Update: As I await tomorrow's visit from the plumber, my fridge has decided, for some reason, to let it rest, and is no longer peeing all over my kitchen floor. She will no doubt probably wait until they have been here and gone before she decides to act up again.
Kinda like when you took your kids to the Doctor and suddenly they felt fine in the waiting room - or you took your car into the shop and they charged you $175 bucks to explain that they couldn't find anything wrong.
But in a desperate attempt to avoid boredom and keep the excitement level high, I just happend (in time) to discover a hatching of what looked like a colony of red ants, pouring out of a crevice in my old and rotten side-door threshold. I got to spend a half hour on my knees yesterday, shooting a whole bottle of "Bug Stop" spray into the crevice, while at the same time, violently squashing them with my fingers as they ran helter skelter in all directions. I also sprayed them as they ran, soaking the inside floor area and the porch just outside the door.
I actually had to leave at one point, run up to the grocery store and restock my "Bug Stop". I finallly soaked an old rag with Bug Stop (one not yet placed into service for the kitchen floor issue) and stuffed it into the crevace. I woke up this morning with a virtual graveyard of dead ants inside and outsdie of the threshold.
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So, as I settle back into the calm (read; boredom) of inactivity, I am enjoying a website ("AmScope") and shopping a dizzying array of hundreds of different models of children's microscopes, which I will send to homes in the lands of Portlandia and Puget Sound to do what I can to assist in the preservation of the sanity of two of my grown children, each of whom have grandchildren on the verge of bouncing off the walls with boredom.
For news junkies among you, here are some great sources with various perspectives that are currently offering free email newsletters on the Corona Virus :
I felt that Dr. Birx comments yesterday at the coronavirus briefing were worth sharing. She briefly explains that the models projecting almost 3 million U.S. deaths are models with zero controls which leads to inaccurate projections, instilling unnecessary fear.
MM, I’m breaking my lengthy self-imposed silence (of 12 hours) to thank you for a really good article by Nicholas Kristof that presents lots of information and points of view from a variety of experts who know a lot about the subject. The wide range of views does show there are huge uncertainties about how this will all turn out. Notably lacking, however, was any prediction that this would essentially be over by Easter (or that it's a good idea to encourage people to believe this).
And I’ve also read that the models predicting 3 million deaths in the U.S. are extreme and not really applicable.
Thanks for the laugh, John. Laughter is a great antidote to today's anxiety. Dr. Fausci gave an interview last Friday in which he was asked, "Have you ever seen this big of a coordinated response by an administration to such a threa? A health threat?" His reply:
Well, we've never had a threat like this and the coordinated response has been, there are a number of adjectives to describe it. Impressive, I think is one of them.
I mean, we're talking about all-hands on-deck is that I, as one of many people on a team, I'm not the only person, since the beginning that we even recognized what this was. I have been devoting almost full time on this -- almost full time.
I'm down at the White House virtually every day with the Taskforce. I'm connected by phone throughout the day and into the night and when I say night, I'm talking twelve, one, two in the morning. I'm not the only one. There's a whole group of us that are doing that. It's every single day.
So I can't imagine that that under any circumstances that anybody could be doing more. I mean, obviously, we're fighting a formidable enemy -- this virus. This virus is a serious issue here.
Take a look at what it's done to China, to Europe, to South Korea. It is serious and our response is aimed, and I know you've heard that many, many times, and this is true. I mean, I deal with viruses my entire career.
When you have an outbreak virus, if you leave it to its own devices, it will peak up and then come back down. What we learned from China, that letting it peak up is really bad, because it can do some serious damage. So we are focused now, like a laser on doing whatever we can, and there are two or three things that deserve to be mentioned -- to make this peak actually be a mound, which means you're going to have suffering, you're going to have illness, you're going to have death. But it's not going to be the maximum that the virus can do.
A couple of ways to do that. The first was, as we say, all the time, the very timely decision on the part of the President to shut off travel from China, because we saw that there was this possibility of people coming in and seeding in the country. We did it early.
And as it turned out, there were relatively few cases in the big picture of things that came in from China. Unfortunately, for our colleagues, and many of whom are my friends and people I've trained actually in Medicine, in European countries, they didn't do that. And they got hit really hard and are being hit really hard. The first thing.
Second thing, when the infection burden shifted from China to Europe, we did the same thing with Europe. We shut off travel from Europe, which again was another safeguard to prevent influx from without in.
The other way you do it is by containment and mitigation. And now everybody knows what the word mitigation means because it's the things that we're doing. No crowds, work from home. Don't go to places that you can be susceptible. Ten people in a room, not 50 and a hundred people. Stay away from theatres.
