Shit got real

[Lulu KC]

Last edited Wed Apr 22, 2020, 01:21 PM - Edit history (1)

Biggest cliche ever: It changes everything when you lose someone to COVID-19.

I thought I grasped it. I've been careful since before we were supposed to be. I've been glued to the news for weeks and weeks. I've created my own spreadsheets to keep track of certain numbers. I've been ON IT. Not since the Mueller investigation have I absorbed quite so much news information so quickly.

I'm old enough that contemporaries started dying a few years ago. I've gone to funerals. I haven't gotten used to it, but I know how it feels when people die.

Then a friend who lived far away and had been very careful and privileged wrote and said he was ill, doctor thought it was the virus, and advised him to stay home. No respiratory problems. Kidneys hurt.

Over the next few days, his texts got shorter and shorter.

Nine days after feeling ill, died in sleep, cardiac arrest.

It all looks a lot different now.

Added the morning after: Thank you all for your kindness.

[sinkingfeeling]

1. I'm very sorry for the loss of your friend.

[MontanaMama]

2. I am so sorry for your loss.

Covid19 is brutal.

[cayugafalls]

3. Sorry for your loss, friends are hard to lose.

[Walleye]

4. So sorry. 😞

[Buckeye_Democrat]

5. I'm sorry!

[smirkymonkey]

6. I'm so sorry for your loss.

I just think this didn't have to be so bad if precautions were taken earlier. Anyway, my condolences to you and your friend's family.

[Caliman73]

7. I am sorry about your friend.

This is why it is infuriating when idiots are out their comparing this to the flu.

The flu does not mess up your kidneys and cause heart attacks.

[redstatebluegirl]

8. So sorry for your loss.

I am of that age as well. I have a friend who seems to be beating this byt she could get worse in a hot minute. She is is still in the hospital.

[mr_lebowski]

9. Sorry for your loss ...

Unnamed Friend

[Ninga]

10. Gulp. So very very sorry for the tragic loss of your friend.

[ffr]

11. Don't mess around with safety with CV

It's just looking for a few good hosts. We're all hosts.

[KS Toronado]

12. Let's all do more

to help prevent more unnecessary deaths, PLEASE wear a mask everyone.

[Lonestarblue]

13. So sorry for your loss. We all need to know more about how this virus works.

I read a very good piece in the NYT this morning that clearly explains what doctors treating Covid-19 patients are seeing.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/20/opinion/coronavirus-testing-pneumonia.html?action=click&module=Opinion&pgtype=Homepage

The doctor explains how patients can have symptoms for several days but be able to breathe okay, so don’t go the hospital, because they are experiencing something called silent hypoxia.

“Patients compensate for the low oxygen in their blood by breathing faster and deeper — and this happens without their realizing it. This silent hypoxia, and the patient’s physiological response to it, causes even more inflammation and more air sacs to collapse, and the pneumonia worsens until oxygen levels plummet. In effect, patients are injuring their own lungs by breathing harder and harder.”

The doctor then goes on to suggest a way to test oxygen levels at home. “There is a way we could identify more patients who have Covid pneumonia sooner and treat them more effectively — and it would not require waiting for a coronavirus test at a hospital or doctor’s office. It requires detecting silent hypoxia early through a common medical device that can be purchased without a prescription at most pharmacies: a pulse oximeter.

Pulse oximetry is no more complicated than using a thermometer. These small devices turn on with one button and are placed on a fingertip. In a few seconds, two numbers are displayed: oxygen saturation and pulse rate. Pulse oximeters are extremely reliable in detecting oxygenation problems and elevated heart rates.”

I suspect all of us are familiar with these devices as doctors use them all the time during regular checkups. I immediately ordered one just to be on the safe side.

[barbtries]

19. i've been trying to order one

but i don't trust the sellers anymore on amazon. there is nothing on prime. did you order from Amazon?

[helpisontheway]

24. I tried to order a pulse oximeter for weeks. Sold out in town. Finally found one on Amazon that did

not take weeks to deliver. I had it in 5 days. I checked the listing the other day and now it says unavailable.

