Weeks 28 & 29 - Quarantine your Mother

Weeks 28 and 29 - Post Lemtrada

May 10, 2020

Blogger made some changes to it's layout and it's taking me a while to figure out where everything is.  It's been 60 days of quarantine-ing.  We've celebrated two birthdays and mother's day; next week will be birthday number 3.  I've heard of some creative "social distancing" birthday parties but we are pretty boring so there is nothing creative going on here. In the party sphere anyway.

I haven't been writing much; not even notes to myself.  I think I've gotten to the point where rehashing brings me down.  Also, it goes against the 'being in the moment' mantra.  I've been reading and listening to fiction lately just to think about something else.  I've also been doing a little yard work, watching a movie or non-news TV shows and we've been breaking out the board games.  Fun fact that my husband shared with me: board games became popular during the depression when people didn't have money to go out for entertainment.  We've been talking about habits that will change after this like habits that changed after the Great Depression.  I think one thing that will change for a little while is that more people will start gardening and/or having a home chicken coop.  Urban chicken coops were already starting to get a little popular.

So I don't really have any notes to remind myself of what's been going on for the last two weeks.  I can tell you that I had a telehealth appointment with the PA from my neurology office.  We talked about my next MRI, Vyvance, my immune system/blood levels, the pandemic and my next Lemtrada infusion.  I had made a list of questions and "when will I need a new MRI" was on my list.  I am actually due for one now.  They like to do them 6 months after a new treatment is started to get a baseline but because of the current situation and because I am not having any clinical progression, she is recommending that we wait.  She said it wasn't worth the added risk right now.  My second infusion of Lemtrada is going to be a 'wait and see' situation as well.  I stopped taking Vyvance for now and we are going to see if it has any effects on my bladder and how much negative effect it has on my fatigue.  She is happy with the way my blood results are going (I have another one next week, already).  I asked about my immune system levels.  I was wondering if there was a certain number that I needed to hit with my Tcells to feel safe or more protected.  The answer is "no" to a certain number.  She said that now that I am over 100 on my CD4s (helper Tcells), she isn't as worried about me but everyone is a little different with how their cells react/fight off viruses.  She said I still need to take all the precautions everyone else is taking (washing hands, maintaining distance, etc) and that it was important to continue to take my Valcyclovir everyday.  She also pointed out that we are learning more everyday and hopefully in another month and definitely by October we will be able to better judge my risk.

Our state Governor started "reopening" the economy at the beginning of the month.  First restaurants and stores were allowed to open at limited capacity and following certain rules (according to a local newspaper, very few are complying completely or at all).  Last week salons and gyms were allowed to reopen.  I don't have a problem with slowly reopening things.  It has to happen sooner or later but it would be nice to know how many asymptomatic people are out there and to have a way to discover another outbreak before it shows up in hospitals.  As a Country, we have no plan. "It's just time to reopen". Our state has a plan but they aren't even following it.  Our 7 day average for cases was dropping in mid-April.  We had about a two week drop in case average (we still aren't testing enough people though) then around April 24th it started rising again and now it's higher then we were at our original peak in early April.  But golly there were protests of a couple hundred people who also had to bring their guns so we are reopening the economy anyway.  I will also point out that the original protest was on April 18th and 3 days later daily cases were on the rise again.  Coincidence? Maybe?

If you are wondering if I was planning to go out to dinner sometime soon, the answer would be "hell, no".  We might know more about the virus in general but we still have no idea how prevalent it is in the community and the United States is too full of morons who feel wearing a mask to protect others is too much of a burden on their personal freedom.  Sane people out number the morons but it only takes one infected moron to infect the rest of us.  I will continue to do my shopping by delivery and curbside pickup and I will continue to be very grateful to those people providing these services.  Sorry, if I was overly harsh to morons or if you are one but I have no tolerance for selfishness or those who ignore experts and science.

Huh...well, I know this will make everyone very sad but Blogger doesn't seem to have emojis anymore. :( I guess I'll leave you with pictures then. I've had a digital camera for about 10 years now and I am finally getting around to messing with the settings. Enjoy! ;)