Scattered Thoughts . . .

T he past two nights have been quite lousy.  My health has been so lousy that I needed to use epinephrine during the night last night.   During my previous bouts of COVID, my doctors have assumed that COVID is causing an undesired response in my primary illness.  It causes inflammation which causes a response by my mast cells.  I already have a life threatening issue with inflammation and mast cells so anything that exasperates this is not a good thing.  So, in response, I need to throw medications at both problems.   I awoke in the middle of the night after only an hour or two of sleep both last night and the night before last.  I was having difficulty breathing both nights.  This was clearly a case of needing to clear out my lungs because, as I would do some coughing and huffing, I could get a little bit of phlegm to come up and that always seemed to help my breathing enough to be able to get back to sleep. Last night, however, regardless of some phlegm coming up from my lungs, I was

F irst, I'll address Sheila's current health with COVID...  She has a low grade fever coming and going all through the day.  She's exhausted.  She has a mild sore throat and she is coughing and sneezing with a runny nose.   Other than the fatigue which is noticeably affecting her, she seems to be doing better than she did with the flu a month ago.  I can only assume she is doing relatively well with this bout of COVID due to being current in her vaccinations and boosters.   The really frustrating thing is that when she contacted her doctor's office this morning they pretty much did nothing for her because she has not tested positive for COVID.  The fact that I have tested positive and she is symptomatic apparently means nothing for getting treatment.  She is over 50 years old so she is in the higher risk category so common sense is telling me that her doctor's office should have jumped on getting her on Paxlovid since she is symptomatic and I tested positive in the

I 'm still feeling mediocre...  not great, not terrible, sometimes feeling "fair", sometimes feeling lousy, from one to the other in waves...  overall, however, I'm feeling a bit better than yesterday so that is good.   My throat is still a bit sore and my stomach isn't the best.  I don't have much of an appetite.  My eyelids are puffy interfering with my peripheral vision which is a symptom I experienced my first time with COVID in 2020.   My headache seems to be gone and fever is mostly gone but  I'm still taking full doses of cold meds though and they have heavy doses of acetaminophen in them so that is likely taking care of any mild discomfort and fever.  I assume the cold meds are minimizing my runny nose too.   Even though I am feeling better than yesterday, I'm still not well though. Sheila, on the other hand, is getting worse even though she is still testing negative for COVID.  I suspect she does have the virus.  She never left the couch today

A s the evening wore on tonight, I starting feeling worse and worse again which does not please me in the least.  It reminds me that my previous bouts of COVID also went in waves.  Sometimes those waves were by the hour, sometimes by the day, sometimes by the week. When I grabbed my bag of medicines so I could take my nighttime dose of medications, I remembered that I only took half doses of cold medications at lunchtime and dinnertime.  By mid-evening, I was feeling quite lousy again. My throat was approaching the intolerable level of soreness again.  A bit of a headache is back again.  I'm still in and out of the bathroom too.  This evening, I noticed that my voice was getting hoarse and, at this point, I am losing my voice.  I just checked my temperature and my fever is back again...   I'm at 100.1 degrees. I guess I need to go back to full doses of cold medications in addition to all my usual medications and the newest anti-viral medication.   Still...  at the risk of jinxi

W e spent four days in Manhattan this past week and it was a really nice trip but not without its problems.   This Christmas trip to Manhattan was really for our two oldest grandchildren, Lukey and Kenzie, but Sheila and I enjoyed it too.  Christmastime is a great time to be in Manhattan because it seems like every window and every building is decorated very well. As I mentioned above, though, this relatively short trip was not without its little problems and even some big problems.   We had made two changes to our hotel accommodations in the weeks even before leaving the house.  In the end, we settled on staying at the Hilton Midtown and that was a good choice.  One problem was trying to find a hotel with vacancies when we needed a hotel.  Amtrak availability and hotel availability had to coincide.  Another problem is that we definitely wanted to be in midtown Manhattan where all the major sites are located.  We planned this two months in advance yet we still had some scheduling issue

