Comic 1714 - Filler: An Unwelcome Visitor
Author Notes:
We went to the clinic first thing the next morning to be tested. The provider let us know that anosmia is the biggest red flag to pick out COVID from a regular cold or flu, so while it doesn't happen in all cases of infection, it's a fairly reliable telltale when it does happen. That night, we got a call back from the clinic letting us know that the tests were positive, and we should self-quarantine for 10 days from start of clear COVID symptoms--so from the 22nd, basically.
We are doing fine. Right now, the only symptoms we have are coughs, lingering fatigue, and, in my case, sinus congestion. Mr. Black's already regained his ability to smell, while mine is still AWOL. This is not very fun, because eating is boring as hell, but on the positive, my diet is making more progress since I'm not tempted to eat when everything has no flavor, only texture. 3 more pounds to reach my next goalpost! Woo! (I don't think the COVID Weight Loss Plan is going to become popular, though.)
On the advice of my friend Dianna, who's given us some of the neat Shinedo-crew filler lately, I did pick up a pulse oximeter to keep an eye on our oxygen saturation levels. It was a great comfort to have something small that I had control over to verify that our health was staying on track. Also, Mr. Black kept getting startled the first day when I'd ninja in from nowhere to stick it on his finger once an hour or so, but now he just looks resigned, so that's been entertaining. Thanks, Di!
I'd also like to thank Cent and robnot, who were kind and brave enough to drop some essential supplies (Robitussin, Afrin, and Ensure protein shakes) on our doorstep. Y'all rock.
Comments:
- We use our sense of smell and taste to determine when food's gone bad. Sure, most of us try to use sight, "best by" dates, and keeping track of when we bought it and thus how long we've had it, because rotten food smells and tastes, well, rotten. But it's our last line of defense, and if you're eating out somewhere that decided risking health code violations was better than needing to buy more food, could be the only one that can help.
- {style voice="John Oliver"}Some foods require some GI tract acclimation before you can handle them in quantity. If you don't have smell or taste to convey how much of the thing you're consuming, you can have problems in the end, especially if it is a caustic food. Yes, that end.{/style}
- We use our sense of smell to warn us about the potential for imminent fire alarms, assuming we live somewhere with fire alarms. In many cases, we can smell smoke before there's actual fire to deal with. We can use it to pinpoint the problem and deal with it before anything is more than singed.
- Cat subjects and dog owners depend on their sense of smell to maintain a clean home. Some kinds of messes can be avoided with training, other kinds of messes can't.
This is just the list I've come up with after thinking about the lessons learned from living with someone who never had a sense of smell. I'm sure there are other people whose living situations would encompass many other lessons. There's probably also effects that stem from "the blind who once could see" aspect of it, which I'm not even thinking of.
Glad to hear you are not affected badly...
under 90%, call ER.
best wishes.
I hope that your immune system’s elite crew are kicking the unwanted visitors without causing collateral damage.
Many thanks to Centcomm and robnot
The pulse oximeter is a very good idea. Thanks to Dianna
This will really help you get over it quickly:
Vitamin D3,
Zinc,
Quercetin (Ivermectin is even better if you can get it)
See https://covid19criticalcare.com/covid-19-protocols/i-mask-plus-protocol/
At least take D3, zinc and quercetin in appropriate doses. It *will* help and is very safe.
D3 and zinc supplements may help, or at least not cause harm, and quercitin is currently being studied, with only preliminary results being available. quercitin trial
Did you even follow Centcomm's link? I don't think she or Tokyo Rose want misinformation, or unapproved medical procedure to be spread via the comments section of their comic. Thank you for your cooperation in keeping with their wishes.
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02081-w
And that immediately caused every trustworthy source to shut down promoting Ivermectin, at least until there's a real study that shows it isn't useless.
CDC says they're pretty sure it's useless:
https://www.cnn.com/2021/08/26/health/ivermectin-covid-19-warning-injuries/index.html
FDA says they think it's probably useless, but they've started some clinical trials (of the same sort that proved hydroxychloroquine was useless) just to check the possibility.
https://www.fda.gov/consumers/consumer-updates/why-you-should-not-use-ivermectin-treat-or-prevent-covid-19
Here, by the way, is a site that tracks clinical trials in progress. Specifically searched for ivermectin and COVID. So you can see that they're not ignoring it. They're testing it. So far there aren't any trials that indicate it's effective (except the one that was retracted for having bogus data).
https://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/results?cond=COVID-19&term=ivermectin&cntry=&state=&city=&dist=&Search=Search
Most of the people promoting Ivermectin were also quick to promote Hydrochloroquine. Before any studies were published, that was irresponsible. It happened mostly because it was promoted by Donald Trump, right after he had one of the biggest shareholders of the company that manufactures it bending his ear in his office, with no evidence whatsoever. A bit self-serving from someone who made several million dollars on it.
But the widespread belief meant it was at least worth studying. So study it they did. And once studied, that turned out to be absolutely useless. Here:
https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/10.7326/M20-4207
https://academic.oup.com/cid/advance-article/doi/10.1093/cid/ciaa1009/5872589
This is relevant because you can use this as a yardstick to figure out who you can trust for information about drugs. Promoting it before anything showed it effective was irresponsible, but promoting it after the information became available is dishonest, and potentially criminal. NOBODY you should trust for information about drugs would continue promoting it after that came out.
And those are the same people now promoting Ivermectin. Like, ALL OF THEM. The EXACT same people who have demonstrated that they can't be trusted.
A scientist sees evidence to the contrary of something they've believed, and says 'Well damn. I was wrong!' At least, if he has the strength of character to first believe, and then admit, that he is capable of being wrong. That's the hard part about being a seeker of truth. You have to train yourself to do that, it's not easy.
more likely, ... 'Hot Damn! Finally, something new to publish papers about!'
and if they wanted,, we would still go an game..
tho the neighbors might freak-out ,, us showing up in full hazmat..
Cent: biohazard suit with ,. https://cdn11.bigcommerce.com/s-e163lt99/images/stencil/1280x1280/products/10463/46222/3M__75327.1597333833.jpg?c=2 .
me : full military M.O.P.P. SUIT...
:)
I don't know if such things are a consolation to you, but at least you don't have a nasty taste - one of my students was telling me yesterday that while she was sick this summer, stuff smelled/tasted like rotten meat! She still hasn't gotten the senses back, but at least she lost the "rotten meat" part, from what I understand!
Hope you recover fully in no time!
Although I never lost my sense of taste and temp never broke 101. I thought was a head cold or such. was taking my friend to the ER and thought I might as well take the test. got a call the next day that I was positive. good thing I work from home.
Hope you feel better soon. Don't want to call you Tokyo Nose. LoL!
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