December 2020 chitchat

[stillstANNding]

Excellent works, Agate. I like them.

Crochet?

ANN

[Virginia]

They are beautiful. Talk about being a busy bee.

[agate]

Thank you! I did want to show them off somewhere on a day when I probably should be glad that I've managed to keep my fingers moving by crocheting because today they were put to the test.

Today was the first Copaxone/glatiramer acetate shot in 10 years, and a nurse came to watch over it. She was needed to teach me about the different autoject device. It is quite different, and even after the training she gave, I'm going to need to use the instruction book repeatedly before I've really learned it.

I opted to do one of the most difficult shots as my first one so as to benefit from her advice. I chose the left arm, for which I'd use the autoject device. My hand kept slipping on it and I couldn't press the button with my thumb because my thumbs don't bend very easily. However, I did get it done, and the nurse gave me an A+ for injection technique. I think I was able to do this partly because I've kept my hands moving by doing the crocheting.

Nurses are always so nice. This one certainly was, and she stayed around long enough (an hour and a half!) to keep inspecting the injection site and reporting on changes in it. The reaction was very much like other arm shots I recall.

It turned out that she herself is 70 years old and has an autoimmune disorder. She didn't say what it was but her hands kept shaking.

She said she's glad not to be on the front lines just now. She said that if she had to be in a hospital setting with COVID-19 going on, she'd be "a puddle on the floor in no time" because she'd find it too hard to take emotionally.

[RandomThought]

I quite like your hats.

I am also impressed that you upload to google drive to share photos...so modern :)

Hope that Copaxone works out for you too !

[agate]

To my way of thinking, the first Copaxone shot is the most worrisome. I have the impression that if you're going to have a bad reaction, that's when it's most likely to happen.

Now that it's over and I'm still alive without even a sore arm the next day, I feel as if I can get back to my crocheting. Life will go on as usual except that 3 times a week I'll do a shot. I can even request a placemat from the company.

It was a tough sell for the drug companies when these MS drugs first started coming out, I'm sure. Back then (I started on Avonex) you got a free placemat automatically. It wasn't much use but it was one of many little freebies.

This company now puts out the generic Copaxone and so isn't inclined to do much. If I want a placemat, I'll have to ask for it.

And the gelpack they supplied is different from other gelpacks I've seen. It has a metal disk in it that you're supposed to squeeze. I couldn't get it to "do " anything. The nurse had her problems with it too but finally she got it to work, and suddenly it had turned warm without being heated up.

The catch is that it will do that only once. After that it needs to be put in boiling water for 10 minutes. Because it has that metal disk, it can't be in the microwave.

You have to wonder why they bothered with the metal disk, but hey! It was free.

[Lazarus]

Crocheting is just beautiful.
I did rituxan yesterday which was good planning with the big storm. Thought I was all set because I hired someone to plow since John and I are both having trouble. Guy I hired got stuck in a bad place between 2 greenhouses. Neighbor drove his truck up to pull out first truck. He got stuck and after a struggle managed to get out. But first truck still stuck. My truck tried next.

It too was sliding on ice. We hooked a chain from my truck to the stuck one. Oops. No go and could not move either truck enough to get length in the chain so we could separate them. Finally did and I had just enough slack to get the chain off. We got my truck to move out.

Then, believe it or not, a third neighbor drove by, saw us, was driving a tow truck and towed out truck #1 in a second.
We had been shoveling under tires and spinning wheels for an hour by then.

Neighbor 1, 2,and 3. I am one lucky lady.

[stillstANNding]

Such a lovely story, Linda. Neighbors helping neighbors. No money or AAA involved.

ANN

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

agate ~

Your hats are beautiful! No wonder your hands/wrists were sore. Are these gifts? You could have a cottage industry and sell them on line. What a relief that you've had no adverse reactions to the Copaxone. I'm glad you had a helpful nurse. I hope it helps you.

Lazarus ~

You certainly have wonderful neighbors. As it should be everywhere. You are fortunate.

Every day for a week, I hear sirens about every 2 hours. That eerie, piercing, mournful sound conjures sensory memories of those many times the sirens were directed to our home. I'm accustomed to that sound and to praying, when I hear it, for the person(s) needing assistance and the first responders. There has been a definite increase in the sirens each day. I am reduced to weeping and begging for them to stop. And when they do, I wonder if the hospitals have run out of space and are turning away patients.