My summers over the past few years have been mostly completely lost summers of poor health and it looks as though this summer will be the same.   I had been sick all through the last three weeks of July with what was likely and presumably COVID, yet again, and now I have the terribly inflamed joint problem starting all over again just like after the first two times I had COVID.  As if that is not enough, either I am developing a mild case of shingles or those shingles-like symptoms are related to my inflamed joints.  If so, rather than having inflamed joints lingering for months, it is more like inflamed nerves.   About five days ago, I started developing pain from my right brow up across my forehead and across my scalp to the back of my head.  It is definitely burning, overly-sensitive, and irritated skin as opposed to something under the bone like in the brain.  We initially figured that maybe the latest bout with COVID triggered shingles.   I've had the better and newest shingle

So, I'm still testing negative for COVID but I am feeling quite lousy... coughing up a lung every few minutes...  also with barking coughs...  chest congestion and coughing up phlegm...  and just generally feeling lousy...  and tired.  I've been doing so much coughing that I'm sure the neighbors must think I am dying of COVID in here.   It is time to make lunch but I just want to lie down and sleep.  Coughing sometimes hurts in my chest but hurts my head most of the time.  I don't have a headache but my head pounds with each cough.  This is a really strange illness that I've never experienced before in my life.  It is very, very hard to believe that I am truly testing negative for COVID.  Then again, I have very little faith nor confidence in the accuracy of the COVID tests.  

T his blog entry sat around in my drafts folder for a couple of weeks!   I guess I should finish it and publish it. My joints have been terribly and painfully inflamed for the past week or so...  knees, ankles, toes...  I spent a few days on the couch because I could not walk at all.  I was on crutches for a short while and then a cane.  Now I am just limping around.  My left elbow is beginning to get inflamed too.  Sheila already has elbow problems.  According to our doctors, these joint problems are likely related to long-COVID issues.  Sheila is dealing mostly with inflamed joints in her upper body while I am mostly dealing with inflamed joints in my lower body.  My elbow isn't feeling so great at the moment though.  We'll see how this develops. I did some work in the yard today and, by the time I finished for the day, my right foot felt was though it were broken.  I came inside, showered and then hit the couch again with an icepack.  It is feeling a bit better now...  rathe

S heila was featured on the evening news this evening!  I took the easy route and just recorded it with one of my cameras while standing in front of the television.  

Sheila's COVID test earlier in the week is negative so we are no longer quarantining.  This also means that I don't need to bother getting tested.  She is the only one of us who had some new COVID-type symptoms which is why she is the only one of us who was tested.  She seems to be faring better today than she was earlier in the week.  We're both assuming she is suffering from seasonal allergies again since the COVID test was negative. So, that is a spot of good news in what has been a rather lousy month.  This heat and humidity must break soon...  my health needs a break.

Sheila was tested for COVID-19 again this morning so I suppose that means we are both in quarantine until we get word on her test results.   She is feeling kind of lousy...  mostly symptoms in her sinuses and nose...  although she has watery, itchy eyes and fatigue as well.  It is possible she has a cold or allergies but we thought getting tested was the wisest idea because she was exposed to the public at the hospital a few days ago for one of her regular cancer checkups.  Other than that, we really have not been exposed to anyone in the past few days.  We've only been at home as we should be during a worldwide pandemic.   Anyway, now we wait for test results.  I suppose I will need a test as well if she tests positive.  My bet is that she is suffering from some far worsened allergies.  It is better to be safe and responsible so we'll sit tight while we wait for her test results... 

I haven't written here in quite a while because I simply have not had the energy to accomplish anything including even writing a simple blog entry.  I assume my main problem is that I am still fighting off this virus that has been coming and going since May.  January to May was miserable with a solid fever for four months, breathing difficulties, sore throat, congestion, vision problems, cognitive difficulties, and absurd levels of fatigue.  These symptoms have been coming and going in waves since the fever broke in May. I'd say my biggest complaint is the viral fatigue.  The fatigue from my mast cell illness is debilitating and what I would call "overwhelming" at times but this fatigue due to this virus is far worse.  Just standing for any amount of time is too much to do.  I don't even have the energy to simply stand long enough to stop and say just a short sentence to Sheila.  I need to sit down.  By the time I get cleaned up and brush my teeth first thing in t