The Universe Is Kind of a Dick ...

 

... or so says the sock that went back on my left foot after I took this photo. It's been a rough year so far and an even rougher week. Spouse had a double bypass on January 2 and has learned that he is looking at a future hip replacement and repair of a torn rotator cuff. My back pain just keeps on keeping on, but more on that later.

This week we said good-bye to a family member for the past seven years, our rescue dog Lassa. She was at the local SPCA as a stray, but it's more likely that she was dumped by someone I hope I never meet. The SPCA estimated her age as six, so we knew she was getting on in years. She'd been having breathing

issues and tiring easily for a while, and the breathing issues Wednesday were particularly bad. Older Son and I took her to an emergency vet appointment. They sedated and intubated her to get an x-ray. We knew that she had a growth on her spleen, and it appeared that it had grown significantly and was likely to be pressing on both her lungs and stomach. In addition, some tubes in her throat had stiffened, making it hard for her to breathe even if there had been no pressure on her lungs. Spouse joined us, and we made the decision to let her go. We gathered around her and wished her well as the vet administered to final drug. I was so glad that she had already been sedated. I don't think I could have looked into her eyes as the sedative was administered. Instead, she appeared just to be sleeping. Needless to say, I was bawling.

I have taken her death particularly hard. During the last few months, as medical issues have added up, she's been my go-to friend. Petting her and looking into her brown eyes helped me relax. Our other dogs were pretty much family dogs. They treated all of us pretty much the same. Lassa, though, preferred me. She liked Older Son, who would run with her, but he pointed out that her yips of greeting were louder for me than for him or anyone else. Especially during the pandemic, I was always at home with her. I still go up to bed each night expecting to see her on the bed. She would put herself to bed an hour or so before Spouse and I would come up. So many other times I turn, expecting her to be there, and she isn't. I commented about her death in regard to one of Gene Weingarten's Substack posts, and another person replied with what I think is how I view Lassa even though we only had her for a bit more than half of her life: "I loved you for your whole life and I'll miss you for the rest of mine."

This morning I had a pulmonary function test in consideration of whether I will merit a referral to the long COVID clinic. On those results alone, I probably would not be referred; I expect I came through as very normal. I'll see the formal results in a day or two. Wednesday holds the big appointment and may determine the course of our summer. My back pain has been growing worse. Over-the-counter drugs don't seem to be doing very much any more. Last week I had a second episode of urinary incontinence and suffered a fall pretty much caused by my back. When I emailed the doctor who has been coordinating my back care about those, he told me to send a copy to the spine surgeon I've seen and was supposed to see again in June, and, should there be a third episode of incontinence to go to the Emergency Room. I did as the doctor ordered and send the surgeon a message. I was worked into Wednesday's schedule with a note that the Pain Management procedure scheduled for Thursday may or may not take place. The admonition to go to the ER should incontinence strike was repeated. 

The pain in my back has worsened to the point at which I wonder if heading off to Europe for 18 days is a good idea. What if the pesky third bout of incontinence strikes somewhere in between Amsterdam and Budapest, while we are stopping in different towns throughout the 15-day cruise? About that ER visit? The surgeon previously described my back as "unstable." Does the stronger pain mean that it's unstabled itself into a worse position? We do have trip insurance, so if he tells me that medically, I should not go, we're covered cost-wise. Spouse says he doesn't really care when we go, though the original idea was for it to happen soon after his retirement as a celebration. I can't help but think we postpone the trip for my back surgery, then again for Spouse's shoulder surgery, followed one time more by his hip replacement. The universe might turn out to be a big kind of dick. 

And so, we wait. News at 11:00. 

The Road goes ever on and on ... Day 309 (809)

A not-yet-peer-reviewed survey in New York City suggests that covid cases could be undercounted by a factor of 30. The authors suggest that undercounting could be even worse elsewhere given that New York likely has better access to testing than many other places. There may be a disadvantage to getting tested. A positive test can mean staying home from work or school. This presents something of a "don't ask. don't tell" situation. The survey also showed over half the covid patients did not know about Paxlovid. Those who did and who got it tended to be younger and with better access to resources, in other words, probably not the people who most needed it. 

