Well, I just tested clear for Covid. I was in the hospital ER and that is what they did first. Seems I have a blood clot on my lung, but there are no beds available in the hospital so they are sending me home with blood thinners, followed by daily visits to my doctor. I am a little nervous but I think just as glad to not be in a hospital full of Covid patients.
For the second consecutive testing day I did two tests yesterday. Monday it was because I had a failed lateral flow test, and had to repeat it.
Yesterday was because I am part of a trial randomly testing PCRs as well as my second LFT. My poor tonsils and nostril are irritated.
Thanks all, had to fight with the insurance company over blood thinners the doctor prescribed. It was resolved late last night. That I guess belongs in the hell thread. Again thank you for the kind thoughts.
I have a question. The kit tells you to check the use-by date each time. All my tests have had use by dates in 2023 so far. But are there any tests which have already expired?
I shouldn't think so. But that "check expiration date" is standard boilerplate that goes everywhere (and who's to say that you wouldn't shove a box of tests in your bathroom cabinet, and drag them out sometime next year...)
Thanks all, had to fight with the insurance company over blood thinners the doctor prescribed. It was resolved late last night. That I guess belongs in the hell thread. Again thank you for the kind thoughts.
Hey GI. I'm on Apixaban (Elquis). It's OK, until you cut yourself (which I do fairly often, in a manual job)
Crossing fingers and touching wood, I haven't had a positive test yet. But I am following advice and not socialising indoors, continued to wear a mask inside, etc, etc.
I'm not sure quite what happens when the things I'm involved in go back next week and the week after. We've already decided to run Guides online for the next half term, partly because so many girls were missing sessions as self-isolating, a third at every session, pretty much, in the run up to Christmas, and the planned camp that Guides were supposed to be attending this weekend was cancelled last weekend, by the organisers. But we haven't decided what we're doing with youthwork and Rainbows, yet. Rainbows can't go online, they are too young to benefit at 4-7 years old.
The National Youth Association advice hasn't changed from 2 December, which with the new advice from the Government worries me.
Rainbows can't go online, they are too young to benefit at 4-7 years old.
Mrs C has successfully done some games on zoom with Daisies (who are the US equivalents of Rainbows), but it was very much as a way of giving the girls some social interaction during lockdown, rather than trying to accomplish "scouty things".
They'd typically have a virtual opening circle, where they'd take it in turns to say one good thing from their day/week, and everyone would greet the girl by name (so they all learned each other's names), and then do things like a "virtual escape room" as a group activity, or a treasure hunt in their homes (go and find me something red / something that bounces / something you like to eat / etc.) And she read to them all about Juliette Gordon Low on her birthday, and things like that. This all worked OK.
It's clearly much worse than gathering in person for that age, but it did keep the girls connected at some level, so that when they were able to gather in person, they recognized each other, and knew the names of the new girls who had joined during lockdown, and it gave the girls chance for some peer social interaction that they otherwise weren't getting. (Yes, zoom school for that age was exactly the disaster that you would expect it to be.)
They do need some parental support to do this, though - or at least an older sibling. If your parents are in the mode where they view Rainbows as cheap drop-off babysitting, it may not work as well.
Doing craft activities virtually didn't work well at all, though. Most of the girls liked getting a craft activity to do, and liked doing it, but either trying to do it on zoom, or do it beforehand, and then show off their completed crafts on zoom, was a complete failure, and completely misses the camaraderie of doing the activity around the same table together.
Congratulations to the Province of Québec on the perfect scheme for instantly increasing vaccination rates. You now have to have proof of vaccination to enter liquor or cannabis stores.
I may have a duff box of LFTs. I did one this morning, but when I tried to drip the liquid onto the tester, nothing happened. I squeezed more firmly. And then still more firmly. The tube split down the side with a pop. Once I had mopped up, I took a closer look and realised the nozzle cap was solid- no wee hole. So I started again with a fresh test and realised that nozzle was solid, too.
Fortunately you don't need the nozzle; I just dripped straight from the tube.
I have a question. The kit tells you to check the use-by date each time. All my tests have had use by dates in 2023 so far. But are there any tests which have already expired? They've only been in production for a year; it's not as though you might inadvertently use one which had been gathering dust for the past five years.
I had a box like that as well, and they failed for the same reason as you describe. I hadn't thought of dripping the stuff straight from the tube though - genius - as I have another 3 boxes to use - the ones in the green and while boxes.
Congratulations to the Province of Québec on the perfect scheme for instantly increasing vaccination rates. You now have to have proof of vaccination to enter liquor or cannabis stores.
I need it for the Library, which would have convinced me if I hadn't already been double vaxxed.
If places selling alcohol here required proof of vaccination there could be an insurrection.
