Update: My fever broke at 3 am EST. Then I was able to sleep until 8 am. I feel much better, and the arm is not nearly as bad as yesterday. But the whole thing just wiped me out. I feel so tired. I have decided to do a couple loads of laundry, but otherwise just chill, read books, watch movies.

Hi! 🖐

I remember waiting anxiously fro the chance to post. I never got first no matter how hard I pounced.

Right there with you! Ugh. Just ugh. I mean better than the disease for sure. But I had 2md dose Moderna yesterday and am getting worse not better. Be kind to yourself!

Well, as someone who has deconverted (for lack of a better term) still married to a progressive but devoted Christian man, I can say that for him, the pandemic has been an eye opener. I mean that in a very, very bad way. Evangelical behavior locally was off the charts horrible during this past year, and he is reevaluating church. From his perspective, he says he can no longer find any positive reason to attend church other than obligation which doesn't set well with him. On top of which, if the church actively participates in violations of his conscience, he feels he has zero obligation to attend. I do not know what the answer is. A full year of non-attendance, and he honestly says he feels like he is a better person giving up church and is making it permanent. Beyond that, there are several things that are problematic. First Responders and third shift workers have always had spotty or non-existent attendance because traditional church doesn't work with their work and sleep schedules. I do know that livestreaming and having a YouTube channel at least allows them to go back and watch church. For the elderly and chronically ill this also is a step in the right direction. The younger generation seems to question the use of money to maintain large buildings, staffs, etc. They really do see it as money that would be better used taking care of folks. So I wonder if some sort of home chaplaincy program with home visits, serving communion to small groups who gather in homes around their work schedules, might be a better idea. Plus, whether the Christian community likes it or not, it functions in a society in which the Sabbath is not a thing. Schools hold events on Sundays, sports practice, scads of people have to work. Even if it is determined that traditional church is a requirement, it doesn't change the pressure and outright demands on families from society. Some kind of very flexible thing will need to take its place or continue to lose folks. That said, I do think the church is experiencing a decline in attendance because this isn't the post war society anymore where offspring felt pressure to continue to attend their parents' denomination, and success in society might be impeded by not being a church goer. That is good. I think from 1950-2000 many churches had false "numbers" concerning the true picture of who believes and who doesn't. Now those kids are grown, do not believe, and are raising their kids very differently. So this is a bit, big shift for churches. This is a crowd that is not likely to be won over by different programming, new approaches. It is going to take a long time for the wounds of 2020/21 to heal, if they ever do. It is also worth noting that so many times in past eras, people did not have church to attend. It is kind of a luxury of things like cars, and a church building on every street corner. It isn't actually particularly "normal" from a historical perspective to have access to the Eucharist every week or a large group of like minded people to spend a couple of hours with. So maybe it would be worth exploring how people maintained and worshipped prior to the modern church movement, and seeing if there is anything worth gleaning from and implementing.

I think some states will have problems. Michigan has a very robust system with no opt out. If you get a vaccine, it is in the system. That got started under Governor Engler back in the 90's when vaccination rates got quite low, and many people had also lost or misplaced their vaccine cards. So the bulk of the students here will not have an issue. But out of state students may find themselves in a pickle if their state records are a mess or non-existent. It is something that every state should be working on now instead of waiting until August move-in, and then going, "Oops!"

I live in a similar universe. Actual things I have said to my qnon nephew over the phone, "I have not sprouted a vestigial tail, beamed up to the mother ship, experienced better cell phone reception, heard Bill Gates in my head, found the secret hideout of the lizard people, and much to my angst, not grown bigger boobs despite being given Moderna and being informed by your sister that this is a side effect of the vaccine." I am VERY disappointed about the boobs. Mine are sad, pathetic, and small. They look like two kid size tube socks with golf balls in each toe. I really could have used the boob job! So that conspiracy disappointment hit me right where it hurts! 😁

One more article about Washington State. I am very concerned for them. https://abcnews.go.com/US/washington-state-verge-4th-covid-19-wave-officials/story?id=77255377&cid=clicksource_4380645_1_heads_hero_live_hero_related

Nice to see you too. I am on hiatus laying in bed moaning from my 2nd shot so decided to come out from under my rock. I imagine I will be back under in w couple of days. Busy with elderly grandmothers, house hunting, grandsons, and vanlife.

https://www.wnem.com The vaccine county update states that residents can "schedule their vaccine appointment beheading" through the county health department! 😂 I know we are all tired of the pandemic,.but this is a bit extreme. I emailed the news website and asked if these will be public or private beheadings, and quoted the passage. Hopefully that will get someone editing pronto!

