Covid news
Jul. 3rd, 2022 01:50 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catsittingstillI am getting gradually better, I think. Kip is feeling basically normal, and mowed the lawn yesterday with no problems. It is always like this; Kip picks something up at work, brings it back to me, is better in a few days and I drag around sick forever it is not fair.
Dad reminded me that only a very tiny dose of opiates will suppress coughing, and I have some pills left over from an old prescription, so I cut one in quarters and took one quarter, and sure enough that didn’t stop the coughing entirely but it stopped it enough that I could sleep for 4 hours, take another quarter and sleep another 4 hours which was so welcome I can’t tell you.
Last night I took one quarter and slept for 8 hours. I needed that so much.
At this point the covid is 1/3 cough and 2/3 exhaustion. I’m physically tired all the time. I am very carefully not pushing through it because what I’ve heard on the grapevine is that trying to push through it is a good way to take much longer to recover. This is annoying, because my dad and my brother were coming to visit on the 4th of July, and even once we test negative and are safe to be around* the house is definitely not going to be as clean as usual, and I don’t know that I will be up for much of anything in the way of trips.
* Guidance is scanty on on “safe to have a vulnerable person in your air space”, but as a first step, Kip and I are trying to meet “safe to go out again while masked” which is 2 negative tests in a row, and Kip was negative day before yesterday, positive yesterday and negative again today, whereas I had my first negative test this morning. I think I’m going to suggest Dad and Jake stay at a hotel for at least the first couple of nights, while Kip and I continue to test. We could in theory wear masks in the house, and only eat on the back porch, but wearing a mask while sleeping is heavy going.
I’m a bit worried about persuading Dad to take this seriously. He is in his eighties, and fairly deaf and was always headstrong, and while he is fully vaxxed and boosted, his 2nd booster isn’t due till the end of July, and I think he is leaning too hard on the assumption that as long as he doesn’t wind up in the hospital it is fine but I’m here to say it’s not fine; having Covid sucks.
But at least the era of Covid means the local Walmart has a way to order food online and then come in and pick it up at the curb, which has been a huge help.
Dad reminded me that only a very tiny dose of opiates will suppress coughing, and I have some pills left over from an old prescription, so I cut one in quarters and took one quarter, and sure enough that didn’t stop the coughing entirely but it stopped it enough that I could sleep for 4 hours, take another quarter and sleep another 4 hours which was so welcome I can’t tell you.
Last night I took one quarter and slept for 8 hours. I needed that so much.
At this point the covid is 1/3 cough and 2/3 exhaustion. I’m physically tired all the time. I am very carefully not pushing through it because what I’ve heard on the grapevine is that trying to push through it is a good way to take much longer to recover. This is annoying, because my dad and my brother were coming to visit on the 4th of July, and even once we test negative and are safe to be around* the house is definitely not going to be as clean as usual, and I don’t know that I will be up for much of anything in the way of trips.
* Guidance is scanty on on “safe to have a vulnerable person in your air space”, but as a first step, Kip and I are trying to meet “safe to go out again while masked” which is 2 negative tests in a row, and Kip was negative day before yesterday, positive yesterday and negative again today, whereas I had my first negative test this morning. I think I’m going to suggest Dad and Jake stay at a hotel for at least the first couple of nights, while Kip and I continue to test. We could in theory wear masks in the house, and only eat on the back porch, but wearing a mask while sleeping is heavy going.
I’m a bit worried about persuading Dad to take this seriously. He is in his eighties, and fairly deaf and was always headstrong, and while he is fully vaxxed and boosted, his 2nd booster isn’t due till the end of July, and I think he is leaning too hard on the assumption that as long as he doesn’t wind up in the hospital it is fine but I’m here to say it’s not fine; having Covid sucks.
But at least the era of Covid means the local Walmart has a way to order food online and then come in and pick it up at the curb, which has been a huge help.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-03 07:00 pm (UTC)(Those of us in the SPC-body had it back in January-none of us could even get past the fatigue for five days; and the body aches...yeah, well.)
Just because you don't end up in the hospital doesn't mean you don't have lasting effects afterword. Those suck, too, just sayin'. So yeah, convincing your relatives to stay in a hotel until negative tests come back is a damn good idea, even if it makes your dad grumble a bit.
-T~
no subject
Date: 2022-07-03 10:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-03 10:24 pm (UTC)Shit's no joke, man. No joke at all
(Also, it took thecough and the fatigue the longes to leave, so don't be surprised if that happens with you, too.)
-T~.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-03 10:30 pm (UTC)We will see but I think I have dodged the memory fog bullet, and my anxiety appears to be about the normal amount for current events and personal situation? but who knows.
But Covid very much hits different people different ways, and I'm trying not to push my luck.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-03 11:03 pm (UTC)Both Craimar and I think we pushed it too much by going back to work exactly 10 days after we had it (being symptem free for 48 hours and all that) which is why all of us got fucked by the brain fog, but we'll never know at this point. I did, however, have to call off a couple times in the first month back, so there is that, as well. heh.
*hugs back* Slow and steady is certainly warranted in this case.
-T~
no subject
Date: 2022-07-04 12:04 am (UTC)I hope you and Craimar both feel all the way well soon!
no subject
Date: 2022-07-04 03:16 pm (UTC)Hopeffully the next job'll be closer to the house so that won't be a problem from here on out. (Once we find it.)
-T&C*~
PS: The entirety of the collective is glad you're trying DWagain, we're a lot more active in commenting over here because everyone basically knows. Unlike the worldof faceplant-I mean facebook.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-04 11:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-03 07:42 pm (UTC)Hope you can continue to recover!
no subject
Date: 2022-07-03 10:11 pm (UTC)That's a thing I did not know.
At the moment I think the "able to sleep" part of the equation outweighs the other part in terms of contributing to healing, but I will keep an eye on it.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-04 11:25 am (UTC)(It's one of those things I learned as a medic in the army. People with chest wounds should not be given morphine but pethidine. But apparently not all opiates have that effect.)
no subject
Date: 2022-07-04 03:08 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-04 05:03 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2022-07-04 03:45 pm (UTC)MRI finds lung abnormalities in non-hospitalized long COVID patients
no subject
Date: 2022-07-04 11:07 pm (UTC)I understand that you mean well, but I think dwelling on this will not help keep me safe, and will not be good for my mental health.
no subject
Date: 2022-07-05 12:25 am (UTC)Sorry about that. The article implied that, now that we know at least one of the components of long COVID, there's active research going on to find a way of reversing it quickly.
So that's at least somewhat encouraging.