Mostly incision pain. She’s moving about pretty well, but relying on the walker to avoid thoughtless twists and other bodily moves that could tweak abused muscle. The only muscle incision is vertical, but there is ‘retraction’, which is not a gentle process. She’s diligent about her rehab and in one week is ahead of many at several weeks in terms of range of motion. But sleeps a lot—2 hours at a time. I think she’s yet to sleep a night through.
Looking forward to this vaccination thing—the UK’s going for it, and wishing them the best. If they have good results that’s going to gig our slower machinery to move with dispatch, too, I hope. A year of strict quarantine has been a long one for us. Even during periods of official relaxation, we’ve been in strict isolation. Sigh. But it beats catching the stuff.
We aren’t far beind the Brits. Oklahoma is expecting 30,000 doses of the Pfizer within two weeks with 10,000 doses of the Moderna about a week later. Granted, that is a drop in the bucket; but it is a start. From the timelines I have seen I would expect you and Jane will have access to a vaccine (which one is anyone’s guess, and I expect the field will have widened by then) sometime in February.
the caregivers, the rescue folk, the nursing home staff and residents, then the compromised, I’d think would be the logical order. Then maybe teachers and staff, the over 65’s and then the general population…am I forgetting an obvious group? Here’s hoping.
Before “general population”, I’d like to see anyone get an option on the vaccine who can’t take time off from work because they have no sick days, etc. in case of emergency. If your employer won’t pay for you to stay home on enforced quarantine, or you have to make a choice between eating/paying rent and coming to work sick — or not — you shouldn’t be additionally worried about being a superspreader.
That is a very good point—I hope states adopt it.
Prison populations are seriously at risk. Not too long ago the group i have been sewing masks with was asked to make about 500 for a local women’s prison.
I wonder if it’s the pain meds that makes Jane sleep so much…when they did my revision on my left knee (after a failed replacement), they told me to let them know if I was in pain, as it wouldn’t let me rest, and not being able to rest would slow the healing process. So, maybe it’s a good sign that she’s sleeping?
Sleeping a lot is good. In high school biology we learned that cell repair and regeneration processes happen during sleep, rather than while awake.
Glad to hear Jane is recovering well, I’m wishing her the best!
Oh, not to worry: if she got a message someone was trying to access the Ilian account in Guild Wars 2 last night, that was us. He wanted to give it one more try, but she’d need to authorise his home network for him to access it, so he played on my account instead.
Jane’s using the walker is brilliant, IMO.
Oregon Health Sciences University in Portland is participating in the Oxford/AstraZeneca Phase 3 trials. Participants will have 2/3 chance of getting the vaccine, 1/3 placebo. Seems like decent odds. I’ve responded, but my big question is how it would affect the opportunity to get the real vaccine when it comes around. As a 76 year-old “senior”, I’d be in the Phase 2 release, between “priority” and general release.
So glad Jane is making good progress. I feel certain that once healing is complete, there will come a time when she will be able to stand and walk without pain. There is an end in sight. I found that very heartening to know.
I entirely agree that healthcare workers need to be high if not highest on the priority list for the vaccine. The health care system, not just in the US but all over the world, is so very strained at the moment with no signs of letting up and every indication of the situation getting much worse. A friend just retired from working in palliative care (whose unit was preempted for COVID19 patients) and was tasked with having to cold call people to inform them that their relative who was in the hospital with COVID19 was moribund and that they would not be permitted to come be with them. My friend said the unrelenting pressure of too many sick and dying people and not enough people to care for them with no end in sight is taking a horrible toll on the people in health care. Those people need all the help they can get. They are our true heroes.
So good to hear Jane is progressing well. We certainly understand the “both limping along as best as we can” around here. We muddle through too. Think of you often, as we pick our tiny AeroGarden tomatoes, try to figure out how to get the big Farm units in off the porch LOL, and when it all gets to hurt just too much, find sanctuary and hope in your books with heartfelt THANKS. If I had a wish, I’d add immediate household members to the hero health care and first responder “vaccine toplist”. They’ve taken huge risks for all, and the heroes have carried that extra burden of fear too. Bless them all and Vaccinate them, please.
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So happy to hear you are both ambulatory but being wise about it. This is not the season or even the year to overdo anything. It feels like I’ve spent all semester reassuring relatives, coworkers, and my students that they are doing just fine and can cope with whatever comes next.
I believe it was the NYT that had an estimator to see based on some questions where in line you’d be for the vaccine based on your state and sitution and despite having an autoimmune disease since I’m under 40 I’m still back several *million* people in line. Which is annoying, but ultimately I’ve been blessed enough to work from home this whole time and use instacart and only really go out for the doctors appointments or sit in my sister’s driveway at a great distance. Hopefully your spot in line becomes clearer and your state keeps to task on it in an orderly way.
I can continue like this for more months for the greater good. Beyond just trying to avoid something that causes inflammation which is a no-no for me I’m generally a really helpful person so being on the sidelines this whole year has been eating at me too. Being home at least removes me being in need of rescue and resources. I keep talking myself around about it.