In case anyone wants to know what the health department did locally, they had everyone provide I.D. so no one would sneak in someone under 16. We have parents that would do that around here. Sigh. The confirmed birthdays, and the took our insurance card info. The state is billing insurance companies who are willing to pay, but it is otherwise free. Our insurance was willing to pay 100% not subject to deductible. I was grateful for that. They hold the clinics in a huge gymnasium not currently in use because the area schools are only having children exercise outside. It was very well run, and worked smoothly. But, it took a while to get to that point. My mother and mother in law got there vaccines back in Jan/Feb by calling their primary physicians whose offices arranged for them to get the shots at the little county hospital. The health department website was a mess, and many seniors did not know how to make online appointments. Some did not have internet. So in the beginning stages, it took a lot of work on the part of younger, tech advanced family or friends. Some seniors had no one to rely on and took to turning up in nursing home parking lots pleading for leftover doses. Bless the staff. If they had them, they shared them! Updates to the software system has helped a lot. Dh got his through a local pharmacy online registration system. It took some work. What I have told folks without computers or internet savvy is to call the pharmacies directly and simply demand someone help them register, and if they don't, call them over and over until they finally get sick of you and just do it. This has worked for a few folks, some were even told to just get in the car and go because they would have leftover doses at the end of the day.

Way back, on the very very old board. I had kids who were being home schooled, and ones that were to young. Eldest turns 30 in June, and youngest 21 next month. We are talking in the dark ages of online forums, and I was searching for English curriculum reviews and found WTM. I am back briefly now, but will be gone again soon. We have a lot of van camping coming up this summer, and I really do not have anything to offer here. I do enjoy my two grandsons very much, and may help with their homeschooling. However, I just don't want to get sucked into much social media. It has all become so bonkers. I did want to contribute to a few covid threads because some of you are trying to compile data. Very worthwhile endeavor!

Oh great. I already in late stage peri-menopausal weirdness. Just got my 2nd dose. May the "guess if the monthly fairy is visiting this month or not" games begin. Covid everything just sucks!

This isn't the initial story I read. The other is behind a paywall for local news, and my guess is you don't want to subscribe to that! https://www.kitsapsun.com It indicates a 19.1% rise in the last week. When Michigan did started to experience similar numbers, it was the precipice of a third wave. We have had some counties experiencing 30-33% positivity. Thankfully, it is beginning to drop.

I saw it on a local news site. Maybe that site is wrong! There have certainly been a lot of reporting errors this past year.

The UK variant is beginning to dominate here in Michigan. More young people are getting it, and two weeks ago the hospitals were totally overwhelmed. But, cases are beginning to drop, slowly. We have about 31.5% ish fully vaxed. If there had not been a pause on JnJ, several universities had scheduled mass vaccinations for last week. College students seem to be happy to get in line for shots. But we have a high rate of hesitancy in rural areas. I am worried because this third wave has been horrific, and now it looks like Washington State is going up badly again!

Also, Oakland University has mandated it for fall. U of MI Senate Assembly just passed support for such a mandate. It is given that Northern Michigan University and Lake Superior State will also. Both of those last schools are in the Upper Peninsula, and overwhelming the small, hospital system up there is NOT wise. My guess is that Michigan Tech may do that as well. From Michigan schools, this is all we have heard thus far.

I am an old time boardie who has chosen to lurk this year for the covid info. I felt like I should come out of hiding for this thread so NotaNumber can add my data to her compilation. I had my 2nd dose of Moderna yesterday. Unfortunately, I agreed to let a student nurse practice on my arm. Got a "scared to do it" slow push through the skin instead of a jab and a lot of painful jiggling of the needle due to shaking hands. Poor guy. He was practically in tears when he saw the blood and realized I was going to bruise pretty badly. The RN supervising was actually chatting with someone else, so not helpful. At any rate, I had sore arm and strong fatigue that resolved within 48 hrs with the first dose. I am not getting that lucky this time. My arm has a visible, hard knot, tingling and numbness when not on fire. Tylenol and anything else over the counter does not abate it at all. Ice helps, but only limited because the pain is so bad I can tolerate the ice pack against it for at most three or four minutes. I am currently running a fever of 103F and just woke up from a five hour nap. I am home alone so going six hours without something to drink has resulted in some dehydration. I have gone to refill my water bottle, which made me cold so my teeth are chattering, and am back in bed where I belong. Despite the hassle of being sick and in pain - totally normal for me, my body goes bananas over any vax - I am elated! We can breathe easy. Dh had JnJ and one would have thought he did not even get a shot. Typical for him. Middle son had JnJ at his grad school campus before the pause. Youngest and eldest sons have appointments next week on Friday for Pfizer. Youngest needed to wait until after his last final exam in case he does a repeat of me. Eldest boy had his master's thesis to submit this month and has secluded himself from the world until he submits it Tuesday. He has been a vaccine reactive, miserable person his whole life. Every single vaccine. Poor guy. Since we will be gone, he is going to grandma's house post vaccine. This is the boy that had a fever of 104.5 and tried sleeping for 18 hrs straight after his measles booster to move to campus as an undergraduate. He sleeps so deep, it is difficult to wake him, so grandma knows to wake him up frequently to force fluids. Both of the grandmas had Pfizer in Jan/Feb. Our daughter and son in law each have their first doses. So this just leaves our two young grandsons. But now we will be able to gather safely and enjoy time with them because we will all be protecting them with our vaxes. I cannot wait for our summer family camping trip! N is a real miniature fisherman and has lots of plans for being on the boat with his PapaM (Dh).

