Aww, sorry to hear that, Khajiit.

Aye, sorry to hear that.

<nods> My condolences! I've not yet lost anyone close to me (to my knowledge) to C19, but it's an ever-present possibility I myself am considered 'high risk', which doesn't lighten the situation.

Thanks y’all.

My sympathies CK. Please stay safe, everyone.

I'm very sorry to hear it, Khajiit. You have my sympathy.

So sorry Khajiit, to hear about your boss. Who needs more stress at work these days? If he was a good boss to you, consider yourself blessed - such bosses are few and far between.

Yes, I agree that this is way too serious to take lightly. Still wearing masks whenever I step out of doors, still getting groceries et. al. delivered (only exception is my Panera's Coffee, which I get via curbside pickup), still staying home otherwise.

I had some blood tests done for my pituitary gland Monday, I'll learn the results tomorrow. I also need to connect with my ENT to make an appointment in a couple of weeks.

Started my first day of WFH yesterday - four hours of online chat. It was slow, which is okay considering I haven't had the opportunity to practice much with the tools and workflow. Otherwise it was good to interact with people about this sort of stuff again. I have eight hours today through Saturday (off tomorrow because of Dr. appt) but it shouldn't be too bad.

Sorry to hear that mah boyo. Sending internet hugs.

You lost your boss too, Khajiit? Different reason than mine, but still.


Sorry to hear about it. Stay safe at work!

Aw Khajiit; I am so sorry to hear that!

You are so right; this pandemic is a serious threat. I have known only one person who died from it; but a second has been in critical care on and off since March = 33 years old; and he is unrecognizable from the boy who was first raced into the hospital back then.

For anyone who doesn't know: In May they discovered that the virus has mutated in just months; making new and much more virulent strains of itself. The new strains CAN infect someone who has previously had the Coronavirus.

Also; very much like Strep virus: Coronavirus can and does find "safe places" within your body to hide while you are being treated for it (IE: scar tissue from previous surgeries; pockets of fat; etc) and it will re-attack you when the treatment stops. In those areas it creates cysts that are breeding grounds for the virus; which can go completely undetected by the hospitals until the cysts start to break. When the cyst breaks; the virus then spreads again all through your body; but now with a stronger hold and a much weaker host. These cysts can mobilize to different areas; including the brain.

This virus is not something to play around with; it is far worse than the SARS pandemic a decade or so back. It is best to take every precaution. Just a few examples:

Door handles, shopping carts, and elevator buttons are hotspots for germs = don't touch them except with a disposable tissue or wipe; then dispose of it right away. Public toilets that need manual flushing = same thing.

The virus is heavy; and when someone coughs or sneezes; or just breathes it out = it is going to go down to the next surface and lay there; so when grocery shopping keep that in mind when you are picking up your items.

Something not many think about is shoes = you are out walking on some germ laden floor in public; then come into your home with those same germs and track them all over your house on your nice carpet = Take your shoes off at the door; and never touch the bottom of your shoe with your hands. Wash your hands after handling them.

Here is one I learned from Acadian: He washes his groceries the minute he returns from the store; and the clothing he wore in public does not come through the house or sit on furniture = it is immediately removed and put into the washer. That was a great tip from him; I have been doing this too now.

Anyone else have any tips; might be a good time to air them.

Thanks y’all.

mALX, thank you for posting that info here. I know I’ll be referring to it to make sure I’m doing the best I can.

I hesitated to do that; especially with what you are going through right now; really glad it didn't offend.

Not at all, mALX! It’s good info that we all can use.

Well... balls.

Sorry to hear that sucks. Just lost a friend to it recently too, but I had come to terms with it as soon as I heard she had it due to age.

Still sucks. Hugs for you.

Thank you. I’m sorry for your loss as well. *hugs in return*

Does anyone here have sleep apnea or is close to someone who has it? I've recently been diagnosed with it, and given the choice between convention oxygen tank, mask and so forth and Inspire treatment. Inspire looks appealing on the surface (tank and mask don't) but I don't know enough. Most of what online searches unearth has the spell of paid-for-testimonial shills. At any rate, any insight on this is most appreciated.