As the Australian PCR testing system clogs up due to the sheer number of omicron cases, State governments (most of which require a negative test to cross into their state) backed by the Commonwealth (federal) "government" assure us that they will will accept a Rapid Antigen Test ("lateral test" in UK-speak) instead.
The only catch is that there are no RAT kits available to the public anywhere at any price!
This typifies the great foresight shown by the feds in particular, who are generally responsible for procuring supplies of such things as they have the biggest bulk-buying power, leaving the retail distribution of tests to their mates in private pharmacies.
Thanks all, had to fight with the insurance company over blood thinners the doctor prescribed. It was resolved late last night. That I guess belongs in the hell thread. Again thank you for the kind thoughts.
Hey GI. I'm on Apixaban (Elquis). It's OK, until you cut yourself (which I do fairly often, in a manual job)
Apixaban here also @mark_in_manchester. Much better than the alternative, which requires monthly blood tests. I keep a ready supply of suitable bandaids, as I'm a keen amateur chef and knives tend to slip from time to time.
Ouch! Dangerous practice, this Cook Ing lark...
ION, I heard today of a Young Person in our congregation who is having severe problems in learning to speak - he's about 3 now, IIRC.
Would I be right in thinking that this may be a side-effect of Covid? The Young Person may not have been able to interact with other children and adult, outside the immediate family, as Ye Plague has been rife pretty well all his life so far!
I'm not looking for a diagnosis, of course, but I did just wonder if others had come across similar issues.
There are so many possible reasons, but unless his caregivers do not speak I’d struggle to see how Covid would stop him acquiring language. The most rapid acquisition happens around 2years and for many, many, many people historically and nowadays all over the world you’d be mostly at home with family at that age.
There are so many possible reasons, but unless his caregivers do not speak I’d struggle to see how Covid would stop him acquiring language. The most rapid acquisition happens around 2years and for many, many, many people historically and nowadays all over the world you’d be mostly at home with family at that age.
Yes, that's what I thought - the Young Person has siblings, one of whom (his elder brother) can talk for England. Not sure about how much his parents talk to him, of course...
There are many reasons why children talk late. My son is one of them, which is AFAWCT to do with his being a very early preemie. Being in a bilingual house has probably accentuated the delay.
One of the experts on late talking children is an American psychologist called Stephen Camarata, who has done brain scans on late talkers, and discovered that they have an atypical brain organisation. For most people, their language centres are in the left hemisphere of the brain, but for late talkers it is usually the right. According to Camarata, for about 40% of late talkers, it is a symptom of something else, like autism, an intellectual disability or deafness. For the other 60% it's basically a stage that they get over in the end and they turn out fine.
In any event, any individual child who is talking late needs to see a pediatrician to try to work out the cause. Most will then go into speech therapy.
My brother didn’t talk fluently until my parents were asked to make sure he could get a word in edge ways. Apparently my sibling and I monopolised the conversations
I took a couple of the kids for Covid tests just before Christmas, because they'd been in a bus with someone that turned out to have Covid, and although they weren't a "close contact" under the rules, it seemed sensible.
I got the results this morning. They didn't have Covid. Which is nice to know, but not terribly helpful at this point.
I feel particularly sorry for children who are missing important bits of their childhood because of Covid. My great-nephew, Archie, should have been having his first birthday party the weekend the first lockdown was imposed, and I can't help feeling there's a big hole in his life where 2020 should have been.
He's luckier than most: he has seven cousins who all live within hailing distance (actually three of them weren't born until 2021), but for quite a while there wasn't much opportunity for them to get together and get to know each other.
I feel particularly sorry for children who are missing important bits of their childhood because of Covid.
I was chatting with my 6-year-old the other day, and realized that they don't really have many memories of life before Covid. This facemask and keeping apart from each other palaver is just what they do.
Well, here we are again. I was eating at restaurants and things, but this being the US, and this being Florida, with record-breaking Covid spreading to the vaccinated as well, back to hiding indoors. Alas, I have to go to campus for the in-person classes I teach, which makes me very unhappy.
This is where I live, and the situation regarding the colleges in my region. Prayers welcome. Cubby (my partner, QuakerCub here on the Ship) died of Covid one year and six days ago, 6 January 2021.
Welcome back ChastMastr. My prayer life, is kind of sporadic, but when it happens I remember you and Cubby. I hope you can do the job you have to, and stay safe, which sounds contradictory. It reminds me of walking to school in the rain with a friend who's mother used to tell her to "dodge the drips" which may be OK if it's a light summer shower, but impossible in torrential rain.