[barbtries]

30. yeah i just looked again today.

in fact, every day i look on amazon for sanitizer and toilet paper, and every few days I look for haircutting tools, pulse oximeters, and groceries. slim pickings. I got scammed on toilet paper and although I did get a refund, it was a pain the ass and now I don't trust the sellers and try to get everything prime. that isn't going to work though clearly.

i was naive when this all began thinking the supply chain would normalize, but life is simply not normal at this time and i no longer expect it to change in a hurry. so i'm kind of a scavenger hunter.

[Lonestarblue]

28. Yes, after trying Walgreen's and CVS and Walmart.

Some of them had products, but they were mostly the really expensive ones over $100 or the ones I didn’t trust at $12-15. Amazon was showing the label “US Stock” on some of their options, so I ordered one of those, which was eligible for Prime shipping. That’s no longer overnight or even 2-day delivery these days, but I got a delivery in early May.

[barbtries]

31. thanks.

that is ultimately what i will do, i'm sure. they are more expensive than i expected, but if it could literally save my life it's worth it.

[CaptainTruth]

14. I'm so sorry ... & yes, it's real. I hope the MAGAts realize that soon.

[gademocrat7]

15. Condolences on the loss of your friend.

[Ford_Prefect]

16. So far the MAGATS have no idea and are ready to blame anyone nominated by FOX NEWS

They live in another dimension where Momentum and Gravity do not apply. Where Truth is subjective. Where Law is whatever Dear Leader proclaims it to be.

I live among too many of them to have faith in the idea that they will "get it" if things get bad enough for them, too. I don't wish them evil or pain but I sure do wish they'd move to that other dimension permanently. The time they spend visiting this one is using up oxygen, water and food the rest of us are going to need when they have gone on to their greater reward.

I am truly sorry to hear of your friend. My sister is immune compromised and lives in the heart of MAGAT central in eastern WA. I worry that she will suddenly be gone before we hear she is even ill.

[saidsimplesimon]

17. many regrets for your loss of a friend

I blame that blob sitting on his toilet throne for many deaths.

[Scarsdale]

38. Me too.

If he had acted on all the warnings, this would not have gotten so out of control. Busy golfing and holding rallys. Now it is everyone else's fault, according to him. So sorry to hear about your friend losing his life to this. So many good people dying because of a worthless blob of lard in the WH.

[AtheistCrusader]

18. How the fuck are people even supposed to mourn and have closure.

It's like, everyone is a continent away, watching loved ones and friends die by email, text, and telephone, or maybe the odd video conference...

This cannot be healthy.

[cate94]

20. I'm sorry

[matt819]

21. This is what I'm beginning to fear

It hits fast, and the mortality rate is high. And neither my wife nor I want to die alone in the hospital. I wasn't particularly worried a few weeks ago, and I can't really point to any one thing that has prompted my change in attitude - well, the news sucks, of course, but it's not even that. I think it's the uncertainty and the randomness. We're in a rural area, so that's one thing going for us, but I'm still going out to the grocery store and the auto shop and a few other specific (and short) errands, and I'm cautious, and increasingly people are wearing masks and gloves, so that's good. But, still, it's just so damn random.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. Oh, Boy!

That's a drag.
Wonder if the "ignorers" will have a change of heart if they experience what you did.

[Thekaspervote]

23. So sorry for your loss. 😔

[Heartstrings]

25. Sorry for your loss....

He will forever be in your ❤️.

[helpisontheway]

26. Very sorry for your loss..nt

[NNadir]

27. Please accept my sympathy. I have some insight to how you feel. I lost my boss.

I'm still grieving.

[TruthAlwaysWins]

29. Thank you for sharing....

Your story just makes it that much more real for all of us. I'm very sorry that you have lost your friend; someone who seemed to be so careful and yet still caught this dreadful virus.


Thoughts go with you, Lulu KC.

[Mickju]

32. I'm sorry.

That is really hard to take.

[Joinfortmill]

33. So sorry about your friend.

[Sunriser13]

34. I'm sorry.

[pbmus]

35. Sadness , just very sad time...I am very sorry for your loss

[Stuart G]

36. Sorry for your loss.

[PatrickforO]

37. Very sorry for your loss.

May your friend have eternal rest, and let perpetual light shine on him.

[niyad]

39. So very sorry for the loss of your friend.

[Demovictory9]

40. ..

[N_E_1 for Tennis]

41. ...