We’re about to find out just how many “summer soldiers and sunshine patriots” have managed to ascend to positions of power and influence in our country.
I fear such knowledge is going to be deeply disappointing and demoralizing. I will be surprised if even half of elected Democrats rise to the occasion. I hope I’m wrong.
I can’t remember if I began writing and posting these diary entries on Facebook each day, or if I wrote it here on WordPress and just forgot about it. Regardless, I know I wrote these short updates of my bout with COVID-19 beginning at the very tail end of 2020. Actually, the results came in on my brother’s birthday. I was more than halfway through my 74th year on this planet and I was somewhat riddled with the dreaded comorbidities.
Since most everyone seems to have forgotten (or understandably repressed the memories of) just how difficult things were during the pandemic, I’m posting this now to memorialize my struggle with the disease.
12/24/20 at 14:37:
Out of an abundance of caution, I initiated an e-visit with Kaiser to determine if I’ve got COVID. I don’t have any of the worst symptoms, but I definitely have some of them. I’m scheduled for a test this coming Monday.
12/28/20 at 09:48:
Getting my COVID-19 test in the parking lot.
12/29/20 at 09:12:
Well … Now if someone asks if I personally know anyone who’s tested positive for COVID-19,I can answer “Yes.”
Me!
So … the illness I really didn’t want to test my immune system and my overall health on finally got me. Now I have to isolate for 10 days. I think I’ve already been through the worst over the weekend.I’m taking MucinexDM once every 12 hours, an occasional Aleve, and vitamin C. I can’t taste a damned thing and I wasn’t terribly hungry for the past four or five days; I’ve lost eight pounds in the last six days. I’m feeling good today. No fever this morning and SpO2 is staying around 95%. No congestion, hardly a cough. I know this thing can offer some surprises, so I’m monitoring myself carefully, but it looks like I won’t suffer as much as I thought I might, which is a pleasant surprise. Still, being cautious seems prudent.
12/29/20 at 20:08:
Have I mentioned I feel like shit. I have a mid-grade fever and I’m sweating under the blanket, but I get the chills if I get out. Typing this is difficult. Stomach is sour and SpO2 has dropped as low as 91%. I’m dizzy, weak, tire easily, and can’t take a deep breath without bronchial pain. Other than that, I’m feeling just peachy.
12/30/20 at 10:02:
Sitrep: As of this morning, I am feeling better. No fever, but that’s how yesterday started. SpO2 is 96. I think the low reading I got yesterday was an anomaly. I have never felt as though I was having trouble getting enough oxygen. Still taking MucinexDM every 12 hours, which seems to be working quite well as a cough suppressant and expectorant. Also taking vitamin C. Still hurts to take too deep a breath, but doesn’t cause spasmodic coughing. Kaiser and many, many people have sent me lots of instructions, many of which I will choose to ignore, because that’s the kind of asshole I am. Haven’t left the bedroom.
Bottom line. This sucks, but I don’t think it’s going to kill me. Then again, this virus has proven to be trecherous and I have waaay too many comorbidities to let my guard down. Stay safe y’all. At least try … that’s what I did.
12/31/20 at 17:31:
The battle continues. My normal temperature is 97.6. This morning it was 98.7. Since then it’s been as high as 102.5 and everywhere in-between. Currently, it’s 101.1. Linda went out and got me some vitamin D, Zinc, & NAC, all of which are said to be efficacious in combating this fucking virus. Happy God damned New Year, reprobates.
01/01/21 at 12:21:
Happy New Year everybody. Well, these last few days have been trying and difficult, to say the least. I can finally taste again; not completely but it’s getting there. I no longer have to pay as close attention to my breathing as I have for the last couple days, as my bronchial tubes are opening up and taking deep breaths is far easier than it’s been up till now.
I still have another five full days before I can even leave the bedroom really, at least without wearing a mask and worrying about what I touch. I think I see the light at the end of the tunnel, and it’s daylight, not a train coming for me. I’m very grateful.
Temperature continues to be normal. Still dizzy and weak, but a bit more aware. Onward and upward.
01/01/21 at 15:47
Man! This virus doesn’t give up. Temp is back to 102.3° F.
01/02/21 at 10:26
OK – Health update. I can’t recall the last time I had the flu, or anything for that matter, that caused me to have a fever, so I’m not sure if what’s been happening to me is the normal progression of dealing with a virus. As noted over the past few days, I wake up feeling reasonably well, with no fever, and by mid-afternoon I’m burning up.