(Even simple stuff like, will I be able to drive myself home after (outpatient) device implant surgery? The closest Inspire treatment doc who accepts Medicare pricing is over an hour ride away. Or so I'm told.)

Mrs. has a CPAP and has done for a number of years. Now that she has a well-fit mask, it does pretty well. She is able to sleep on her back or either side without difficulty. One DOES have to be aware of the hose... and of course, power outages....

It is a good idea to "pad" the contact points with moleskin or similar to reduce chafing. Dry mouth CAN be an issue.

For those who have to deal with the fact that our bladders seem to have shrunk to the size of a ... pea (pun intended)- there is a quick release so getting up and then reconnecting is not a chore.

The surgical, "maskless" treatments are unknown to me, so I would not venture an opinion.

Yeah CPAP isn't too terrible really. I'd be leery of surgical procedures myself, mostly because I don't trust them to work worth a crap.

I do hope you get something sorted out though. Sleep apnea sucks.

I was just diagnosed with mild sleep apnea this past spring, and have been using a CPAP since. It took a couple of tries to find a mask that fit, but now I sleep pretty well with it. Like Mrs. Treydog, I can sleep on my back or on my side without dislodging it much, so that's a plus. I toss and turn fairly often through the night, and toss off the covers a couple times a night as well (due to hot flashes/night sweats - old lady issues), and none of that interferes with the CPAP.

I don't use an oxygen tank, but rather a small machine that sits on my night stand and provides the PAP I need to sleep. In your case, the severity of the sleep apnea may dictate a bulkier set up - I don't know. But I do know that the model I use is small and easy to use.

Any of those day surgeries = no matter what they will NOT release you to drive yourself home. They would be responsible if anything happened to you if they did; their malpractice insurance wouldn't allow it. Your Brother will probably have to drive you there and sign you out; or the VA can arrange your transport to and from = they do that all the time; even if the trip is over an hour.

I have never heard of any surgical procedures for Sleep Apnea; only the CPAP option with or without oxygen added. If you need oxygen, then this would be the best choice for you anyway.

Treydoggie's description is really accurate. If your skin is in any way sensitive; most def use a little cloth between the mask and your skin. An old T-shirt would work, just cut a square out to line where the mask hits your skin; and then cut out the circle for your nose and mouth.

But those masks and respirators are the only thing I've ever heard of being effective; so be careful of any new procedures out there unless your own regular lung doctor can tell you about them himself.

If you sleep on your back, that isn't good if you have Sleep Apnea; that position aggravates the problem. Laying on your side causes the least amount of pressure on that weak point; so never sleep on your back without the CPAP on.

Sleep Apnea is caused by a weakness in the front of the trach tube. If you are overweight; (which you are NOT; but your "Adam's Apple" may be pushing down there) = the extra weight will rest on that weak spot and cause it to collapse; closing down the breathing and causing it to stop until your body's survival instincts kick in and jerk you back into breathing again.

The period of time between when the obstruction causes your breathing to stop and your body kicks it back into action can be as long as a minute or more; but even if it is just seconds at a time it will cause damage.

It will make you wake up more tired than you felt when you went to bed because your body isn't getting the rest it needs; but worse = every time you sleep and your Apnea is stopping your breathing like that; your vital organs are losing the life sustaining oxygen they need to function. You will end up with damage to your organs, including your brain if the Apnea isn't treated properly.

So I would be really leery over any experimental procedures or surgeries unless your lung doctor himself brings them up or discusses them with you.

The "mask and tank" may not sound appealing to you; but you can get used to them and they do solve the problem of the Apnea. You just have to get used to the sound of the machine and the suction with that mask on.

They do offer much longer hoses between the machine and the patient so you can place that machine further from you and cut the noise down. Also; the CPAP normally has an option to add moisture = the vapor of heated water to keep your mouth from getting so dry. The longer breathing tubes may negate the help of these.

