on Monday to see if I should be worried about pneumonia or something like that.
We hit 8% yesterday for the first time since June.
At least we might finally get some snow this week.
Everyone in my house has a low-grade fever, but so far no loss of taste or smell.
743 new cases today, on 7321 tests. Total cases since the beginning stands at 67,069. If we're going to make 100,000 by the end of the year, some folks are going to have to go to some holiday parties.
You could spread a rumour that Nancy Pelosi is going to outlaw drinking fresh spit from others and watch the reaction.
It's more fun if you call it the South Dakota Bear-Appreciation Meet-up.
WE had snow yesterday morning, and then rain all day. I preferred the snow.
I preferred the snow.
I share your preference, and so does my dog. Lucas loves frolicking in the snow, and doesn't seem to mind the cold at all. But rain? If it's raining outside, the dog will refuse to go out for hours and hours, he hates the rain that much, until I start to worry that he's going to get a UTI or something, and basically push him out the door.
You could try to give him cranberry juice.
My dog doesn't really respond enthusiastically to fruit and fruit-derived products.
(He loves meat, of course, but his favourite food is cheddar cheese).
Well, what isn't better with a vodka, if we're being honest...?
Is anyone else having trouble being ok with not being ok? I haven't seen anyone I really care about for a couple of months now. They all live in other cities. I'm living alone, working from home mostly, shopping when I have to in a mask & having stuff delivered.
On the other hand, I've got a job that pays well and isn't going away. I pay ridiculous rent but I have a good location and a real view. Objectively, I have it pretty good. But this sucks. It's wearing on me, but I can't really let myself complain.
Soup - do you zoom with any of the people you care about? Is that any better than just talking on the phone. I live with someone else, and I think that makes it easier.
Objectively, it's not great to be alone and it's worthy of angry complaint. The trick is to not complain to someone who is alone and broke.
We went XCing today, as we have the last two weekends. It's great to be out in the sunshine.
SB, are you getting out much?
I'm even better off -- stable job, comfortable living space, one of my kids home with me and I see my parents some. And I am still losing my mind a bit. This sucks for everyone, and you shouldn't feel bad at all that it sucks for you.
I am also quite fortunate and well off; and yet, I'm about to lose my goddamn mind. And I think it's okay to at least occasionally complain...
We got regular family zooms going on Sunday afternoons. I'm way more in touch with my family that I was before covid.
I've been deeply upset today by the news that the painter Jackie Saccoccio has died. I had the experience of working with her a few years ago as I was put in touch with her to borrow a new painting for a show. I swiftly learned that she was absolutely lovely and generous, a wonderful person to work with and goddamn--her work was incredible. She was only 56.
https://www.artnews.com/art-news/news/jackie-saccoccio-dead-abstractions-1234578300/
My mother suffered a devastating stroke two weeks ago. She died, in a way, November 30th, St. Andrew's Day. Her body is waiting to be cremated. Her liver was successfully transplanted to a recipient in Toronto, Dec. 3rd. A person of small stature, that's all I know, like her. The hospital was amazing, and we're Canadian, so no bill, yes I know how fortunate we are. I'm staying in the house where I grew up, in the very bedroom where I first became aware that my mother would one day die; I was 2 or 3. I cried and cried. I can hear her voice saying, "Oh, but it won't be for a very, very long time." I'm eating breakfasts that my mother had prepared for me (I was to have arrived 4 days later) baked milllet, dates, things I associate with her. I cry when I eat. My husband is amazing. It's hard. I can't believe most humans go through this.
Oh, Penny, I am so very sorry. I was thinking if you when my Dad died, because I remembered that you had struggled with yours. Tim's Dad died in January, and there was a bill, because his retiree benefits qualified him for a semi private room and that costs more. It wasn't like he asked for it, and there was no other bed to be had, but because he had the supplementary insurance, they billed him.
My deepest condolences. I don't even really have the right words.
Really sorry to hear that, Penny. My sympathies.
25: I'm so sorry for your loss. What a terrible shock for you in an already awful year.
