health Archives - Page 2 of 7 - Ramblin' with Roger

Is the pandemic over? OVER over?

another booster?

Mark Evanier wrote a post two weeks ago, his Question of the Day. Here it is in its entirety. “Was President Biden right to say The Pandemic is over? Well, it depends.”

The link is to a FactCheck.org article describing the debate. The Daily Show’s Trevor Noah, though, hit the nail on the head. Once some people have had COVID, they’re thinking that COVID is over for them and everyone.

From WebMD: “Biden’s comment has split experts in medicine and public health. Some adamantly disagree that the pandemic is over, pointing out that COVID-19 remains a public health emergency in the United States, the World Health Organization still considers it a global pandemic, and most significantly, the virus is still killing over 400 people a day in the U.S.

“Others point out that most of the country is protected by vaccination, infection, or a combination, at least for now. They say the time is right to declare the pandemic’s end and recognize what much of society has already decided.” Mass transit has dropped mask mandates in New York State and elsewhere.

Local spike?

Non-medical places that still require mask wearing are making people grumpy, I’ve noticed. Albany County and adjacent Rensselaer County have remained stubbornly in the yellow (medium) zone for the past six months, even as nearby counties fluctuate.

Then this past week, they bumped up to the red zone, even though the hospitalizations have remained steady. A statistician friend of mine wondered if the CDC got the numbers wrong.

Instead, “in recent months, New York health officials and those in other states have started using cases per 100,000 residents, and not the more traditional percentage of positive results of those who have been tested, as a more accurate way of measuring infection rates.”

This may explain how nine of the 55 counties north of New York City are in red, but only 109 of more than 3000 counties in the country.

A fifth shot?

The CDC recommends that “getting a COVID-19 vaccine after you recover from COVID-19 infection provides added protection against COVID-19.” However, I saw my primary care physician for my annual checkup in late September. They believe that I won’t need an Omicron-specific booster because having had the disease, probably BA.4 or BA.5, has given me sufficient immunity. I’m feeling conflicted, but I’m not even eligible until December, so I’ll ponder it further.

Meanwhile, my baby sister got COVID in the latter part of September, even though she was fully vaxxed and boosted. She’s a thousand miles away, so she didn’t get it from me.

There are people, particularly those with long COVID, for which the disease is clearly NOT over. Some desperate patients are turning to unproven alternative therapies.

The Census Bureau notes that 2.9% of adults ages 55-70 employed in January 2020 said they retired early or planned to retire early due to the pandemic, while 2.3% said they either delayed or planned to delay retirement for the same reason.

Not incidentally, my doctor’s office DID give me a flu shot. All indications from the Southern Hemisphere are that it will be a nasty season. I’ve been getting this shot annually for about a decade and a half after having influenza, which kept me out of work for a week.

August rambling: Fill the hole with water

Rebecca Jade; Central Warehouse; woke

epithet-hierarchy-1 — from Wrong Hands: https://wronghands1.com/2022/08/05/epithet-hierarchy/

The secret history of the U.S. government’s family-separation policy

What is punishment for?

The Republican Party now has embraced the mindset of Timothy McVeigh

Why djt is PANTS ON FIRE wrong to suggest Obama personally kept 33 million pages of documents

Guide to every excuse Republicans have made for djt’s theft of documents

Alex Jones Ordered to Pay $49.3M Over Sandy Hook Lies; does he know what perjury is?

The West Wing: Fill The Hole With Water

Dr. Oz Gets Skewered In ‘Wizard’ Parody

White Southern Evangelicals Are Leaving the Church

How the Central Warehouse became Albany’s albatross. Chunks of the building facade fell onto railroad tracks, disrupting Amtrak service running west of Albany for four days. Check out a Flickr photo album of the building.

Hank Green: The Biggest Climate Deal in History Almost Didn’t Happen

Climate Migration: California fire pushes a family to Vermont

Chimps digging wells shows learned behavior that may help amid climate change

Unpicking the link between smell and memories

Inside the mind of a master procrastinator

Life After Death by Powerpoint (Corporate Comedy Video, 2010)

Human nature

Michael McKean and Annette O’Toole Have Spent the Past 23 Years Reading to Each Other

David McCullough, Pulitzer Prize-winning historian, died at the age of 89. The 60 Minutes interview (2013).