Take the elderly people who are susceptible and have them do self- isolation. Stay out of bars, stay out of restaurants.
If you're in an area where there's a lot of coronavirus activity, close the bars, close the restaurants. That's heavy duty mitigation.
So I think with all of those things going on at the same time, I believe we will -- we're already doing it, but you just can't notice it yet because you have the dynamics of the virus going up. We're trying to put it down. You're not really sure quantitatively what you're doing, but you can be actually certain that we're having an impact on it.
I get little inspiration from pundits of any persuasion, from political promises or from presidential hunches.
I may have mentioned a couple of times that I'm listening to the professionals, Dr. Fauci among them. I do, however, have faith that during times of crisis most people reach out to help others rather than inward with self-serving interests. Many thanks to everyone helping in big ways and in small.
I would like to ask my classmates no matter what your political persuasion to please put my nephew Patrick Nolan in your prayers. He is a surgeon affiliated with a hospital in NYC. that is sacrificing to save lives.
Along with the many medical professionals serving throughout the world. I would like to ask you to include my son in your prayers. He is lead critical care and intensivist doctor at the large medical center here in Pittsburgh. He is in charge of all respirator patients to come through their doors. He and his staff dealt with the devastating deaths of young adults during the 2009 H1N1. They know full well the difficult and hearfelt decisions that are facing them in the coming days. May you all stay out of harms way
Thanks for sharing your family connections with us. My only connection is second-hand, with a young female Doctor in an ER somewhere in downtown Manhattan - a dear friend of one of my daughters. She is telling my daughter what a madhouse it is.
And I imagine John Jackson, Steve Hodges, and other classmates have some family members in the medical professions, somewhere on the front lines.
* (Note: Steve has a bunch in his tribe of nieces - I think all 5 are doctors)
(also my young friend at a hospital in Ellwangen, Germany, where he says they are simply overwhelmed)
My thoughts and prayers go out to them, as well as a level of gratitude that I,,, we,,, the whole country probably have not felt since 911.
NOTE: I just watched a video sent from Tom McKeon of a man describing the findings of his good friend - a doctor who heads up the Pulmonary Department at Harvard Medical. His assertion is that they are seeing strong evidence that the use of Ibuprofin (Advil) is causing a very ADVERSE effect on the virus patients, and advising that people should only take Acetaminophen (Tylenol) at this time.
* * * I would ask you Jim, if you could corrobarate this finding?
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In other news, it appears a young Congressman, Republican Thomas Massie from Kentucky has failed to quality for this years "Miss Congeneiality" competition. How sad!
I can just see my mother shaking her head and rolling her eyes now, and uttering a phrase she often used to describe anyone operating outside the norms of common sense - "a case of arrested development". I myself would use a shorter phrase - numskull !
As of yet there is no convincing medical evidence that ibuprofen has specific negative effects on COVID-19 specifically. However, any seriously ill person is at higher risk of the adverse effects of ibuprofen (and other NSAIDS) for causing GI bleeding, fluid retention and possibe renal damage. Also, being anti-inflammatory, these drugs may decrease the immune response and lead to more viral shedding. Any or all of these effects would be unwanted in a COVID-19 patient. Acetaminophen would be a much better choice for treating a fever in these patients.
Right after I watchd that video, I also read contradictory reports about this.I guess I am proof positive that the news can get ahead of the actual facts sometimes.
Yesterday Pope Francis gave the Urbi et Orbi blessing to the world. Before he gave this extraordinary blessing he spoke to those watching from around the world:
The Covid-19 pandemic has reminded us that we are all on the same boat, said Pope Francis, and so we call out to Jesus. The disciples ask Him, “Teacher, do you not care if we perish?”
The Pope said these words would have shaken Jesus, “because He, more than anyone, cares about us.”
The storm, said the Pope, exposes “our vulnerability and uncovers those false and superfluous certainties around which we have constructed our daily schedules” and lays bare “all those attempts to anesthetize ourselves”.
He said that Christ is calling on us all to "seize this time of trial as a time of choosing.” Now is not the time of God’s judgment, but of our own: “a time to choose what matters and what passes away, a time to separate what is necessary from what is not.”
The Pope said we can draw lessons from the many people who – even though fearful – have reacted by giving their lives, including medical personnel, supermarket clerks, cleaners, priests, police officers, and volunteers. This, he said, “is the force of the Spirit poured out and fashioned in courageous and generous self-denial.”
He went on to say, that faith begins “when we realize we are in need of salvation” and are not self-sufficient. If we turn to Jesus and hand Him our fears, said the Pope, He will conquer them.
“Because this is God’s strength: turning to the good everything that happens to us, even the bad things. He brings serenity into our storms, because with God life never dies.”
