COVID-19 Check-In Thread Part IV

[Inquisitive Raven]

Welp, I saw an eye doc yesterday. Unlike with the last medical thing I did, I didn't manage a home Covid test this time around. The last time I went out before that was to pick up a script at my local pharmacy and do a bit of grocery shopping on February 25. Plenty of time for the most recent strains to cause problems if they're going to, and I haven't noticed any such issues.

[classicdrogn]

Still no COVID, but another near miss for physical injury - the shelves at the head of my bed collapsed just as I was about to get into it, with one landing where it would have driven exposed nails into my face or at best shoulder, along with four more and everything on them landing on the bed. Fun times indeed, especially since I was already stagger-off-and-collapse exhausted and had to clear it and put new covers on before I could use it.

[Pyeknu]

Got my COVID booster shot a couple days ago at the Port Colborne branch of Niagara Health Services here in Ontario. This was after a six-week stay at that location and at Saint Catharines General Hospital after the LEFT lower leg and foot had to be amputated due to diabetic issues.

I should have a prosthetic for the foot sometime in late April or early May.

I just have to survive until then in a place that isn't really friendly to people like myself. It's not too bad, but it's annoying.

[Bob Schroeck]

Oh, jeeze, Fred. Every time I hear about the complications of your diabetes, I worry about you and get terrified for Peg and myself. It's really not too bad? You're going to be able to get by?

[Pyeknu]

Oh, jeeze, Fred.  Every time I hear about the complications of your diabetes, I worry about you and get terrified for Peg and myself.  It's really not too bad?  You're going to be able to get by?

I'm surviving.  Learning how to transfer from bed to wheelchair to transfer chair (the doorway to my bathroom is only 23 inches wide, so I need a separate transfer chair I barely can fit into) to the toilet is a chore, but it's happening.  Scheduled to go get measured for the new prosthetic on 6 April, so it's not too long until I'm back on my metaphysical feet.

[Bob Schroeck]

Well, here's hoping you'll be doing better than just "surviving". I know in my case that's code for "It sucks, but it could be so much worse".

[robkelk]

Oh, jeeze, Fred.  Every time I hear about the complications of your diabetes, I worry about you and get terrified for Peg and myself.  It's really not too bad?  You're going to be able to get by?

I'm surviving.  Learning how to transfer from bed to wheelchair to transfer chair (the doorway to my bathroom is only 23 inches wide, so I need a separate transfer chair I barely can fit into) to the toilet is a chore, but it's happening.  Scheduled to go get measured for the new prosthetic on 6 April, so it's not too long until I'm back on my metaphysical feet.

Oh, they'll be real feet - one you were born with, and one in-field replacement!

[Pyeknu]

Don't forget, Rob, I lost my right foot in 2013. I'm a double-leg amputee right now. Such making me the "poster child" to get a motorized wheelchair, which will make transit from my home to downtown Port Colborne (to get buses to other cities) so much easier.

[robkelk]

I did forget, yes. They're still real feet, though.

[Inquisitive Raven]

So, I think it's been a while since I last checked in. Yesterday was yet another example of how out of shape I've gotten since the lockdowns began.

[Inquisitive Raven]

Is it just me, or are people not checking in as often anymore? I'm still here, but if people are mostly posting about status changes, I can do that too.

[classicdrogn]

Arc fatigue, my man. This epidemic plot has dragged on for so long it's been years IRL, and who knows how long with all the time skips.

[robkelk]

With all the restrictions being repealed and mask rules being lifted, people want to pretend the pandemic is over.

Never mind the fact that (at least in this part of the world) infections are going up...

[Norgarth]

most of the people at work have now ditched the masks. Me and a small percentage of others are still using them

[classicdrogn]

This is The Way.

[Mamorien]

I picked up subs for the family from Jersey Mike's for this season's Day of Giving, then swung over to the nearby Bruster's (co-branded with Nathan's Famous) for ice cream to come after the subs. I was the only customer wearing a mask, unless some of the drivers I made the mistake of not lining up behind were masking in their cars (which, TBF, why would one except for pre-existing conditions?).

[Inquisitive Raven]

The local transit system is still requiring masks, at least until mid-April. That's fine by me as a non-car owner.

[Inquisitive Raven]

So I had a medical thing today. The office requires everyone to be masked. I took a COVID home test yesterday (negative), so I'd have time to reschedule if necessary.

Most people I saw were masked with surprisingly few d*cknoses. Don't get me wrong, the number wasn't zero and I did see at least one mask as chinstrap.

[Kilroy]

So I had a medical thing today. The office requires everyone to be masked. I took a COVID home test yesterday (negative), so I'd have time to reschedule if necessary.

Most people I saw were masked with surprisingly few d*cknoses. Don't get me wrong, the number wasn't zero and I did see at least one mask as chinstrap.

I've been taking buses for the last few months to semi-regular wound care appointments and most people are good in my area with this. A few use scarves or bandanas instead of TSA approved masks however (even a few drivers.) The buses have swinging plexiglass to separate the driver and the passengers. What I find strange about this is the hospital where my appointments are wants me to wear a disposable mask that I must replace when I enter rather than my washable cloth masks with filters in them.

I know I have been not posting for the last months, but in general I have been healthy. I actually went into my office for the first time since 3/23/2020 yesterday! There were only a couple of co-workers in my area of the office in at the same time as I was.

[Bob Schroeck]

It's been pointed out to me that no one has posted in this thread or the unstickied "Wear Your Mask" thread in more than a month. Is this a sign that we should be worrying about people, or that the threads have outlived their usefulness?

Let me know.

[classicdrogn]

Ah, for my part at least you can probably stop worrying about it. There are people who were supposed to be in quarantine and socialized more than I do normally anyway, so between that and not being an idiot anti-vaxxer, I'm probably as fine as anyone can expect to be.

[Dartz]

The pandemic is over - the endemic has begun

[Labster]

Yeah, except for North Korea, and to some extent China, it's everywhere.  Those two countries are getting large outbreaks because it isn't endemic, and the vaccines used (if any) were largely ineffective.

Most of the forum has had 3-4 vaccinations already, and new treatments reduce the risk of death.  I'm still wearing a mask, but only about oh 15% do now.  We even managed to pass the million dead mark in the US without too much fanfare.  The long nightmare is over, I guess.

Anyway I doubt these threads need to be stickied any longer. We just don't have the shared sense of disaster and struggle any more.

[Dartz]

I'm kind of surprised.

On the one hand, it doesn't really seem like it's lasted two years it just seems like two years of mush and still half seems fresh, but then at the same time it doesn't.

[DeputyJones]

Well...

Guess who just got over Covid?

Yeah. I had it. So did my father, though we both test negative now. I've gone back to work, even.

For him it manifested as headaches and a stuffy nose. For me, headaches and achy joints. Weird.