Pat Carroll, Emmy-Winning Actress and Voice of Ursula in ‘The Little Mermaid,’ Dies at 95.

Roger E. Mosley, Actor on ‘Magnum, P.I.,’ Dies at 83

Anne Heche, 53, Declared Brain Dead Following Car Crash

Vin Scully reads a grocery list

John Green – Liberty Leading the People: How Revolutions Turn

‘Batgirl’ Star Leslie Grace Responds After Film Is Shelved, Calls Herself “My Own Damn Hero”

DC Will Have 10-Year Plan Akin to Marvel’s Playbook, Says David Zaslav; Reset Adds More Confusion

Art v. History: John Adams, 1776 and Hamilton

The most beautiful cities in the world and it’s Chester, England that’s No. 1

Stony Creek ruins in rural Caswell County, NC

What are Neekerbreekers? | Creatures of Middle-earth

Wiley Wallaby Licorice

Clampdown

Florida’s Un-Civic Illiteracy Program

Jamestown, MI, just voted to defund its public library over refusing to censor LGBTQ authors

WI school district bans pride symbols and preferred pronouns

Don’t Call Them Conservatives

Health

Monkeypox and Mental health: Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

NYS Health Department says hundreds of people may be infected with the polio virus. Polio? WTH.

Adults ages 50 and older infected with COVID-19 are 15 percent more likely to develop shingles within six months of the diagnosis than people who weren’t infected, according to a 2022 study published in the journal Open Forum Infectious Diseases. That likelihood increases to 21 percent among older people hospitalized due to COVID.

COVID Increased Racial Learning Gap

Allergic to cold

In a Landslide Victory, Kansas Chose to Trust Women

Why You Should Put on Sunscreen Before You Go On Vacation

I guess I don’t know what WOKE means. An article entitled Et Tu, Brute? Cracker Barrel’s Menu Goes Woke is about the restaurant recently announcing that “it is including artificial meat in its menu, thus annoying its conservative customers.”

You Shouldn’t Store Leftovers in Your Hotel Mini Fridge

MUSIC

Judith Durham, the voice of the Seekers and Australia’s first global pop queen, dies at 79. Kumbaya; Sinner Man

Olivia Newton-John, Australian Songstress and ‘Grease’ Star, Dies at 73. Let Me Be There; Magic

Coverville: 1409– The Grateful Dead Cover Story II and 1410 – The Olivia Newton-John Tribute

K-Chuck Radio: Judith, Archie, and Olivia, three voices of Australia

Peter Sprague Plays Drive My Car featuring Rebecca Jade; in fact, Live(ish) at SpragueLand, Episode 30- Peter Sprague Plays The Beatles — Day Tripper, w Rebecca Jade

Thoughts and Prayers – Randy Rainbow

Joe Hisaishi and Summer

Peter Sprague Plays You Make MeWant To Sing, featuring Kate Sprague

Words by Tennyson

Now You Has Jazz – Bing Crosby and Louis Armstrong from the film High Society (1956)

Who Wants To Live Forever – Queen, from Highlander

Robert Russell Bennett’s arrangement of Camelot by Lerner and Loewe

Bolero– Maurice Ravel

Bohemian Rhapsody – Brian Hull

Now I Know

Why 1984 Debuted in 1983 and The Danger of Posting Selfies and How to Sell a Stolen Plane and Why Winnie the Pooh Makes for a Bad Soldier? and How a Ouija Board Can Protect You from a Lawsuit and How to Mint Extra Tips? and How to Feed Your Penguin

Health report, from head to toe

Golden Oreos

headtotoe I haven’t done a full-scale health report in a while. Actually, I’ve been impressed how Arthur, for instance, here and here and here, has been quite open about his health challenges. So from head to toe, me.