Then I think about Jim and Jonathan, and I'm actually grateful that they are not here now, because I know there would be no room for them at the hospital, if they needed to go for any reason, particularly a reason other than COVID. And, if they did have to go to the hospital in an emergency, I wouldn't be allowed to go and stay with them. Timing is everything, and they chose the right time to leave.

On this morning's news, I learned that elective and even necessary surgeries and procedures were being tabled due to COVID's surging. I don't know whether cancer patients are still receiving chemo and radiation, or whether the outpatient units for blood transfusions and removal of excess fluid from ascites are still available to them.

This led me to ponder whether the COVID death toll is even larger than is estimated currently. If people can't get their vitally needed treatments for a large assortment of medical conditions, it seems feasible they could die ~ not from COVID directly, but from lack of care for their ongoing condition. Those deaths should be recorded with the deaths from COVID.

I can trace this increase in sirens to the increase of airplanes flying over us before Thanksgiving. Millions of people just could not bear the thought of not getting on a plane to fly to another state to be with their family. But my empathy for these families not being able to physically congregate on the holidays is tempered by my reality that I cannot Zoom with Jim, Jon and Michael. If your family is still here and healthy, you are blessed, and you have dozens of ways to connect with them.

We all need to look at The Big Picture to see ourselves and others as worthy of working toward the greater good.

When I catch snippets of news as I channel surf, I hear one medical/scientific expert after another declaring, "It didn't have to be this way. If everyone agreed or it was mandated to wear a mask, social distance, isolate, we wouldn't have these unbelievable numbers of COVID cases and deaths."

COVID purportedly began in China, but they've had it under control for some time. Why? They wore masks and isolated. They are used to wearing masks thanks to their pollution, but they also realize that it's the right thing to do in today's world. Seems ironic in a way.

And, finally, all of the focus is on churning out vaccinations and scaring us that they won't have enough soon enough. Meanwhile, the cocktail of drugs administered to certain famous people, resulting in their miraculous recovery, is being denied to the millions of people with COVID. Why?

Is the lack of sirens a good or a bad thing? I don't know.

Be grateful if you live in a state where COVID is not surging, and you don't hear sirens.

Stay safe, well, and strong, and try to find joy every day.

Love & Light,



Rose

*Virtual Hugs Are Germ-Free!

[agate]

Linda, how lucky that someone came along in a tow truck! Hope you can stay out of the snow and ice now.

Rose, my DIL's mother runs a program called Warmth for All that collects hats, mittens, scarves, socks that people have made and distributes them to the needy and homeless people locally. There are many people who just aren't ready for winter weather here--and it can get severe at times. Even the routine cold rainy days when it's in the 40s are pretty chilling if you're out in it all the time. I like to think that they're glad to have the hats. I made one for myself and find that it's a good way of keeping warm.

In this area I think people are still getting to their chemo treatments. At least one of my neighbors is. She's been going for them regularly for weeks now and has a few more to go to.

[Virginia]

Linda, I like your story. A very nice one.

Agate, I like your story also about your DIL's mother. I can only imagine how well received your hats are where ever they end up. They are warm and pretty, both nice.

Rose, I have had you on my mind. I saw on the news that ICUs in Calif are at zero capacity. They are totally full and they are putting people in operating rooms and where ever they can find to put them. I know it would be very disconcerting, to say the least to continuously hear the sound of sirens when you have a pretty good idea what is going on around you. They are very concerned about the collapse of the hospital systems in many places. I find it unnerving. They are begging people just to stay home. To go to the grocery store once a week and not 3 or 4.

As for the cocktail of drugs that are being denied to most ordinary people, I don't think there is enough. There is very little of the monoclonal antibodies that is the main part of those drugs and the main one that has gotten the political people back on their feet so quickly. Even money doesn't always help get these drugs, you have to be well connected. What I can't understand is why they have not manufactured more since they have been found to work so well. I think in about 3 days people who are very bad off are back on their feet and saying they feel great. So can they not make more in order to save lives?

[Virginia]

I was expecting some news about Sunshine and how things are going re the baclofen pump. I thought she was going to go have a test to see if she was a candidate yesterday. Maybe she is going today.

[Earth Mother 2 Angels]

((((((Hugs to All)))))) ~

agate ~

What a wonderful program Warmth for All is! So, your hats are gifts to those in great need. I am sure everyone, who receives your hats, will love and appreciate them. You truly have captured the spirit of the season.

