Scattered Thoughts . . .

For the most part, today was yet another rather miserable day. I thought I might get to writing more about our trip to Manhattan a few weeks ago but I'm feeling so lousy today that I opted to avoid writing about the trip.  At the moment, due to getting this horrendous, lingering, debilitating virus during this trip, I have absolutely nothing good to write about this trip nor do I want to travel ever again so it is best that I do not put any of my current feelings into writing.  This sentiment about travel will likely change...  in time...  perhaps a very long time...  but, at the moment, this is how I feel.   I slept most of the day, again, and I generally feel quite miserable.  I had a little bit of energy after sleeping most of the morning but that only lasted about a half hour before I was feeling quite miserable again.  In that half hour, I managed to fix my telephone line in the house and I wrote about that in a previous blog entry.   I have a sinus headache due to a sinus inf

W hen I picked up the telephone to call my doctor the other day, I quickly realized my phone line wasn't working.  I had nothing but dead air and I could hear myself in the handset.  I only exceptionally rarely will touch my phone so I have no idea how long this line has been down!   I put this problem aside until I was feeling a step or two above "miserable".  At the time when I realized my phone was down, I needed to contact my doctor about my worsening COVID infection.  The phone could wait.  Contacting my doctor was the priority.  Besides, my phone line could have been down for months so it could wait another few days. In the meantime, later that day after talking with my doctor, I ordered some parts.   I figured my Vonage unit was okay...  I figured our two-line phone base was working fine...  and, as best as I could tell, the two wireless remote handsets seemed to be working fine.  This meant that there was likely a problem with the line running from the Vonage unit

When I awoke this morning, a photo from the lake that we have hanging on our bedroom wall caught my attention.  As I laid there assessing my health, I was also thinking that I should go back to the file folder that contains the photos from this particular morning on the lake in 2013 to see if there was anything else that was worthy of hanging on the wall.   Although this first photo wasn't what I had in mind when I went looking for this file folder containing old photos, this photo is a rare photo...  a photo of Sheila and me!  In this photo, we are on the summit of Owl's Head Mountain at Lake Groton.  Adam shot this photo... The next few photos are actually the photos I was searching for this morning.  On this early morning in 2013, I had ventured out on my kayak just after dawn, as usual, to capture some photos in the still of the morning.  Everyone was still in bed but this is perhaps my favorite time to be out on the lake.  The lake is always mirror flat with a bit of fog t

I 'm feeling slightly better than yesterday but I still feel quite lousy.  I'm feeling lousy enough that I am dreading going outside to remove snow from the roof and driveway.  I'm still exhausted and my joints ache.  My breathing isn't bad but my head is all congested and I'm coughing up phlegm so I'm still expecting to have some breathing problems when I'm doing something physical like working outside.  We'll see how my breathing really is later today when I do head outside to move snow.  I'm definitely not looking forward to it though.  Just the thought of heading out there is making me more exhausted. I had a fever last night before we headed to bed.  I was fever-free all day and was hoping that the fevers were finally behind me but apparently not.  So far, today, I'm fever-free so that is good. What isn't helping any is the fact that I am still vividly remembering trying to move snow while sick with COVID in past winters.  Saying it was

I t is really frustrating dealing with my primary care doctor's office lately.   First, if you don't call between 8am and maybe around 8:10am, you have no chance of seeing your doctor that day because their schedule will be filled up already.   Next, they won't schedule you to come in on any other days, only the current day.  Of course, annual physicals and follow-ups are scheduled in advance but not initial visits for a new condition.  This nonsense is extremely frustrating. I was already in contact with a nurse yesterday afternoon and I was actually advised to call first thing this morning to make an appointment to see my doctor or, I should go to Urgent Care as soon as possible.  I had already stated this fact to the scheduler when I called this morning. So, when I called this morning and quickly explained my situation and concern (possible sinus infection), the scheduler asked for the reason and I told her that I am COVID positive because I wanted her to understand that

