Got me!

I rode to a gig with my friend/bass player a few days ago. Over the last couple of days I could feel the grunge coming on. It started off slow like the grunge usually will. A little tightness in the chest. A tickle in the throat that progresses to a mildly irritated throat. A slight cough.

Yep the grunge is coming. Usually this time of year I run into something similar at least once, maybe twice. But after a few days I generally get through it. I always have a bit of bourbon on hand, tis the best cough suppressant I’ve ever used. I figured to ride it out as I usually will.

Then this morn I had a fever. Not too bad, 100.2. And the pain. I’m always dealing with pain. When the grunge comes on the pain enhances to def con 3. Miserable pain to go with a fever. Not fun. I feared this might get worse.

I called the family Dr, I cant get in till Thurs at 11. Dammit! Popular place I suppose?

Then my buddy texts and tells me he has covid. Well Shit! Logical conclusion, as I was riding in his truck for 3.5 hours, is I have a good chance of having it too. But I wasn’t sure yet. When my wife got home I told her about it, and by luck she has a few covid tests squirreled away. I went through the swabbing, and the 15 minute wait, to see 2 blue lines instead of one.* Some luck!

So I called the pharmacy, last I heard as soon as you know you have it there is something to take to lessen the effect of the virus. But I’m told to treat the symptoms. Go to the E room if it gets bad, limit exposure, and basically ride it out. Oh, and no need to inform the health dept.

Ummm ok? I guess. FWIW, I am fully vaccinated.

My friend tells me that where he works perhaps 50% of the guys there called out of work today. He figures he contracted it at work. I figure I contracted it from him.

So it goes. Life is a roller coaster, hang on for the ride.

Y’all stay away from the covid monster. It ain’t no fun.

* She told me I was pregnant 😉 ha ha… That’s fine, I’m a smart ass too!

https://www.upmc.com/media/news/020321-mccarthy-duprex-deletions

Evolution is a MF’er!

Covid appears to be evolving, to become resistant to antibodies. My guess has been, and still is, this will turn out much like the flu. We will have to make adjustments to vaccines on a yearly basis, and get vaccinations at least once, if not twice a year to have some sort of protection from our new friend.

The key takeaway from the article:

“Although this paper shows how SARS-CoV-2 is likely to escape the existing vaccines and therapeutics, it’s impossible to know at this point exactly when that might happen. Will the COVID-19 vaccines on the market today continue to offer a high level of protection for another six months? A year? Five years? “How far these deletions erode protection is yet to be determined,” McCarthy said. “At some point, we’re going to have to start reformulating vaccines, or at least entertain that idea.”

As is usually the case in things I fear may come to be, I hope I am wrong.

Y’all stay safe out there.

Well as of today my covid positive son is officially out of quarantine. As it stands right now no one else has or is showing any symptoms. So at least for now we can put this episode behind us.

I just wish the prognosis for our country looked better. In more ways than covid…

Y’all stay safe and be smart out there. Oh, and thanks again forn the well wishes!

Are we having fun yet?

Last week my youngest son finished up his work week on Thursday and he slept a lot the next couple of days. I figured, yeah he works outside in the sun, had a long week, sure he ought to be wore out a little. Let him sleep.

The next morning he informed us he had no sense of smell or taste. It was like a huge boulder falling from the sky and squashing us. I took him to a Fast Pace clinic as it was a Saturday and the family Dr. was enjoying his weekend. My son was tested for covid, and as we expected, is positive. We have absolutely no idea where he came down with it.

Now he is on his second week of quarantine, he stays in his room as much as possible, and wears a mask when he goes to the kitchen or the bathroom. If we are around we put our masks on when we see him. Being stuck in his room isn’t too awful as he has a tv, cable, a Playstation with wifi, and a damn mini fridge in there. An eighteen year old’s dream scenario. The only downside is we are a close family and we often hug and jostle around, and spar with wit for fun. We are social. It sucks on both sides not being able to interact. I can hear the rat a tat tat of some sort of weapon from behind his bedroom door. If you are playing Fortnite right now watch out!

Fortunately, thus far, he has had a mild case. He slept a lot at first. Then no smell or taste. After that he battled a lot of body ache for a few days as well as just general discomfort from being ill. Right now his sense of smell is returning slowly and he seems to be over the worst of it. Oddly enough he never really had issue with coughing, wheezing, sneezing, or even a fever that we know of. So a mild case, which is good.

The wife, being a nurse, had to get tested. She tested negative a few days ago. She missed a few of days work already while we were in covid limbo, (well we are still in covid limbo!) but they did let her start back with the negative result. She wears her mask diligently. We are always on the alert for any sort of symptom from any of us and will respond accordingly.

If the wife is negative, maybe I am too. As if she was positive, that would likely be my outcome as well. Anyway neither of us have shown any symptoms as of yet. We are well aware that a negative test today could easily be a positive case tomorrow. Yet we are holding out hope that if we stay smart about this, we can get through it with no added infections.

I have alerted the neighbors to stay away, though a couple do still drop by with full knowledge of the situation. I won’t let them in the house, and I always wear a mask and demand a certain amount of social distance when we interact.

The hell of it is, and this is the clincher, why it is so bad… We, whether we like it or not, are social creatures. It is extraordinarily difficult to not be that which we are. But let’s be damn smart about how we do it.

Y’all stay safe out there, and do NOT visit my place just yet 🙂

I got a message from a friend this morning. He was in recent contact with a positive covid case and we were playing music three days ago. Well that’s bad enough, but just last night my wife informed me that one of the people who live at the house she works at (home health care nurse, pediatric) has also been in contact with a positive case.

This thing is creeping in folks. If it has infiltrated my  backwoods, redneck infested, Tennesee local, there is no place safe.

I contacted my family NP (Nurse Practitioner) and inquired as to my best approach. My possible covid interactions are only a few days in, I wanted to know if I should give it some incubation time, to give the virus a true opportunity to show up in a test if I am a positive case? The reply was “wait until you are showing symptoms, then come in.” Which I took as a yes to my question.

Both possible covid infectees are temporarily furloughed from work until they know the results of their tests. Which right now can take up to two weeks to get the results. So now I can quarantine my ass for a while I suppose. Being a potential maybe, it’s too dangerous, if I care anything about my fellow man, to go about my normal routines even with a mask.

I will have a small cussing spasm now, most definately invoking the stupendous fucking orange idiot and the passel of ignorant, self serving, callous, unempathetic, cold blooded, enabling, rat bastard, R senators and governors infesting our country. Just look the other way, it will be over soon.

Y’all stay safe out there.