That's great that your neighbor is getting her chemotherapy infusions. As I mentioned, I don't know whether that is happening for patients in California. Our cancer chemo unit moved from the hospital to the medical building last year, so perhaps patients are still able to have them. The medical building also houses the cancer radiation center, as well as MRIs and CT scans. When Jim was going, before COVID hit, all of these were booked solid and extremely busy. So, I imagine things are pretty backed up now.

However, blood transfusions, iron infusions, and fluid removal for ascites are all located in the hospital. They were also booked solid, and I suspect the outpatient unit for transfusions/infusions may be utilized for COVID patients now.

Virginia ~

Southern California's hospitals are at zero capacity, while some of the other areas in the state are nearing the same fate. I can only imagine how horrible it would be to be ill with COVID and parked in an OR.

Disconcerting is a good word to describe hearing the sirens. For me, the sirens generate many distressing memories, which plummet me into depression and sorrow. I have spent a major portion of my life in hospitals, in ambulances, explaining my sons' or my husband's medical condition to paramedics and EMTs, then ER and ICU, etc.

I know what the medical professionals go through, as well as the patients. I have hugged many ICU nurses after their patient has passed. One might think they would get used to it. They don't. And now, they are the only ones with the patient, as the patient dies, and that is heart wrenching.

According to the NIH, monoclonal antibodies are created in a lab. If this is the case, why is there a scarcity of the monoclonal antibodies used for DT, Christie, Rudy?

Only registered and activated users can see links., Click Here To Register...

One "reason" I heard/read in the news was that the monoclonal antibodies drug is expensive at $9,000 per dose. I don't know how many Opdivo infusions Jim had, but each one cost $9k. Medicare paid for them.

We all know that those drugs should not cost that much, and the drug companies are making billions off of cancer, MS, epilepsy, autoimmune disorders ... Is our government ever going to address the exorbitant costs and profits of Big Pharma? We're in a global pandemic, and if vaccines can be cranked out in 9 months, then so can monoclonal antibodies. Why hasn't that been happening?

So, I'm with you on this question. It makes no sense. It could have been stopped with these cocktail drugs for hundreds of thousands of people, who are now gone. And these drugs existed before COVID, so they didn't have to invent them.

The previous administration had a pandemic plan, which the current administration ripped up. So, that's how we got here.

On top of all of this Governors, Mayors, and other elected officials are receiving death threats from people, who don't believe that the election is legitimate and/or believe that mask mandates violate their constitutional rights. The concern that there will be violence on our streets is ramping up on media.

"United we stand, divided we fall."

In the midst of ALL of this, how do we find peace, joy, comfort, reassurance, safety, trust, the truth? The sirens simply remind me that we are in a gigantic mess every day. Joe, Kamala and their team will have their hands full, that is for certain. We all just want something, anything to get better, but we must be patient. We've come this far through the last 4 years. We can make it the rest of the way.

Keep the faith, be safe, and stay strong. My prayers are with you all.

Love & Light,



Rose

*Virtual Hugs Are Germ-Free!

[stillstANNding]

Good evening. Hi Rose.

For the last week, Lily Cat has been holding her left front paw up and not weight bearing on it but off and on. Last night, it was worse so I called the vet this AM. We took her in at 11 AM. We had to just drop her off because of CoVID. The vet called us twice - once for permission for tests and xrays and a sedative and then for the results. It turns out the cat has bad arthritis in her “elbows”. I’d call them her front knees. She’s going on an anti-inflammatory (Cox inhibitor) for three days and we’ll see from there. We picked her up at 4 and she wanted supper - a good sign.

That wrecked my day but I managed to make a really good Indian dal and some brown rice to go with it.

I’m exhausted tonight. Lily is sleeping on a baby blanket under my dresser in front of the heat register.

ANN
Edited to add: vet bill was over $400

[agate]

Poor Lily Cat! I hope that there will be a way to relieve the pain and stiffness.

I can readily believe that vet bill. Sometimes having pet insurance helps, sometimes it doesn't, I've found.

Rest up, ANN. The stress of having an ailing pet and needing to absorb lots of new information all at once from a medical care team can be tiring, and getting medicine into a cat can be very tiring indeed.

[Virginia]

I use to get my DH to give my dog medicine. I could never get it in her. She knew every time she was getting a pill, no matter how I disguised it or what food I put it in. He on the other hand could get her medicine in her more easily. Let this be Peter's job or is it already?