The only thing about the CPAP is that you absolutely have to clean them after use. When you get up in the morning and take the CPAP off; pull the hoses out and hand wash them with dish soap and water in the kitchen sink; and remove the little water tank out and wash it too. Set them out to air dry after rinsing; or if the tank part is machine washable = much better; stick that in the dishwasher. (the hoses won't wash well in the dishwasher though; they HAVE to be done by hand).

Agreed with our friend here.

Well here we are in the middle of hurricane hell again. Man I hate hurricanes ruining my October! >:[

I notice that while checking weather earlier today. Its trajectory places us on the fringe of its area of impact. By that time it has greatly weakened. Combine the two and we'll likely not notice it passing.

I shouldn’t complain. The folks in coastal areas and a bit further inland will have it waaay worse than I will. Still though, I hate hurricane season!

<nods> For me its tornado season, spring in my neck of the woods. My county is in the state's 'tornado alley', and has the state's second highest tornado death count during the period from 1950 to 2019.

I too, live on the northeastern fringe of Tornado Alley, where the Plains run into the woodlands to the east. We have tornado sirens here, and tornados is my Force Majeure nightmare. (Fire was my Dad's, and I'm sure drowning/floods were others')

I too, hate tornado season. The only thing I notice about hurricane season is all the rain we get - especially with Gulf hurricanes . . .

Urgh.






GAAAAAAAH !!! Urgh!

Started working from home (WFH) last week. It's interesting. Not as busy as I had hoped, but that will change after the big announcement next week Tuesday. I'm sure that will keep us busy almost all the way into the holiday season.

Here are some things I like about it:
1. A regular schedule I can plan things around - my days off are Sundays and Mondays, and I work half day Tuesdays (the other four hours are supposed to be with my Store, but atm there is nothing to do) and full days Wednesdays through Saturdays. I start at 10 am, so that means if I get up at 6:30 am every morning, I have time to do a little ESO before starting work. I can even run to Panera's for my coffee!

2. Commute is AWESOME! No traffic, very short. I literally pivot from my personal iMac to my work iMac and my keyboard table is large enough to take both keyboards and mice and rolls with me.

3. Even though I'm working from home, I'm not alone. There is a Slack channel (Slack is kinda like in game chat - it's an app we run on our work Macs and we share channels). I can DM my WFH managers with scheduling conflicts or workflow questions, and there is a main (very busy) channel dedicated to helping us with questions or issues related to customers, with experts on standby to look up and answer questions.

What I don't like about it is sitting in this old chair for so long. The seat padding's about gone, and the back is the wrong angle. It's an executive chair, meant for leaning back and putting your feet up on the desk. That was fine when I first bought it, back when I still had the horses and would spend up to four hours a day at the barn. But now it's no longer supportive, and when I need to sit and type, I need a back that's upright, and arms that are adjustable enough to slip under the keyboard table and still support my elbows.

That leads me to a fourth thing I do like about this new role: A NEW CHAIR!!!! My work just reimbursed me $100 towards this beauty. It won't arrive until the end of November, but I'm pretty excited about it. I've talked to several gamers and it comes highly recommended.

WOO HOO, a new chair! My new Daughter-in-law has a similar chair that she is extremely happy with. Hers is black with a red racing stripe down the seating area; and looks like it has just a bit more padding than your new one coming; (hers was made for gaming; not business, lol) but hers is the same style/shape as that one. She loves it. I sat in it once when she first got it, VERY comfy.

Rider, I'm so glad the WFH arrangements seem to be agreeing with you. Sounds like you have a good employer.

I too am in the market for a new puter chair and will anxiously look forward to your impressions of your new one after it arrives!

How did I know it was a secretlab chair?

Expensive as crap but I hear good things about them.

Natural disasters suck. Hurricane and tornado season suck.

Luckily we don't have that stuff here.... just mountains of fluffy white bull in the winter.

There's a public-service radio station out of Memphis I sometimes listen to while on the road. Today, returning from a weekend errand run, I could the beginning of a discussion on a C19 symptom I was not previously aware of: Brain Fog. Among other things, sufferers find it hard to maintain focus any length of time. They think and therefore act more slowly than normal. They often forget things. When talking, they stop mid-sentence when not being to remember words. Some mention having their job performance suffer due to it. One said she was eventually let go.

