Still putting one foot in front of the other, work was very slow this week but I've submitted my application for the loan to pay employees salaries and am getting some organizing done which was very needed. All three of my probable Covid patients are recovering although it is a long, slow, up and down process. which is apparently common according to the FB survivors group. Things here in California are not bad, we are not exceeding our hospital capacity and are supposed to be almost to our peak according to the models.I think it is a combination of relatively early lockdown, a more suburban sprawl, and there's a possibility that the predominant strain here is not as aggressive as the predominant strain on the East Coast.
I'm entertained by all the amusing videos that people are making during their quarantine downtime. So much creativity!
Wrote a long post and then got logged out for some reason and lost it! I'll try again.
All's quiet here. Still working but everything is very slow, I'll definitely be needing that SBA loan to meet my payroll, and am taking some money out of my retirement funds to pay my own expenses for the next couple months. I'm lucky that I have it and am old enough to withdraw it without the 10% penalty.
Meanwhile middle son who I was supporting with no help from Ex will be starting his new job soon so that expense should go away.
Youngest son has a online DJ gig coming up as part of a virtual festival with several musicians he admires so I'm glad he has that creative thing to look forward to.
Oldest son is still working at the grocery store nights and doing his best to keep us all safe at home by cleaning up when he walks in the door.
I'm doing ok, feel fine actually but have had some PVCs (unrelated to my thyroid dose) which I think is a sign my body isn't handing the stress quite as well as I think I am.
CMM has chemo again on Friday, he'll see his oncologist by telemedicine visit and then goes into the clinic for the infusion by himself - he's not allowed to bring me in with him these days.
I'm still sewing masks for friends who have requested them, I'll need to order some new fabric soon. I was quite a good seamstress in my youth but probably haven't sewn anything in twenty years - I'm finding it relaxing.
I've been thinking about you and your family. I'm glad you posted an update. Stress is a sneaky thing because you think you are doing okay and then it sneaks up and reminds you that you need to relax a bit and get rid of some of the tension that you've been holding in. Sewing might be a good way to ease up some of that tension.
Glad your sons are doing okay and that CMM is holding his own for now.
Please, please take care of yourself.
Sit quietly, the answers will reveal themselves when you least expect them to. The past is gone, the present is a gift and you need to focus on today, allow the future to reveal itself when it is ready.
I echo Job, I've also been thinking of you and glad you have posted an update. I'm really happy that you're finding relaxation in sewing. I want to thank you for the link to blueprint ... i actually took advantage of the 50% off offer and signed up for a year. Really looking forward to bombing through the art and baking classes!
We went through the bank we've done business with for several years, and the loan came in Friday. We applied on 3/30. Hope that timeline is helpful in your planning. It definitely helped that we had a personal relationship with this bank, which is a local one rather than a huge national.
Glad the boys are well and CMM is holding steady. Hang in there sistah! xoxoxo
M 20+ T25+ S ~15.5 (BD) BD 4/6/15 D 12/23/16
"Someone I loved once gave me A box full of darkness. It took me years to understand, That this too, was a gift." ~ Mary Oliver
Yeah my business bank is B of A and it took them a week just to get the me the information on where to upload my supporting documents and when they did email me they sent at 6 pm on a Saturday night). I'm not holding my breath.
CMM had a rough weekend with his chemo this time - not vomiting a lot but not eating much either. Last night he was finally feeling better.
Work is excruciatingly slow, still waiting to see if I'll get any of this second round of the Paycheck Protection money. But I'm far better off than most, at least I have retirement funds I can draw on and I'm old enough not to have to pay the tax penalty on it.
Watched a fascinating documentary this weekend on Amazon Prime called Jacob. About polymath Jacob Appel, who has a bachelor's in history, 3 advanced degrees in history and related fields, a Harvard law degree, medical degree, has published novels, plays and books of poetry. Works as a psyciatrist and teaches bioethics. Oh - and he's a certified NYC tour guide
New info on coronavirus: as I have always suspectsd, but now we have some evidence, vitamin D deficiency is associated with increased severity of disease.
This may explain part of the increased death rate in the elderly and African Americans, two groups with low vitamin D. Big experts in the field want to increase the RDA for Vitamin D to 2,000 IU/d. In my practice, when people have low vitamin D, we use 5,000 IU/d to bring it up. Vitamin K should be taken with high dose D unless you are in warfarin/Coumadin (vitamin k inactivates it). People with high blood calcium, kidney stones or sarcoidosis should try to get their vit D from the sun.
Vit D helps you absorb calcium, vit K helps direct that calcium into your bones where it belongs.
In the study, 96% of the mild cases had adequate vitamin D levels. Among critical patients, 52-55% had severe vit D deficiency and 41-44% had moderate vitamin D deficiency, while only 4% had adequate levels.
If you live in the northern half of the US (even northern CA) you cannot make vitamin D from the sun in the wintertime because the sun’s rays are too weak.
And note, two caveats: 1) it’s a preprint study, so it hasn’t undergone peer review yet 2) it doesn’t control for age
A better study would control for age, as the elderly often have low vitamin D due to being indoors a lot and having aging skin that doesn’t make vitamin D as well. However, these results are consistent with current knowledge about vitamin D and immunity. I imagine that even if you controlled for age, you would still see a significant effect.
