Staying the Course -- December 21, 2020

[Superbob]

Hail Hearty Coursers, one and all! Hope you are well and that the holidays are bringing you more joy than angst.

Speaking of the latter, we've had an extended discussion of the anti-covid vaccines (the pros and cons/risks versus benefits) on the December 8 thread, and I am fine with it continuing there. Nevertheless, I am starting a new week's thread here with open invitation to sundry course-staying topics. Is your heart in the holidays? Have any special stories to share? Plans? Stay at home or travel? Tips for staying heart-healthy during these days of eggnog and Christmas cookies?

Covid does still creep into our consciousness these days, no matter the seasonal jollity. It really came home to my wife and I with the announcement last night that an advisory panel to the CDC, by a vote of 13-to-1, had recommended that the next priority group for vaccination will be front-line "essential" workers AND folks aged 75 and older. The lone dissenter wanted to make it 65 and older. Here in my household, we easily meet the 75-plus qualification (lucky us!). So since we are in next level, 1b of priority (after the 1a front-line health-care workers and nursing home residents) it may be a matter of weeks rather than months before we will be offered the vaccine.

I have no allergies of which I am aware, and I plan to accept whatever risks may be and take the shot. My wife's decision is more difficult, because she has experienced allergic reactions to a number of medicines, especially antibiotics. She hasn't had any really severe reactions to the regular annual flu shot, though, so I think she will wind up taking it, and we will be sure (as sure as we can) that medical help is available if she needs it.

As to how we get notified to "come on down" for our shots, I don't know at this moment. However, our local CVS puts our respective ages on every form of communication with us, including all prescriptions, so I suspect they will contact us to set up an appointment. Also, CVS personnel have made us aware from time to time of various shots they could administer to us, including the new one for shingles. (I got the original one, but haven't done the booster yet --maybe after the two Covid shots, I will get to that.)

All in all, not as jolly as a visit from Saint Nick, but if we subdue the pandemic, that will be a cause for rejoicing.

Seasonal Cheers,
Superbob and SuperMama

 

[rich01]

I handled the threat of Covid-19 earlier this year with no major problems. I had plenty of yard work to do plus I painted my house, so I was too busy to feel like a hermit. As long as it was warm and sunny and I could be outside most of the day, I was fine.

I suffer moderately from Seasonal affective disorder (SAD). Starting in late November, I start feeling tired most of the time and not very motivated to take on any projects. I have a morning lamp I use for an hour or 2 and a red led light I use in the afternoon if I remember. I think they help a little with SAD.

SAD plus the lockdown plus the increase in cases and deaths in my area has me kind of blue. In the winter, you just don't see many people unless you go to where they are. And with Covid-19, I try to go to the stores when they 1st open and get in and out as fast as I can.

I was able to work in the yard for a couple of hours today doing some touchup painting and leaf blowing. Getting out in the sun and getting a little exercise helped. I put new plastic on my greenhouse/hothouse a few weeks ago, so on sunny days in the winter that's where I hang out. It's at least 20 degrees warmer in the greenhouse than the outside temperature, so even when it's 45 degrees outside, it's very comfortable in the greenhouse. That's when I finally have time to read all the books I accumulated over the year. I call it a greenhouse, but the only thing growing in it is me.

I also do grounding, which is when part of your body is grounded to the earth. The greenhouse has a concrete floor, so I just remove my shoes and socks while I'm out there.

I also have a strange problem with BP spikes that usually starts around Dec 20 and lasts until mid April. About 4 pm my BP starts going up and up and up until by 9 pm it is approximately. 220/120. I have gone to the Er several times and no drugs have ever brought it down. What happens is about 1 am, it will start coming back down and by 6 am be back to normal. Then it repeats on an almost daily basis. I hoped that a new aortic valve would fix the problem, but I don't think it did. Last year I had spikes that were similar but not the same. The nurse thought I had arrhythmia, but tests all came back fine including an ekg while I was experiencing a spike.

I bring that up because I think it is related to SAD. Hot weather tends to relax our blood vessels, and I usually have to lower my BP med in the summer. I actually decrease the dosage by 1/3 in the summer, then add back 1/6 in the spring and fall, and a full 1/3 back in winter. A few years ago, I spent most of January on the Gulf coast and my BP was fine. As soon as Covid-19 is under control, I will put my house up for sale and move someplace with lots of sun year-round. Last year I couldn't go because I had TAVR and this year I've decided not to go because of Covid-19.

This is the time of year when the spikes start. Today is the winter solstice, so the day with the shortest amount of daylight. That seems to start the spikes. As the days (sunlight) get longer, the spikes will start peaking at lower levels and won't last as long. Eventually, they will stop until the next winter.

 

[Paleowoman]

We're staying at home here - in fact everyone in this part of England is staying at home this Christmas ! We're all in lockdown in London and the south east of England. People aren't even allowed to visit other families and aren't allowed to travel.

Anyway, we had already planned to have just me and DH for Christmas Day with DS coming over - we can still have him over without breaking the rules as we're his main carers. But DS is worried by all the panic and worried he could be carrying Covid asymptomatically and could pass it on to us - so maybe we will drive round to his flat instead - it's only just two miles away - with some Christmas food for him and his presents and go for a socially distanced walk with him - one at a time mind as that is another of the new rules.