Condolences, Penny. Those breakfasts are just one of the things she'll be giving you for a long time.
Thank you folks. That means a lot. I have been so remiss in being in touch with this community, and you are all in my hearts. I just became aware of the loss of the painter referenced above, and her work is truly splendid. Sometimes it is overwhelming how much grief there can be in the world.
Thank you folks. That means a lot. I have been so remiss in being in touch with this community, and you are all in my hearts. I just became aware of the loss of the painter referenced above, and her work is truly splendid. Sometimes it is overwhelming how much grief there can be in the world.
Everyone's comments are helpful.
BG, I try and zoom/facetime etc. when we can. Busy lives and timezones make that hard sometimes, but we do it. And Charly, I've been getting at least an hour or two outside every day. That helps.
I guess I'm just grumpy and feeling ungrateful. Thanks for validating that.
So very sorry for your loss Penny
Sorry for your loss, Penny.
I've had the identical conversation with my son, where he got upset at the thought I would die, and I told him it wouldn't be for a very long time. I think I remember having the same conversation with my grandmother.
I'm sorry, Penny. My parents are both still healthy, but this pandemic has made me really think about their mortality, and it's made me unhappy.
I have been in quarantine since Tuesday, though my covid test just came back negative so I am now free. I think I really had the flu, though I feel mostly better.
There's never been a better time to get your flu shot if you haven't yet, reprobates.
Are you blaming me for having the flu?
45 No, just that it's a good idea. I wouldn't want the added anxiety of thinking is this COVID or the flu right about now.
I just now learned that both David Lander and Michael McKean are CMU alums and that they developed Lenny and Squiggy while there. You'd think CMU would put that out more instead of just always leading with the computer stuff.
Did that occur to you because Penny spoke up in this thread?
47 reminds of a few years ago when I was surprised by a billboard ad for Temple University that prominently featured Daryl Hall and John Oats, who apparently started playing together while undergrads there.
Then I remembered that Bill Cosby had been Temple's featured celebrity alumnus until recently.
Common theme: private investigators being used for inappropriate purposes.
Anyway, my neighbor's kid just started at Temple. I'll ask him if Hall and Oates factored into the decision.
My daughter graduated from Temple. I'm quite sure that Hall & Oates didn't factor in.
IASIMHB, I went to see H&O in 1977, at Winterland. It wasn't my idea, and I was utterly unprepared for the scale of the desecration of that place.
Before MTV was widespread, there was no way for normal people to know how bad a Hall & Oates concert was aside from the noise.
(I just looked at the Winterland concert listing to check the date. H&O really kind of stands out as not belonging there.)
Apparently, they belong in Philadelphia, but that seems even less appropriate.
Let it never be said
That the virus is dead
Cause there's so little else
Occupying my head.
Rudy, Rudy, Rudy, Rudy.
There are many depressing things in this thread and in this world, but I can hold a candle for the idea that maybe Giuliani caught covid from that batshit self-parody of a star witness in Michigan.
Given the time frame, it's more likely he got it from a different total loon.
Wait. The only source is Trump. Maybe one of them is lying to get away from the other?
Oh Penny, that's awful. I'm so sorry for your loss.
Just got news that my high school boyfriend died of COVID. Someone made a Herculean effort to find me and let me know (I'm very much not in touch with anyone there). It was very kind. I'm now trying to figure out if there's a fund for his kids or anything. I bet he was a great dad. He lost his dad when he was 15. I'm gutted his kids will repeat his history.
I'm so sorry about that. His poor family and friends.
Oh wow, so sorry to hear that, ydnew.
Horrible, Ydnew. And he must have been really young.
He was 42. The last time I saw him, I was in college. He stopped by on the way to visit his now-wife and volunteer with her at a Special Olympics event (she's a special ed teacher). My favorite memories of him are when he'd come over on school nights to watch TV after I'd finished my schoolwork. I played sports and did marching band and was perpetually hungry, but my mom never wanted me to have seconds or each as much as I wanted, and he'd show up with a carton of chicken fried rice or a pumpkin pie or something warm and greasy and comforting, and we'd split it. He's the reason I know cops pull over brown kids in shitty cars for made-up reasons. Since I'm not even pseudonymous, here's the GoFundMe for the curious:
https://www.gofundme.com/f/yvxpz9-supporting-friends-in-need
Amused (but not really surprised, he was a kind and easygoing guy) to see my dirtbag (meant kindly - I was more dirtbag than he) boyfriend turned into a beloved member of his local community.