W e're always buying books.  Most often those books are for the grandchildren but we sometimes purchase books for our own home.  Someday...  somehow...  I'd like to have a nice little library room to use as an office, research, reading, writing, etc.  Honestly, I'd rather have a library than a 'media room' or 'home theatre' which seems to be a popular thing lately.  I definitely prefer the television, movies, sports, home videos and even music in the comfort of our living room very near all the necessary facilities so a separate home theatre room does not interest me in the least.  A library with walls of fine shelving filled with books along with desks and computers as a separate room would be far more useful to me.  Plus, I am more of a 'traditional architecture' with separate rooms type of person.  The popular 'open concept' design that is getting very old and boringly overdone just reveals more clutter and there are far fewer walls for di

I noticed today that my runny nose has now changed from being a clear, slightly viscous liquid to an opaque yellow mucus which is a sign of my body fighting off an infection so I contacted my doctor's office to ask what I should do.   I was told that since I'm past the 10 day quarantine period then they want to see me tomorrow or I need to head to urgent care if I can't get an appointment tomorrow.  My doctor's office is overcrowded so, lately, it has been difficult to get a same day appointment so I wouldn't be surprised if I need to head to urgent care instead. So, in anticipation of my doctor's scheduler asking if I am displaying any symptoms of COVID and/or have tested positive, I decided to test again this evening...  It is two weeks into this horrendous virus and I am still testing positive! My fever still comes and goes in waves.  I have a cough and I'm coughing up phlegm.  As I already mentioned, my runny nose has changed from clear fluid to opaque

O n one of our mornings while in Manhattan with Kenzie and Lukey, we went to breakfast across the street from Grand Central Terminal at a place called Pershing Square.  This is perhaps our favorite breakfast spot and, as usual, we had an exceptional breakfast on this morning too.  Even Lukey and Kenzie were impressed with both the food and the service and that is saying something since we were there for perhaps the most informal meal of the day, breakfast.  After breakfast, we walked across 42nd Street and into Grand Central Terminal so I could show the kids one of my favorite train stations.  The kids enjoy visiting train stations so this was a good place for a short tour.   In the photo below, we are walking across 42nd Street to one of the entrances to Grand Central Terminal.  This is probably my favorite entrance because it leads directly into Vanderbilt Hall and then directly into the center of the Main Concourse.   Below, we are heading toward Vanderbilt Hall so this would be the

I finally managed to slow down my runny nose and watery eyes enough to get some sleep.  That was brutal for a few days!  Pumping a bunch of extra H1 blocker anti-histamines helped with this significantly.   Because I was experiencing the cascading anaphylaxis symptoms (twice in two days), I decided to use different types of H1 blockers to stabilize my body...   Benadryl, Periactin (a high dose emergency medication), cold capsules...  I would alternate from one to the next every two hours.  This seemed to knock down the cold/flu-like symptoms as well as keep me away from anaphylaxis for the past day so that is good.   All those extra anti-histamines also helped me get some sleep.  I was exceptionally drowsy from the medications.  I was also exhausted from the illness but the drowsiness really knocked me out.  I slept all day yesterday other than getting up to use the bathroom and eat.  Then I slept for 11 hours last night.   I feel significantly better today but I'm still stuck wit

I think I feel a bit better than yesterday morning but that isn't saying much.  I still feel lousy.   I'm a little over 24 hours into this rebound and I can say with absolute certainty that this rebound is far worse than the original viral infection almost two weeks ago when I tested positive for COVID. I have a fever yet again.  It comes and goes but my temperature is currently at 100.5  degrees.   My nose is itchy and sort of burning which makes me want/need to blow my nose constantly.  Tons of mucus is flowing out of it anyway.  Lying down in bed is impossible.  Within a minute or two, I'm sneezing and my face is covered in mucus from my nose.  Needless to say, I only managed to get a few minutes of sleep at a time through the night last night.  I just cannot sit up enough in bed to get some sleep but I seem to do better on the couch...  of course, I'm still sitting mostly upright on the couch when I sleep.  I'll attempt to get some much-needed sleep on the couc