We're picking up the turkey tomorrow with all the other groceries being delivered online - hopefully most will come (threatened shortages here due to freight lorries of fresh food all stuck at the ports) - we will make the best of it whatever we get.

Happy Christmas everyone !

 

[Superman]

Greetings all, and Merry Christmas, Happy Holidays, Happy Hanukkah, Happy Kwanzaa, and Festivus for the rest of us!

But Merry Christmas around this house. It’ll be a full house again this Christmas, COVID or not. Always seven of us here, plus two dogs and a bunch of fish. Time keeps ticking and our youngest is now a Disney adult. Full price at the World when you turn 9. Had a FaceTime party with the Grandparents for him. Making amazing birthday cakes has been a long standing tradition around here. My wife is the driving force. I help out where I can (mostly shaping). Our daughter got in on the act this year and helped quite a bit. The latest edition:

Now it’s on to getting ready for Santa. That’ll be interesting. The in-laws like to go overboard on gifts, which isn’t as bad for our normal afternoon visit. But without in person visits, we’re not sure about logistics. Telling them to tone it down has always fallen on deaf ears. So we’ll see how it all works out.

In the meantime, looking forward to Christmas morning with our crew and having dinner at home.

Rich, while I don’t see actual health changes, I can relate on the short days. Going for a long walk or mowing the yard after dinner never is a problem in the summer. Getting dark at 5:00, well, I guess the day is over. Can’t get anything else done.

 

[skeptic49]

Wishing everyone a merry and festive holiday season. My husband is in the 1b priority group but I will have to wait a bit longer, but we both plan to get it as soon as it is available. We'll enjoy a quiet holiday at home with the pets with a few phone calls and a Zoom meeting planned with friends. Let's hope 2021 turns out to be a much better and healthier year for us all.

Photo: On my toy train layout, an antique Marklin "Leipzig" Station decorated for the holidays.

 

[Paleowoman]

I love the decorated model Leipzig Station Jim ! All the little lights too, and people, it all looks so real !

 

[epstns]

Hey, everyone! How goes the battle?

Wife and I are still bumping along. The holidays are strange this year, for sure. We were supposed to spend Thanksgiving with our daughter but instead we visited them earlier in November, then had a Facetime Thanksgiving visit with them. Very quiet around the homestead. Christmas, even more so. It wasn't really a problem for us, though. We have plenty to keep us busy. We just do more of it alone or just the two of us.

We rarely get to the fitness center these days, so weather permitting, wife and I walk together every morning. We speed-walk about 3 miles before breakfast, taking about an hour to do it. Sometimes we stop at the neighborhood bakery on the way home, to buy fresh bread or baked goods for the day. About the only places we go are the grocery store, drug store or home center. Not much else to do.

I've been able to spend some time on my ham radio station. Part of the time re-configuring station gear, fixing antennas, installing a new computer and software, and some of the time just talking to other hams around the world (mostly in Morse code, though). This is a hobby I have maintained since I was an early teen-ager, and it helps to keep me attached firmly to something other than the television screen.

Where we live, we are still totally in the dark as to how Covid vaccines will be rolled out. Absolutely no information for us yet. Only vaccinations in our state so far are highly publicized ones going to first-line healthcare workers and residents of community living facilities. Our governor and mayor are doing everything they can to bend over backward to ensure that vaccines will be heavily skewed toward the people who voted them into office -- and it appears that those people are not of the same heritage that DW and I exhibit. . . if you get my drift. The ONLY vaccination station they have commissioned in the city is deep in the ghetto. . . not for us. (Please don't take this as a political rant. Just trying to objectively state facts.) My guess is that we won't see any vaccines for wife and I until second quarter, 2021. Our country is slow as a sloth rolling out vaccines, and our state/city are even worse.

No matter, I guess. There is no place to go and nothing open to go to yet.

 

[rich01]

Where we live, we are still totally in the dark as to how Covid vaccines will be rolled out. Absolutely no information for us yet. Only vaccinations in our state so far are highly publicized ones going to first-line healthcare workers and residents of community living facilities. Our governor and mayor are doing everything they can to bend over backward to ensure that vaccines will be heavily skewed toward the people who voted them into office -- and it appears that those people are not of the same heritage that DW and I exhibit. . . if you get my drift. The ONLY vaccination station they have commissioned in the city is deep in the ghetto. . . not for us. (Please don't take this as a political rant. Just trying to objectively state facts.) My guess is that we won't see any vaccines for wife and I until second quarter, 2021. Our country is slow as a sloth rolling out vaccines, and our state/city are even worse.

No matter, I guess. There is no place to go and nothing open to go to yet.

I don't remember where I found it this morning, but I found a form I filled in and it gave me an idea where I was most likely positioned to get the vaccine. It said I was 1B, but I think I'm probably a 2. The slowness of rolling out the vaccines is really a manufacturing problem more than anything else. The 3 current vaccines all require 2 shots, so that means a slower process as well.

The reason the place they are giving vaccines in a poor part of town is likely because the people with the fewest resources seem to be the ones getting hit hardest by the virus. It shows up as Black and Hispanic, but studies have shown it is not genetic, but economic. If you have 6 people living in a 2 bedroom 1 bath house and 1 gets Covid-19, isolation is a big problem. I'm sure as the vaccines roll out to a wider population, there will be places closer to where you live.