Ydnew - I'm really sorry. This is a rough disease.
It sounds as if he was a good guy. I'm sorry for your loss, even if you were out of touch, and for his family.
What a sweet guy. What a huge loss to his community.
I'm sorry to hear of your loss, Penny. It must be very hard to bear.
And yours, ydnew. That's a lovely memory you've shared with us at 74.
Condolences Penny and Ydnew.
My wife spent the last week down with diverticulitis, right at the beginning of the holiday shopping season. A few weeks ago she had a pain in her side, but decided to tough it out. The Saturday after Thanksgiving, she was fine most of the day, but finished her shift vomiting at work, then having to mop it up before she drove home. Monday she called the nurse line and got scheduled for a Covid test, had a telehealth appointment with the doctor that afternoon, and I picked up antibiotics that evening. Four days of stock, jello, egg drop soup, and clear liquids followed; by the end she was getting dizzy from lack of food and was often falling asleep after being awake for only an hour or two.
She's been reintroducing food since Friday and it's all staying down. It's odd, since the diverticulitis recovery diet is 180 degrees from her T2 diet. It's explicitly low fiber-- white bread, no vegetables and very limited fats-- so it's a weird vacation from her standard diet. Yesterday she felt a lot more human, after a second day of food. She wound up napping in the afternoon, and went to be a little early, but it was dramatically better than the bare consciousness she'd managed the previous work days.
Today's the end of her double antibiotic course, so fingers crossed that she's fully on the recovery path. She's awake earlier than normal, and talking about heading into the store for a brief visit this afternoon to reassure her staff. Her doctor told her that she might be up for half-days this week, so fingers crossed!
Hope she feels better soon. That sounds rough, especially the no food.
oh man, glad she's feeling better. That sounds awful.
Two public bus drivers here have died of covid in the last week. Not a good sign.
Condolences Penny and Ydnew.
Thank you for sharing here. Both of those are tragic and touching.
I am so so sorry, ydnew - that's awful, even if you are no longer in touch.
My 2020 has taken a precipitous drop to the extremely shitty, down from the managing just fine status quo of the last months (sure we have issues like diminished income and anxiety about the state of the world blah blah but essentially everything was ok). First, my 101 and 96 year-old-grandparents tested positive for Covid following a case in their nursing home. However, they are on day 6 following the test and still have not developed symptoms, so I am holding out hope there.
Much worse is that my biological dad - who I am only moderately close with (exchanges of emails and chats and that sort of thing) - had been dealing with what we all thought was an orthopaedic issue that was going to need some surgery but wasn't too serious. Unfortunately it looks like he has cancer somewhere, it has metastasised to his brain, and he is in hospice care - thankfully with family and not in a hospital given the circumstances. It's a real whallop and I'm trying to process the lost hopes for the future and the chance to properly say goodbye, as he is no longer talking. I did at least get a few minutes on the phone during his last intelligible moments.
Also, apologies, Penny, I hadn't scrolled through everything as of yet, and I am so so sorry for your loss. Grief and loss is so hard.
Yikes, (), sorry to hear all that. What a rough combination of blows on top of the pandemic.
Oh Parenthetical, that is so hard. I'm so sorry. Here's hoping for your dear grandparents.
Parenthetical, what a horrible blow. Phone calls are such a dreadful way to say goodbye, or even to enact it. Sympathies.
80: I hope your wife is better soon. Sounds scary for you.
Parenthetical, I am so sorry. I hope your grandparents are fine. My coworker told me today his mother tested positive a while ago (she is 90 and in a memory care facility) and is fine. I hope you find some peace with the loss of your father. It's hard to foreclose on all the outcomes you might have secretly been dreaming of (even ones you didn't know you'd wanted). You must be exhausted and worried, and I hope your home and hearth are cozy and comforting places when everything else is falling apart.