I just got home after a few days in the hospital. I am doing fine now. Of interest, both the ambulance attendant and the emergency room staff told me that everyone should be double masking at this point. Then as I am leaving the lady escorting me said, "Be sure to use a double mask." That was three people saying it, so I am double masking up as is my family. I do not plan on going anywhere except for doctor checks, but I do have a helper who comes in bi-monthly. So, I passing it on to you, if you want to check if they are saying double mask in your neck of the woods.
I went to a local Co-Op today, the traffic being at a standstill in the direction of Tess Coe. The journey involved being tailgated by a stupid taxi driver, but maybe he was in more of a hurry than I...
Ye Plague is obviously over, as NONE of the customers in the Co-Op were masked (the two checkout lads were, however). I nearly put the basket down in order to roll off like a hoop, but decided to risk it. By the time I reached the checkout, the covidiots had all, thankfully, disappeared.
Quite - and there was an article in one of our UK newspapers today warning us that Omicron, albeit milder than Delta, is still something of a potentially dangerous unknown quantity.
If I fall ill, I have no-one to look after me, though kind neighbours would do the shopping, I know. They do keep an eye open for me, bless them, but even so, if I died during the night, it might be a couple of days before anyone noticed.
Is there a nautical solution for that - flags to raise which say 'if this flag is still raised at 11am, please enquire within to find out if I am dead?'
My friend used to live in a house which formed one of a chain of semaphore stations linking Holyhead to Liverpool. Apparently in the early 1800s, Liverpool merchants could get better prices if they knew in advance what was going on with the ships coming in from America. The ships flew a flag code which comprised a number, which was then passed on using two semaphore arms on a tower. I saw a copy of the code book once, which was a random list of messages ascribed a 4-digit code - the one I remember was 'I have plague on board'...
Is there a nautical solution for that - flags to raise which say 'if this flag is still raised at 11am, please enquire within to find out if I am dead?'
My friend used to live in a house which formed one of a chain of semaphore stations linking Holyhead to Liverpool. Apparently in the early 1800s, Liverpool merchants could get better prices if they knew in advance what was going on with the ships coming in from America. The ships flew a flag code which comprised a number, which was then passed on using two semaphore arms on a tower. I saw a copy of the code book once, which was a random list of messages ascribed a 4-digit code - the one I remember was 'I have plague on board'...
Not sure about what flag to hoist in case of impending Death, though.
When in distress, a boat should fly an orange flag with a black square and black ball, so that might do...
Is there a nautical solution for that - flags to raise which say 'if this flag is still raised at 11am, please enquire within to find out if I am dead?'
My friend used to live in a house which formed one of a chain of semaphore stations linking Holyhead to Liverpool. Apparently in the early 1800s, Liverpool merchants could get better prices if they knew in advance what was going on with the ships coming in from America. The ships flew a flag code which comprised a number, which was then passed on using two semaphore arms on a tower. I saw a copy of the code book once, which was a random list of messages ascribed a 4-digit code - the one I remember was 'I have plague on board'...
Ah, I wondered where the late Sir Terry had acquired the kernel of that particular idea.
Comments
First lft since mum died is about to happen.
( loath them)
For the second consecutive testing day I did two tests yesterday. Monday it was because I had a failed lateral flow test, and had to repeat it.
Yesterday was because I am part of a trial randomly testing PCRs as well as my second LFT. My poor tonsils and nostril are irritated.
I shouldn't think so. But that "check expiration date" is standard boilerplate that goes everywhere (and who's to say that you wouldn't shove a box of tests in your bathroom cabinet, and drag them out sometime next year...)
Hey GI. I'm on Apixaban (Elquis). It's OK, until you cut yourself (which I do fairly often, in a manual job)
I'm not sure quite what happens when the things I'm involved in go back next week and the week after. We've already decided to run Guides online for the next half term, partly because so many girls were missing sessions as self-isolating, a third at every session, pretty much, in the run up to Christmas, and the planned camp that Guides were supposed to be attending this weekend was cancelled last weekend, by the organisers. But we haven't decided what we're doing with youthwork and Rainbows, yet. Rainbows can't go online, they are too young to benefit at 4-7 years old.
The National Youth Association advice hasn't changed from 2 December, which with the new advice from the Government worries me.
Mrs C has successfully done some games on zoom with Daisies (who are the US equivalents of Rainbows), but it was very much as a way of giving the girls some social interaction during lockdown, rather than trying to accomplish "scouty things".
They'd typically have a virtual opening circle, where they'd take it in turns to say one good thing from their day/week, and everyone would greet the girl by name (so they all learned each other's names), and then do things like a "virtual escape room" as a group activity, or a treasure hunt in their homes (go and find me something red / something that bounces / something you like to eat / etc.) And she read to them all about Juliette Gordon Low on her birthday, and things like that. This all worked OK.
