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Corunavirus Journal Update (la Deuxiem)

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Quote Originally Posted by tailor STATELY View Post
Covid-19 testing is really mind-boggling out here in Gold Country, USA. First, we need to have everybody tested (face the facts, Jack)... but some politicians say no for Heavens-know-why, and there still are not enough test kits for e-v-e-r-y-o-n-e to get tested. I was lucky (twice)... let me explain:

Monday, late evening last, I get a weird dry cough episode and start to feel short of breath... paranoia sets in. OK, taking friend to doctor's appt. Tuesday where we both go for checkups. On Tuesday wheel him into the clinic and I'm asked to go back outside and call the very same office I just wheeled my friend in to make arrangements for someone to see me outside... ooooo kkkkkk. 45 minutes or so? (I fell asleep in SUV) my friend is wheeled out and bundled into SUV waking me up. Hazmat Susan, not her real name, in gown and mask and face-shield asks me a few questions, takes temperature, BP, and swabs my throat, then deftly breaks the stick that the swab is attached to and places it into a vial... "your results will be ready in 5-8 working days, please self quarantine appropriately"...

That's not going to fly, my dear... my wife has one kidney and COPD (past smoker) and asthma and I (informally) care for a 75 year-old man who has a history of heart/stroke/etc. So I'm a bit perturbed... so's my Daughter... ver-ry perturbed. Since my daughter's husband works at a nearby hospital (not a caregiver) I get advised to go to the ER at a hospital the next day so hopefully I'll get quicker results. Wife stays at sister's house for the night and I can't sleep a wink.

Arrive at the ER reception entrance Wednesday after 10 am and talk to receptionist about what's up and then asked to wait... 10 minutes later see the triage nurse: BP 170ish, shortness of breath, and lungs "feel" tight, yes: 6'4" (1.95 m) too many pounds, soreness in mouth... then taken inside the ER proper and given a room and asked to take off outside shirt only (important to note) and put funky gown on with opening facing the rear. I do so and sit on the exam gurney. Not too long later a bevy of caregivers, one by one for the most part all entering through a side door (???) not the front entrance, attend me including one young lady I recognized from church in the past (I didn't let on I knew her keeping things professional). More vitals, Q & A's... and then a nurse comes in to "swab" my nose. It felt as bad as one would expect a pithed frog might feel before oblivion... a long deep probe forced up into the nether reaches of the nasal sinus, twice, once for each nostril. Again, sample placed into vial to be analyzed.

It was explained to me that they had a 3-tier approach to test results: Tier 1 gets test results quickly (usually the same day), Tier 2 less quickly, Tier 3... not a clue. But this is all predicated on whether they even have enough reagent to test anyone who isn't full-blown covidating (my nonce word). They don't tell me which tier I fall in at the moment because that's not up to them (sigh).

So I'm allowed to take a short nap with the lights down low and then wakened and whisked away on the gurney through the crowded corridors to get chest x-rays: one facing apparatus, one side-ways to the apparatus. I didn't hear Parker giggling but I'm sure she did... technician asks me if I'm wearing a pen (oops!); so I unclip Parker from my garment and set her down nearby and get another set: one facing apparatus, one side-ways to the apparatus.

Another short wait and I'm told x-rays fine (Parker notwithstanding), BP down to a more reasonable 140 (still high), and please self-quarantine until tests results come in... grrr.

Get the test results that evening from the ER pharmacy (woohoo!)... negative !!! So wife gets to come home and life looks so much brighter all of a sudden. Only one problem, I still have a tightness in my lungs and shortness of breath - so I'm just taking it a little easier than usual (I'm usually quite chill anyway) and will forgo 2-picnics on Saturday and a few other "things" as needed.

The end ?

Still waiting for test results from Tuesday...


From a previous post... a poem?:

E - E

Educated fleas ?
Glory Hanna ! I just know
love makin's not our
pandemic questions' reflection
... social trepidation
Upheaval: vague weariness
Xanadu yearnings... zombie
apocalypse by cracky !
Don't even !!!

"Doctor on Covid-19 task force briefings: 'Stop screwing around' "...
https://edition.cnn.com/videos/healt...tez-nr-vpx.cnn

6/28/2020

Ta ! (short for tarradiddle),
tailor
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Comments

  1. tonywalt's Avatar
    Interesting read. I've been working alot, and have not followed the mainstream media news much, if, at all. I hope you are well. All is exceedingly well in the Cayman Islands.