I wish I were one of those low carb/paleo people who never get colds, never get sunburns, never have a complaint. I've had a cold for two and a half weeks, sat in the sun yesterday, and got a sunburn.
Monday I read the news that Indiana was offering COVID testing in Greensburg, an hour from home. I drove down there, answered some questions from National Guard members, and got ready to have my finger pricked. In reality, that's the antibody test. This was the test where someone pushes a swab into your nose halfway to the back of your head. It's the closest I've ever come to a violation of the Geneva Convention. I could still feel it an hour later when I was home.
Two days later, I was going downhill. I emailed some coworkers that if I stopped answering emails and my phone to please call an ambulance. They asked if I'd like one of them to call me every hour to make sure I was OK, but about that time I got my test results back: negative for COVID.
I went to urgent care, which is where I usually go when I'm sick since I don't have a regular doctor. Their telehealth setup wasn't working, or I'd have used it. A young physician's assistant saw me, had me x-rayed for pneumonia (which was also negative) and said antibiotics probably wouldn't help. I said they helped the last time, so I got a prescription for them and started feeling better.
Since it might soon be required (or I might need to go out before I'm well), I sacrificed an old t-shirt to make some masks. I found a good no-sew method on Youtube, no elastic required, but I hand-sewed some seams to make them hold together better.
I'd been wanting to get some fresh air and sunshine, but it's been cold and rainy. Yesterday, though, was such a beautiful day that I put some TV trays on the front porch and moved my laptop and second monitor out there. I put on shorts and a bikini top and got to work. At lunch, I moved the setup to the back yard to stay in the sun. By 2, I was sunburned on my shoulders and in an odd pattern on one side. At least it isn't painful.
No doubt, some people will avoid going out in the sun just because Donald Trump said it might help. But being "opposite man" is silly and childish. Trump "referenced an 'emerging result' from research by the Department of Homeland Security that indicates exposure to sunlight, heat, and humidity seems to weaken the coronavirus." As to his comments on getting UV light inside the body, "Ultraviolet blood irradiation (UBI) was extensively used in the 1940s and 1950s to treat many diseases including septicemia, pneumonia, tuberculosis, arthritis, asthma and even poliomyelitis." And Vitamin D is known as the sunshine vitamin. I don't know whether those were things Trump had in mind, but one is a real treatment and the other is a preventive for other illnesses and they might treat or prevent COVID. Pretending he suggested drinking bleach is disingenuous.
Unfortunately, many in the media are seeing the pandemic through political goggles and politicians are in a mode of scope creep. Scope creep is when the scope of a project expands--and the scope of not overwhelming hospitals has crept into waiting until any threat to anyone is completely gone. Well, any threat from the coronavirus. The thinking seems to be that we can wait out the virus and spend, borrow or print our way out of economic disaster.
Monday I read the news that Indiana was offering COVID testing in Greensburg, an hour from home. I drove down there, answered some questions from National Guard members, and got ready to have my finger pricked. In reality, that's the antibody test. This was the test where someone pushes a swab into your nose halfway to the back of your head. It's the closest I've ever come to a violation of the Geneva Convention. I could still feel it an hour later when I was home.
Two days later, I was going downhill. I emailed some coworkers that if I stopped answering emails and my phone to please call an ambulance. They asked if I'd like one of them to call me every hour to make sure I was OK, but about that time I got my test results back: negative for COVID.
I went to urgent care, which is where I usually go when I'm sick since I don't have a regular doctor. Their telehealth setup wasn't working, or I'd have used it. A young physician's assistant saw me, had me x-rayed for pneumonia (which was also negative) and said antibiotics probably wouldn't help. I said they helped the last time, so I got a prescription for them and started feeling better.
Since it might soon be required (or I might need to go out before I'm well), I sacrificed an old t-shirt to make some masks. I found a good no-sew method on Youtube, no elastic required, but I hand-sewed some seams to make them hold together better.
I'd been wanting to get some fresh air and sunshine, but it's been cold and rainy. Yesterday, though, was such a beautiful day that I put some TV trays on the front porch and moved my laptop and second monitor out there. I put on shorts and a bikini top and got to work. At lunch, I moved the setup to the back yard to stay in the sun. By 2, I was sunburned on my shoulders and in an odd pattern on one side. At least it isn't painful.
No doubt, some people will avoid going out in the sun just because Donald Trump said it might help. But being "opposite man" is silly and childish. Trump "referenced an 'emerging result' from research by the Department of Homeland Security that indicates exposure to sunlight, heat, and humidity seems to weaken the coronavirus." As to his comments on getting UV light inside the body, "Ultraviolet blood irradiation (UBI) was extensively used in the 1940s and 1950s to treat many diseases including septicemia, pneumonia, tuberculosis, arthritis, asthma and even poliomyelitis." And Vitamin D is known as the sunshine vitamin. I don't know whether those were things Trump had in mind, but one is a real treatment and the other is a preventive for other illnesses and they might treat or prevent COVID. Pretending he suggested drinking bleach is disingenuous.
Unfortunately, many in the media are seeing the pandemic through political goggles and politicians are in a mode of scope creep. Scope creep is when the scope of a project expands--and the scope of not overwhelming hospitals has crept into waiting until any threat to anyone is completely gone. Well, any threat from the coronavirus. The thinking seems to be that we can wait out the virus and spend, borrow or print our way out of economic disaster.
Comments
We've had some lovely sunny weather in the UK and I often think just seeing sunshine can lift the spirits.
Take care, my good wishes.
All the best Jan