It's clearly much worse than gathering in person for that age, but it did keep the girls connected at some level, so that when they were able to gather in person, they recognized each other, and knew the names of the new girls who had joined during lockdown, and it gave the girls chance for some peer social interaction that they otherwise weren't getting. (Yes, zoom school for that age was exactly the disaster that you would expect it to be.)
They do need some parental support to do this, though - or at least an older sibling. If your parents are in the mode where they view Rainbows as cheap drop-off babysitting, it may not work as well.
Doing craft activities virtually didn't work well at all, though. Most of the girls liked getting a craft activity to do, and liked doing it, but either trying to do it on zoom, or do it beforehand, and then show off their completed crafts on zoom, was a complete failure, and completely misses the camaraderie of doing the activity around the same table together.
I had a box like that as well, and they failed for the same reason as you describe. I hadn't thought of dripping the stuff straight from the tube though - genius - as I have another 3 boxes to use - the ones in the green and while boxes.
It is a bit of a faff though.
I need it for the Library, which would have convinced me if I hadn't already been double vaxxed.
If places selling alcohol here required proof of vaccination there could be an insurrection.
The only catch is that there are no RAT kits available to the public anywhere at any price!
This typifies the great foresight shown by the feds in particular, who are generally responsible for procuring supplies of such things as they have the biggest bulk-buying power, leaving the retail distribution of tests to their mates in private pharmacies.
Apixaban here also @mark_in_manchester. Much better than the alternative, which requires monthly blood tests. I keep a ready supply of suitable bandaids, as I'm a keen amateur chef and knives tend to slip from time to time.
ION, I heard today of a Young Person in our congregation who is having severe problems in learning to speak - he's about 3 now, IIRC.
Would I be right in thinking that this may be a side-effect of Covid? The Young Person may not have been able to interact with other children and adult, outside the immediate family, as Ye Plague has been rife pretty well all his life so far!
I'm not looking for a diagnosis, of course, but I did just wonder if others had come across similar issues.
Yes, that's what I thought - the Young Person has siblings, one of whom (his elder brother) can talk for England. Not sure about how much his parents talk to him, of course...
One of the experts on late talking children is an American psychologist called Stephen Camarata, who has done brain scans on late talkers, and discovered that they have an atypical brain organisation. For most people, their language centres are in the left hemisphere of the brain, but for late talkers it is usually the right. According to Camarata, for about 40% of late talkers, it is a symptom of something else, like autism, an intellectual disability or deafness. For the other 60% it's basically a stage that they get over in the end and they turn out fine.
In any event, any individual child who is talking late needs to see a pediatrician to try to work out the cause. Most will then go into speech therapy.
AIUI, the Young Person's parents are taking steps to find out what is going on, so to speak.
I got the results this morning. They didn't have Covid. Which is nice to know, but not terribly helpful at this point.
He's luckier than most: he has seven cousins who all live within hailing distance (actually three of them weren't born until 2021), but for quite a while there wasn't much opportunity for them to get together and get to know each other.
I was chatting with my 6-year-old the other day, and realized that they don't really have many memories of life before Covid. This facemask and keeping apart from each other palaver is just what they do.
https://www.tampabay.com/news/education/2022/01/10/covid-safety-encouraged-not-required-as-tampa-bay-college-campuses-reopen/?itm_source=parsely-api
Ye Plague is obviously over, as NONE of the customers in the Co-Op were masked (the two checkout lads were, however). I nearly put the basket down in order to roll off like a hoop, but decided to risk it. By the time I reached the checkout, the covidiots had all, thankfully, disappeared.
Am I being unreasonably cautious?
If I fall ill, I have no-one to look after me, though kind neighbours would do the shopping, I know. They do keep an eye open for me, bless them, but even so, if I died during the night, it might be a couple of days before anyone noticed.
My friend used to live in a house which formed one of a chain of semaphore stations linking Holyhead to Liverpool. Apparently in the early 1800s, Liverpool merchants could get better prices if they knew in advance what was going on with the ships coming in from America. The ships flew a flag code which comprised a number, which was then passed on using two semaphore arms on a tower. I saw a copy of the code book once, which was a random list of messages ascribed a 4-digit code - the one I remember was 'I have plague on board'...
Hehe - not a bad idea...
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yellow_flag_(contagion)#:~:text=The%20%22Quebec%22%20signal%20flag%2C,stands%20for%20%E2%80%9CQ%E2%80%9D).
I shall have to see if I can acquire one.
Not sure about what flag to hoist in case of impending Death, though.
When in distress, a boat should fly an orange flag with a black square and black ball, so that might do...
Ah, I wondered where the late Sir Terry had acquired the kernel of that particular idea.