Thank you, all. This weekend was really hard. I am slowly processing, though, and at least connecting with my half-siblings, who I do not have much of a relationship with (a complicated family saga but one that is thankfully free of any ill feelings, just lots and lots of distance - both geographic and temporal as they are fifteen years older and always 1500+ miles away), so I am trying to focus on that, and how glad I am that my father has family that loves him around him right now. He's lived so many varied lives, and sharing those between us is also helping.
Grandparents still amazingly chipper despite being confined to a small room and still healthy (well, as healthy as they were at the start of it)!
90: That is exactly it. Putting words to it is helping a great deal.
And thank you for the well wishes. We put the Christmas decorations up yesterday and today and while it felt a little silly given everything it also feels good to have a touch of normal, and to have decorations that connect us both to loved ones to look at.
Thanks for the good wishes Moby, Heebie, and ydnew. Fortunately, once they diagnosed it, things immediately began getting better -- she'd been vomiting and avoiding food anyway, so the order to switch to clear liquids wasn't a huge change. Just having a name was hugely helpful--though the follow through guidance was a big step off the norm, probably due to the telehealth nature of the diagnosis. They got her the antibiotics, and after a followup call some anti-nausea medicine, but didn't give her the normal fact sheets and guidance on reintroducing food. She navigated the internet as best she could on low energy, and came up with a reasonable course of food to reintroduce, but it was tiring for her to try to sort through conflicting claims while somewhat disoriented.
85: Best of luck Parenthetical. Losing Dad was difficult, and it sounds like your relationship (and his recent diagnosis) are a lot more fraught. Whatever you feel is "right" for the moment-- don't worry about feelings or their lack, it sounds like you have a lot to unpack as well as dealing with the shock.
Sorry about your father, Parenthetical. This is a year that is making even bad things worse.
My whirlwind: about 24 hours ago I noticed an abnormally bad stomachache brewing. It kept me from sleeping, and tenderness around my navel made me worrry appendicitis, so I called the nurse advice line around midnight, and learned it wasn't so urgent / clearly appendicitis that I needed to come to the ER, but got a video appointment with a doctor for the morning.
However, it stayed bad all night and symptoms got worse. Long story short, it was appendicitis, but I got the appendectomy very promptly and am now being discharged - less than 12 hours in the hospital including CT scan, ER wait, and all surgery.
Which is especially pleasing since I was kind of panicking at having to go into a hospital with COVID actively ravaging capacity. But they handled the distancing and so forth well.
96: Wow that's fast. Glad you're safe and it was resolved quickly.
Sorry for your loss, Parenthetical.
96: Glad yours went well!
Back in April, at the height of the first wave, my "let's go to the ER and have them rule out appendicitis" turned into a 12-day stay because apparently the infection was pretty bad.
Yikes. I thought German doctors were good about washing their hands.
96: holy moly, glad to hear you're ok.
102: I think it's more likely that they erred on the side of taking out less of the surrounding innards during the first laproscopic surgery. Plus there's less pressure here to get people out of the hospital, so after the second surgery and ICU stay, they were willing to wait until I was good and ready to leave.
Sending best wishes and good thoughts to all of you--sounds like it's been a rough week for the Mineshaft.
Grist for the data mill: as a man, I never once had to say "no, this really hurts." I rated my pain at various stages, the doctor initially said "It sounds like it might be appendicitis, let's get you in for a CT scan", and afterward they said "yes, it probably is, you should go to the ER now."
Meanwhile a friend I texted had a woman friend who had been told twice "it's just gas" before being diagnosed with appendicitis.
Incidentally, Mr. Robot works in litigation support. He's been supporting Zoom trials every day for the past two weeks, and while it's all boring corporate stuff, it's still been interesting to eavesdrop on everyone and develop strong opinions about who the biggest jerks are.
If the cases he's working on are in Chancery, then I can imagine that this a very difficult inquiry indeed.