Jesus’ cross, said Pope Francis, is the anchor that has saved us, the rudder that has redeemed us, and our hope, because “by His cross we have been healed and embraced so that nothing and no one can separate us from His redeeming love…..we embrace the Lord in order to embrace hope: that is the strength of faith, which frees us from fear and gives us hope.”
Concluding his meditation, Pope Francis entrusted us all to the Lord, through the intercession of the Blessed Virgin Mary, so that our faith might not waiver in this time of crisis.
“Dear brothers and sisters, from this place that tells of Peter’s rock-solid faith, I would like this evening to entrust all of you to the Lord, through the intercession of Mary, Health of the People and Star of the stormy Sea. From this colonnade that embraces Rome and the whole world, may God’s blessing come down upon you as a consoling embrace. Lord, may you bless the world, give health to our bodies and comfort our hearts. You ask us not to be afraid. Yet our faith is weak and we are fearful. But you, Lord, will not leave us at the mercy of the storm. Tell us again: ‘Do not be afraid’ (Mt 28:5). And we, together with Peter, ‘cast all our anxieties onto you, for you care about us’ (cf. 1Pet 5:7).”
I realize we are losing lives and thousands are really ill due to the corona virus. I did not realize the true severity of this pandemic disease until golf courses in Central Ohio have shut down!!!!!! This is a true horror.
Mary Ann and Beth have to be super concerned , but very proud at the same time. I hope and pray your relatives stay well while making others well. Jocko, congrats to you. Grandkids are the greatest!
Our children are keeping their children away from us so we don't contact the virus. That is worse than March Madness being cancelled. I am certain that many of us are going through the same ordeal.
Mike: My friend who golfs tells me they kept sneaking onto the course after it was closed. So the management took the flags off the greens. When people still kept sneaking back they plugged all the holes.
Love the pope's address. I know it was meant for the faithful worldwide but I was glad most of all for the Italians in particular, who sorely needed it.
I know this plague stalking the landscape is no laughing matter, but then again, humor is often a useful counter-agent in helping to preserve one's sanity. Our friend Fred C. sent me an email with this link yesterday. I suppose he may have felt it inapprpriate to mix it in with the heartfelt and serious posts we have been doing on the site here about Covid-19, but this song parody of Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody is quite thoughtful as well as amusing, so I am tossing it into the mix anyway. Sorry Fred. You know I am not to be trusted. Although don't wory, I am staying self-isolated. As the song says when it changes the refrain of "Galileo, Galileo." I too feel I "Gotta lay low, Gotta lay low." Ha! Brilliant.
There is always hope. Life will bloom forth again in spite of all the seriousness of the Covid-19 and all the negativity that is expressed on televison and social media platforms. Use good judgment in your activities. Try to be positive in your outlook and communication. But most of all, have faith my friends.
I thought your piece about the Pope's blessing was excellent. Other than the references to the Blessed Virgin, he sounded like he was reading from the script of our Marked Men For Christ retreats.
(or, ahem, is it probable that we are all reading from the same script?)
Especially the part about our craving for self sufficiency - a dangerous concept - especially for us men, who are raised to be tough and resourceful and independent.
I coined a phrase at MMFC that I refer to as the "I got this" syndrome - "I can do this myself." - "Leave me alone, I don't need anybody's help" - Etc. Which often leads to failure, isolation and feelings of inadequacy - which becomes a spiritual dead end street. ("I'm the only one who suffers from this problem, this failure, this weakness, this sickness, and nobody can help me fix it.")
I am reminded of those moments at our weekend retreats when it dawns on guys that we are broken, and powerless, but NOT alone, and finally give ourselves permission to let go of this insecurity and throw our trust into a Savior. (I refer to it as "dumping it all on the Cross"). But not a "Savior" who is popularized by rules and regulations, litergy, or tradition - (the "Old Law"). And definately not one who wants us to Play "Church", or "Religion". But rather, one who lifts us when we fall, feeds us when we are hungry, and finds us when we are lost. One who wants our hearts.
It is often a very thrilling, emotional, moment to witness. It came over me with a wave of emotional outpouring at my first MMFC weekend, and I have stood close by and witessed the hardest of men, all types, and bitterly broken, give up heir stubbornness, and surrender to HIS unconditionall gifts of love, and freedom, and joy.
Now we are in a time when we are reminded of our own human limitaions. A time when we have to confess, "I Don't Got This!"
And this is precisey when HE turns to his 12 buddies (us) and says, "I tell you that you will have trouble in this world. But fear not, for I have overcome the world."
I keep discovering missed messages - some from a while back, and also cannot find the page with birthdays. Could someone give me a heads up about whre to find these things?