I am an old boardie from a long while back. This year I chose to lurk so I could read the pandemic threads because I knew there would be a lot of information here. My youngest is still in college and attends a university that chose to have a contest with several other universities to see whose student body, staff, and faculty could get the highest percentage of their population immunized to the flu. They considered it one more way of helping out their local communities, trying to prevent flu and covid simultaneously. Every college in the contest exceeded 75%, and two exceeded 80%. Students are camping at the bit to get vaccinated to covid so that campus life will be more normal next semester. His school also requires measles and meningitis vaxes in order to attend. So I think that with right minded administrations and student bodies, campus immunity is a real possibility.

Thank you everyone. Sorry its been a while since the last update. It doesn't look good. Her kidney function is very, very poor, BP hard to control. She was pretty lucid after her hearing aids were turned on, so we've been able to have good conversations with her. Yesterday late afternoon she fell asleep, and only awakened for a few minutes a couple of times since then. I guess that is good. She doesn't appear to be in distress. I think for her, as she has expressed before, she's had a great life, but all of her friends are passing away, and just last week, her sister in law died. Dh's dad, his two brothers, and now their wives as well. She still has a sister, but auntie's health is in very, very poor shape. MIL got to spend two weeks with her sis this summer, and her comment when we picked her up at the airport, was "This may be the last time we had together." I think maybe mentally, she is somewhat ready to let go. The fight doesn't seem to be there. I am trying to help DH process it all.

Wow, Dr. Hive. You guys have been awesome with so much timely advice. I just got an update, and am heading back to the hospital. My theater group had a performance this morning, and another this afternoon, so i was out of the loop for a long time. I did manage to briefly log in and look at 1 p.m., and then called dh. Thank you to the person who mentioned hearing aids. Dh didn't realize hers were turned off. Once he turned them on, she immediately perked up. The BP is still too high. She's had a lot of meds, so I'm very worried. Pain levels are okay. She isn't requesting much for meds which is very good given the opioid issues. Of course, she isn't moving around right now. I'm sure that if they stabilize her and she goes to rehab, she might have to move in ways that will cause a lot more pain. So we'll have to discuss that. I am taking her kindle to her so she can read, and play candy crush. Ottakee, I will ask them if they've tested for any infections, and mention bladder infection. She already has kidney issues so my guess is they are monitoring that closely, but she is a bit prone to bladder infections. Thank you all so much!

I am very upset. She's 83 and a wonderful grandma to my kids. She tripped over a rug that we've taken up time and time again because it was a hazard for her, and she kept getting out again. It's a rag rug she made years ago. Her knees are stiff so she shuffles her feet and would catch her toes on that rug. She has fallen due to that rug before. I don't know why elderly folks have to be so stubborn. She didn't do so well through the night. She has BP troubles, and kidney issues as well. The BP was hard to get down and keep down. It's more stable now. But she seems "off" to me, and the doctor isn't really very helpful. Dh has asked him what to expect, and they just rush around and shrug their shoulders. If you've had an elder with this injury, can you post here? What was recovery like? Pain management? Did they go to rehab before coming home? Were they able to walk? Should we worry about pneumonia? How much physical care did you need to provide and for how long? If they went to rehab, did you have to be there a lot, did they require lots of advocating or was it fairly straight forward? Thanks to all who respond. I think I'll be at the hospital the whole day, and will try to check back on my cell phone.

Raccoons here can be very destructive, and have rabies. We've had some cases of that in this county so everyone is quite wary. They definitely go after farmer's chickens, and so end up on the wrong end of a hunting gun often. We actually need the state to hire some hunters to thin them out. There are way too many because there aren't enough coyotes to hunt them. The rabies issue will get worse if the population isn't reduced. They also attack dogs and cats, sometimes small children, and the stuff they destroy.... They may look cute to people who don't normally deal with the buggers, but they are nasty and a menace. Dh had to shoot one that wouldn't stay off mil's front porch, and tried to attack her little King Charles Spaniel.

When I was first married, they insisted on referring to themselves as "mom and dad" and wanted me to call them that, but I had both of my parents so it was very uncomfortable because I would use their first names, and they would come back with "mom and dad". It wasn't a fun three years. But then we had our daughter, and the other grandkids referred to them as Granny and Grandpa Sandy (Sandy was a nickname) so I started using those terms all the time. Father in law has been gone for a number of years, but granny is still granny even though all the grandchildren are adults. She likes it. So happily, the problem did resolve.

Oh yikes. Clearly these people are totally unobservant! I think it's okay to simply cut them off and say, "I'm sorry. I have my day carefully planned, and won't get this yard work done if I take the time to chat. Have a nice day." Walk away. Refuse to engage. If they can't take a polite hint, that's not your problem.