Last night it got up to 102.5, the highest it’s been since last weekend. I feel as though my fever broke last night. I finally had to take my t-shirt off. It was soaking wet. I put another one on and it was pretty soaked by 9pm, so I took it off as well and, for the first time since this started, I was comfortable sleeping without a t-shirt, which is how I normally sleep.I had taken two Aleve, since my fever seemed to be climbing and within about an hour it was down to 98.3, which is still nearly a degree above my normal temperature of 97.6, but a good sign.
So . . . the signs are all good, but I’ve heard too many stories of people seeming to be on the mend then, boom, they’re in the hospital being intubated. No victory lap for me yet. Eight more days of quarantine. Hopefully, by next weekend I’ll be chomping at the bit to leave the bedroom. I haven’t really cared this past week.
ADDENDUM – I should add my breathing has improved considerably. I can take pretty deep breaths without pain or the need to cough and I have no congestion at all. I almost didn’t take a MucinexDM this morning, but decided not to tempt fate.
01/02/21 at 15:58
Yesterday at almost exactly the same time, my temperature was 102.3. Just now it was 99.1. I would call that an improvement. So there.
01/03/21 at 19:12:
FYI – No news is good news.
01/04/21 at 13:14:
Update: While I believe I’m pretty much out-of-the-woods wrt the possibility of being hospitalized, recovery is clearly going to take some time. I just took a shower for the first time in a week and I almost couldn’t finish. I had to stop and rest halfway thru drying myself. This virus really takes a lot out of you. I can only imagine how much more difficult it might be for people who are really overweight. I feel so much better being clean (I was too sick to care for a week) but I’m beat from the effort.
Be careful out there, folks. There’s a far-too-large contingent of obstinate assholes whose selfishness is making it harder to avoid becoming infected.
Did you know Donald John Trump is an impressionist? Here he is, captured by a courtroom artist, doing his impression of Sleepy Joe.
This photo is often shared and referred to as a “frightening picture”. From the first time I saw this (which happened 40 years ago this Feb. 7) I found it both thrilling and a testament to what human ingenuity can accomplish. To me it also represents how, despite his apparent loneliness in the vastness of space, it took his crew, the NASA team below, and thousands upon thousands of people to make that one act happen.
It should be noted that another astronaut, Bob Stewart, completed a similar mission while both of them were aboard Challenger, flying mission STS-41B. There does not seem to be a photo of Stewart’s space walk.
He may look lonely out there, but the reality is he’s a member of a huge team of fellow humans who make such a feat possible. I suspect that’s true for just about all of us if we’re to be successful.
Five years ago many of the women on my wife Linda’s side (they’re a large majority) gathered at the studio of famous photographer Toyo Miyatake, now run by his grandson, for some group photos. While wandering around playing the role of 8th wheel as her immediate family posed for pics, I came across a photo montage Mr. Miyatake had taken at George Takei’s wedding to Brad Altman. I took a photo of it as its rarity was obvious and I had my Apple tricorder, er, iPhone with me.
A year and a half later we went to the Ricardo Montalbán theater* in Hollywood to see (and hear) “Uncle George” discuss his new book “They Called Us Enemy” about life in the Japanese internment camps during WWII. Linda’s parents and older sister were imprisoned for two years in Colorado (Amache).
As we were in line, slowly climbing the stairs to purchase the book and have it autographed, Brad came up behind us and introduced himself. He graciously – nay, enthusiastically – agreed to pose for us. I didn’t get to meet Brad’s husband, but Linda did … and I got this photo of them.
*I didn’t get the Khanection with the theater at the time. I was focused on the connection between his experience and that of Linda’s family.
Just finished reading Fani Willis’s response to Jim Jordan’s ill-conceived attempt to bully her into backing off of her RICO J6 investigation/prosecution. She flames him at least a half dozen times while refuting every position he asserted in his previous demand letter sent to her on August 24.
While it was an eminently enjoyable read given the disgust I feel, and the disdain I have, for the congressman, Fani’s (or her staff’s) approach is readable and succinct. If you ignore the numerous citations—which I would only research if I was intent on answering her letter, which I’m not—the points made are clear, concise, and to-the-point. That she occasionally takes him to the woodshed is a lagniappe.
Don’t take my word for it, read it yourself. Feel free to download it. I’m also including the original letter sent by Jordan to DA Willis for your reading pleasure (see below).
Systems Savvy 