I think I'd be a candidate for gas-induced misdiagnosis. Many times I've been in horrible pain and went away with a good fart.
Thank you all - some very good advice in here.
Sending out lots of love and support to the whole Mineshaft - Jenny is indeed correct....
Oh, I have now had the super uncomfortable kind of covid-19 test everyone was talking about. The ones I had before at the county testing site by comparison were definitely just nasal swabs.
Aw gosh Minivet I'm glad that went that well!
Years and years ago, when we were just dating, my husband blanked out while we were moving a small couch and I started getting worried but no-one would believe me that something was wrong. His appendix had ruptured by the time everyone was in agreement. (He's not especially stoic about small discomforts, but when he broke his upper arm he was calmly talking about the patella in his elbow being loose.)
The best thing to do is plan a vacation to the South Pole so that you can get your appendix removed before it gets infected.
THE GAME IS CANCELLED.
You've gone too far now, 2020.
112. One of us!
Getting the nasopharyngeal one done right made me wonder what in the heck the previous 3 tests accomplished. Supposedly they were also nasopharyngeal PCR tests. All came up negative at least.
O God: people that I formerly thought of as sane are posting weird conspiratorial garbage about the COVID-19 vaccine at that other place. Apparently, Health Canada's efforts to procure as many doses of the vaccine as necessary = an attack on our Charter rights to not wear a mask. And something something about China; and Dr. Theresa Tam: does she work for Canada, or does she work for China?
(These Covidiots are Canadians, of course: American nutters don't have a monopoly on the crazy, they just have a better chance of achieving critical mass...).
116.Wolverines are a lot like minks* and we've seen how the latter do with SARS-COV-2.
Taking a page from the xenophobes, these Westerners and their weird farming of animals for fur will be the death of us all.
* So says I.
Health Canada's efforts to procure as many doses of the vaccine as necessary = an attack on our Charter rights to not wear a mask
Even if that didn't wasn't a failure of logic on multiple levels, somebody needs to learn about the Oakes test.
I am struggling right now. I hate my work, and that's made harder by the fact that I don't have social interactions. I need to reach out and figure out a next step. My boss is super supportive but there are not really any opportunities out there, and our medical director doesn't care about anyone's advancement. I am trying not to be too grouchy, but I'm struggling with low grade depression and concentrating despite getting regular exercise.
Also, I think it's bullshit that I am likely to get the vaccine in February, even though I am fully remote, because I work for a hospital. End of the line for my hospital but before the people who work for our corporate overlords but still in 1a and ahead of a lot of people who are more vulnerable.
Wolverines are a lot like minks
"Go, minks!" doesn't quite have the same ring to it, though.
Sorry to hear about your biological dad, Parenthetical. It's good that you were able to have at least some contact with him.
bostonienne, i am very sorry to hear you are going through a rough patch. although it might seem there is nothing out on the market, i'd encourage you to keep looking for a new position. first, it really seems as if your current one is a bit of a dead end even if it were more congenial. and second, when something does turn up, exploring the new position (whether or not you take it) will likely put your current circumstances in perspective and may make you feel quite a bit better - this could be enormously helpful in keeping up your momentum to keep looking.
on other fronts, it has got to be so hard to keep positive, sleep reasonably well, stay reasonably fit, in boston this winter. if you were here in sf i'd get you into a wet suit and into the bay! nothing better for the spirits, ahhhh. (and then i'd start working on getting you out of the wetsuit and into the bay along with the rest of the crazies ;-).) if your current exercise regime isn't really making you feel actively better - at least temporarily - maybe try and mix it up? do you ice skate? that's outdoors, and if you don't seems hard enough to learn that it would be a challenge, and if you do would be awfully fun to set out to improve. anyways, something that is a bit out of your reach and would be fun, preferably but not necessarily outdoors - really has worked wonderfully for me. and if you meet new people outdoors, all masked up, that is an extra added major boost.
anyways, i really mostly want to express my sympathies and send you a warm, virtual hug and a chat from out west. please take care.
to everyone else as well, so much pain and sorrow - all my very warmest regards. hang in there, everyone.