I hear this and think, "Oho! That's me in a nutshell!!!!!!! Only, I've had these symptoms for decades. Those who read my posts (I don't blame those who don't, they're a mess.) will remember that I've alluded to the brain fox/mist any number of times. (I also recall two incidents during which it worsened.)

Not much point to this post, other than that I found the radio broadcast fascinatingly relatable.

I have to say, for someone who claims to suffer from brain fog you're remarkably clear, Decrepit

Oddly, this is one of my less foggy days. (Thus far. It likely won't last much longer before fog again sets in.) In any case, I can take my time composing these posts. Sooner or later I usually (but not always) grind out something that is at least somewhat readable.

That's because COVID-19 is not a respiratory disease, like influenza or the common cold. Rather, it is a hematologic disease, where it has a dramatic impact on blood flow to various organs through its effects on the cells of the immune system. This explains the wide variety of signs we see in patients infected with COVID-19, and raises very disturbing questions about long term effects of the virus. Scary stuff, indeed.

"Blue for the virus, green for the anti-virus"


-Resident Evil (first movie)


Gives me the vibes here

Well dang it. My County just went from blue (stable) to orange (WARNING) in terms of COVID-19 risk.

My mother and I were thinking of going grocery shopping at the neighborhood store during Senior Citizen Hours (7 - 9 am Tuesdays) next week, mainly for her sake. She hates the online shopping experience. It's been difficult for her to adjust to the new way of life these days.

On the plus side, so far my weekly COVID tests are still coming back negative. And my WFH has been fun fun fun - more fun than I thought it would be Yesterday chat was very busy, and I was double chatting all morning with customers, flipping back and forth between two customers and keeping their conversations going. I'm glad for all the hours I put into playing ESO - keeping track of three guild chats and two PM threads at the same time was far more challenging than this.

Haha! Rider, as you were relaying your WFH chat skill, I instantly recalled how adept you are at managing ESO chats.

We (Mrs. Treydog and I) are also in one of the "hotspot" states and I have limited my activities as much as possible accordingly. Work requires face coverings and temperature checks for for anyone entering- including those of us who are there on a daily basis. I try to do the grocery run relatively early in the day.

Glad your WFH is going so well and that your "multi-threading" skills are helping with that. Better still that you are enjoying doing it. Best wishes to you and your mum.

And here I am in a country barely doing much at all. ><

I agree with Acadian; Rider! I don't do well at all with the chat box; but you just seem to fly on it! I always love seeing you at our meets; because you manage to keep up with my need for all caps on the fly = really amazing!

*

Just to let everyone know = I just got out of the hospital. Went into the ER Friday evening and was admitted for another stroke and kidney failure. Turns out the stroke was just a TIA (mini-stroke); and as of an hour ago I am back home and doing well in recovering from it. The doctor is following up on my kidneys and the nerve damage on my left hand; other than that I am back to "Status Quo," lol. Good to be home again.

No! Not another one, mALX!! You gotta stay with us!!


I'm glad though you're back home already. Always nice when you can do that, being in your own familiar surroundings. I do hope you have lots of people around you to take care of you and keep tabs.


All the best!

I'm okay this time, This one is nothing like that last time. I just have to go back to listening more strictly to the doctor's restrictions on what I am NOT supposed to be doing, urk. (IE: Coffee, etc).

Then leave this Coffee Shop immediately! Unless virtual coffee is OK.

QFT

Yikes, mALX! I'm glad you are home and feeling better!

What she said!

Thank you both! I really am feeling better; and thank goodness all the bad stroke type symptoms didn't stick around after the first couple days! That was the biggest relief to me. The rest is all handle-able, lol.

Yikes! I somehow missed noticing all this. Glad to hear you're home and doing better now!

Yikes. TIA are no good. Kidney failure is def no bueno(husband's been waiting for a transplant for six or something years now).

Hope you sort things out and feel better soon!