Sadly, in yet another fumble by our administration, Washington declined the option to buy extra doses of COVID vaccine, which were promptly snapped up by other countries. So if you would have been eligible to be vaccinated in, say, March, you will likely have to wait several more months for your shot.
There will be others: Moderna, Oxford-AstraZeneca, et al. If Azar is to be believed, the government has them on order already.
I’m not at all sure if I’ll go ahead with the Oxford-AstraZeneca Phase 3 trials I’ve contacted OHSU about. There’s a 1 in 3 chance of getting the placebo, and that’s too great a risk for me, since they’re not talking about unblinding when the public vaccinations are going around. Yes, it’s be good science to carry it on, but I question the ethicality of not allowing unprotected people to be vaccinated with an effective vaccine when it’s available.
1 in 3 chance of getting a placebo to the general public? Will people have to sign waivers so they can’t take legal action if they get sick or worse? I already have a disease that only affects 1% of the population. Odds have not been nice to me. LOL
My area of Texas is already planning for the Pfizer rollout for a while now so maybe that’s the one we’ll be primarily getting.
Sweetbo, He was talking about being in a vaccine trial, separate from vaccinations to come. You will be fine if you have the vaccination.
Ah, that makes way more sense.
Thank you for those links, WOL.
Also, good to hear from you again, Sweetbo and Cathy.
Good point, about vaccinating the families/ people they share a home with, along with the essential workers themselves. Those people have been running a nearly as big risk, if their family member gets sick, of catching it too.
Yeah, I heard about that self inflicted wound. Oof. There are other vaccines, but the Pfizer one is what I’ve been following closer and have a better comfort level with as a result. Moderna for example has never distributed a product before and is still figuring out production lines which isn’t ideal. If I miss out on their first batch it wouldn’t be the worst thing. We’ll see how fast it goes. I was hoping all of this would be sorted out before the new Dune movie came out, but now Dune is going to be homebound with me. I’m starting to lose track of all my mile markers.
Tor.com is featuring a nice series of articles on the Foreigner books.
https://www.tor.com/2020/11/16/manchi-is-not-the-same-as-liking-intercultural-communication-in-c-j-cherryhs-foreigner-series/
https://www.tor.com/2020/12/08/linguistic-first-contact-encountering-the-kyo-in-c-j-cherryhs-foreigner-series/
I am thinking it’s about time to reread the Faded Sun trilogy, once I’m done with the Harry Potter reread.
Interesting, although the author got where the landings occurred wrong, which is slightly annoying.
CommentI am glad that Jane is recovering and that both of you are doing fine. Getting elder can be a real pain.
The articles about the foreigner series brings up an interesting point – would you be interested in being in the party when we make first contact with another planetary civilization?
Stay safe and sane
It would be fascinating to have a front row seat to encountering & (attempting to) communicate with beings from another planetary civilization! I’m an anthropologist by training… I suppose this would be xenology, but what a cultural & species observation opportunity!
I am glad that Jane is doing well. I’m sure that’s down to the house-elves! I am also happy that your hands are feeling somewhat better. May future progress be smooth and accelerating, even if not easy. I call this ‘salad dressing’.
Only my closest salads should be undressed…
https://www.bbc.com/news/av/55212727
Odd Radio Circles
https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201215-why-being-kind-to-others-is-good-for-your-health
Hi Tommie!
You provide interesting links, thank you!
Recently re-read “Exile’s Gate”, and “Tripoint”, which really isn’t Sci-Fi at all. Started re-reading “Dune”.
Paul, I’m curious why you feel that TriPoint is not sci-fi per se? Exile’s Gate is fantasy, yes, but I would have classified Tri-Point as sci-fi, given its setting in the Alliance universe, even though what it explores thematically is human relationships and point of view understandings of events (which I adore CJ’s handling of).
Exactly! It could’ve been set anywhere, anytime, any genre (well, sort of).
Given her knowledge of ancient languages, and history, if she were to tell us it’s a re-casting of some historical Greek play, it wouldn’t surprize me one little bit. 😉
So, She descends to the level of Literature?
Dunno ’bout you, but I was entertained and found the characterizations interesting. But then, I’m an Aspie, without “neuro-typical” instincts. No, that is very much true! All men are NOT created equal.
I enjoyed it enough for an immediate re-read.
Maybe equivalent?
Tonight I finished teaching for the semester— three evening courses, all by Zoom (although we did two outdoor field trips in Geology also): Wahoo Dorée, welcome Christmas, welcome All! Ok, there’s still grading to do by January 2nd, but I’ve just wrapped up a lovely, snowy night time walk (we got about a foot of snow in yesterday’s storm) to relax & transition and am now ready to mentally shift into holiday prep mode. A long but overall successful semester; my students and I were really pleased with the courses.
Glister of night snow
Precious, rarer than bright stones,
And sky reflecting snow.
Just noticed that Locus has selected Resurgence and Divergence as Staff Picks for 2020!
https://locusmag.com/2020/12/staff-picks-resurgence-and-divergence-by-c-j-cherryh/
Letson has always been a big supporter, always does a good review of her books. I wish Locus would do one of their long-format interviews with CJ.