Cases have surged in South Africa over recent months even as data showed 98 percent of the people had some antibodies from vaccination, infection, or both. The prevalent virus forms, BA.4 and BA.5, suggest that the virus is becoming better at reinfection.This means that outbreaks will keep happening or, in the words of an infectious disease specialist, "The virus will continue to evolve so that it can continue to spread in the population. It doesn't end. This virus is with us for the rest of time."

The virus appears to be losing ground in North Korea, though. There have been, officially, only 70 deaths. That makes the fatality rate 0.002 percent, the lowest in the world. Given that deaths peaked while cases were still rising, there may be a problem with the numbers. One reason may be that local officials are not reporting data so as to avoid punishment. WHO has tried multiple times to send vaccines and other assistance but no offers have been accepted. That imports from China doubled from March to April suggests assistance is coming from the Chinese. North Korea bought masks for the first time from January to April 2022. 

Cadaver-sniffing dogs, explosive-sniffing dogs, and now covid-sniffing dogs who may be able to detect covid more effectively than PCR tests. In one study, dogs detected 97 percent of the symptomatic cases and nearly 100 percent of the asymptomatic ones. It seems that while dogs are more sensitive to positive cases, PCR tests are better at detecting negative ones. In two of the dogs' false positives, the patient had another coronavirus respiratory illness. Finally, while PCR tests can take days to yield results, a dog can process 20 samples in 15 seconds. Has covid testing gone to the dogs?

The View from the Hermitage, Day 435

A US intelligence report says that several researchers at the Wuhan Institute of Virology fell ill in November 2019 and were hospitalized. The lab director calls the report "a complete lie." Needless to say, this is only adding to the confusion over the source of the novel coronavirus. When asked if he was confident covid developed naturally Dr. Fauci said, "No, I am not convinced about that ... I think we should continue to investigate what went on in China..." It's not clear we will ever know with certainty where the virus originated.

At least 25 states plus the District of Columbia have now fully vaccinated half of their adult residents. Almost half the US population has gotten at least one dose. As a result, the US is recording some of the lowest covid data points in about a year. States have been offering incentives such as lotteries or free tuition for those getting vaccinated. Businesses have also started offering vaccination incentives to employees. Those offering monetary incentives may run into trouble, though, even though the amount offered is generally lower than $500. The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says there is no clear standard for how large a reward can be without violating federal diversity, anti-discrimination, and privacy laws. 

Asia continues to fight coronavirus surges. Vietnam and Singapore were praised for containing the virus a year ago but are now racing to contain clusters and start lockdown measures. Singapore's surge comes despite 25 percent of the population's being fully vaccinated. Health officials blame the Indian variant for the surge. They say that the speed of the spread is frightening; one report mentioned seeing four generations of spread within a period of 10 days. Vietnam has seen over 2,000 new cases since late April, or almost 40 percent of the 5,119 cumulative infections. 

The Tokyo Olympics saga continues. An official of the IOC insists that "sacrifices" must be made to ensure the Games happen. Who should make those sacrifices and in what form were not specified, but the Japanese media expect that it will be the Japanese people. That the IOC has booked blocks of rooms in four of the more expensive hotels in Tokyo has not gone unnoticed. Unless the IOC backs down or Japan steps up, seven or eight weeks from now will find 80,000 to 100,000 people from 200 countries arriving during what might still be a state of emergency. The US State Department today issued a Stage 4 advisory, saying that Americans should not go to Japan. I wonder what the US Olympic people think about that.

Robert Reich, Democratic activist and former US Secretary of Labor, wrote a column on eight lessons to be learned from the pandemic. Here, without some of the details, they are. (1) Workers are always essential; they deserve far better than they've been getting. (2) Health care is a basic right, and everyone should be insured. (3) Conspiracy theories can be deadly. (4) The stock market is not the economy; stock prices rising does not automatically mean the economy is improving. (5) Wages are too low to get by on; a higher minimum wage is needed. (6) Remote work is now baked into the economy. (7) Billionaires aren't the answer; taxes must be raised on the top. (8) Government can be the solution, and may need to be again.

A not-yet-peer-reviewed article reports that dogs can detect covid in under a second with 94.3 percent sensitivity. The study used clothing from infected people and included both asymptomatic people and people with low viral loads. Dogs already are used to detect cancers and monitor blood sugar. It takes about eight weeks to train a dog to a specific odor. They really are our best friends, not that I ever had any doubt about that.