Head (inside): I briefly saw a shrink online in 2021. Part of it was technological, specifically that I was supposed to use my old phone, and it didn’t work to their office’s technological needs. In any case, I was put off by the process. Then the personal connection with the therapist just didn’t happen. Maybe I’ll try with someone else this year.

Skin: As noted, I have vitiligo. I had been getting an annual full-body skin exam for three years running. The next appointment was scheduled for June 2020, but of course, did not happen. I had one scheduled for January 2022, but then got an appointment at the very end of 2021. Except for my feet (see below), A-OK.

Eyes: my vision is such that I need a good amount of light to see some objects. For instance, if the remote control, which is black, were sitting on the dark brown cabinet in the underlit living room, I’d have a difficult time seeing it. If I were driving, I’d probably not do so at night. I’ll likely have cataract surgery in 2023.

Nose: occasionally runny, but the allergies are mostly under control.

Teeth: Cavity in the lower left part of my mouth. It probably would have been caught earlier if not for COVID.

The heart of the matter

Heart: As I’ve noted, I may have a congenital bicuspid aortic valve. At some point in the next year or two or five, I’ll need surgery. Meanwhile, I’ve taken my blood pressure almost every day for nearly two years. It’s amazingly consistent, for the most part.

Body: Too much of it. I’ve been flirting with diabetes and hit the magic threshold. Now I’m seeing a nutritionist. My levels have clicked back down to pre-diabetes levels, but naturally, I still have to be vigilant.

One very bizarre thing I’ve discovered recently is that, when I’m grocery shopping, my desire for certain snack foods is driven by price. I can walk by those Golden Oreos, which I love, when the package is $5 or more. But when they were on sale for $3 in December, I was sorely tempted, especially since my wife and daughter like them as well. But no. And I actually had my hand on a packet of bakery-quality apple turnovers. A four-pack, two for only $5. No, no, no, no, no, no, no.

Knee: Specifically, the left knee I tore the meniscus in 1994, and it’s hurt pretty much since. I wore the knee brace back when I played racquetball, and I put it on now when I know I’m going to be walking a distance. If I’m walking on an uneven surface – lawns are particularly treacherous – I use the walking stick someone made for me.

Foundational

Feet: I was going to say that my feet are my Achilles’ heel but decided against it. Back in Binghamton, when I was 12, a bunch of us walked to see our 6th-grade teacher, Mr. Peca, who lived near the airport, about 10 miles each way. By the return trip, I had ruined the shoes with my pigeon-toedness. I got frostbite in both feet when I was 16.

Wearing hard-soled shoes has been an agony for decades. That’s why I almost always wore sneakers. I made the tactical error of wearing a pair of shoes, new ones at that, when I was on JEOPARDY in 1998! By the end of the second game, I was pretty miserable. This is why I believe in function over form.

For the last year or more, I have had neuropathy in my feet, especially the left one. For a time, I was so miserable – they felt as though they were burning from the inside – I was literally in tears. Since I’ve been taking Gabapentin, the misery has stopped, but they still as though someone has bound them. I COULD take more medicine, but I am loath to do so.

Only this fall, I got orthotic inserts for my shoes. This required getting better shoes, which I got at an SAS shoe store in the area. GOOD service, BTW. (And not a paid endorsement.)

I tend not to write this stuff often, less out of a sense of privacy and more about not wanting to bore myself, let alone y’all.

Health is a human right

Injustice has a cure

I had a spare $15 to spend at the DFTBA store on stuff randomly selected for me. The acronym means Don’t Forget To Be Awesome. I’m familiar with it because I follow the Vlogbrothers, John and Hank Green (no relation).

Among the merch, besides a Pizza John mug and various pictures and postcards were two magnets that read; “The idea that some lives matter less is the ROOT of all that’s wrong with the world.” – Paul Farmer.

Of course, I needed to know who this guy is. He’s a physician and anthropologist. The statement is “shorthand for the mission statement of Partners In Health (PIH), the organization he helped found three decades ago to advance the belief that health is a human right.

“With a growing team of health care professionals, volunteers, and donors, Farmer is spreading his philosophy of social justice and quality medical care to the most destitute parts of the world.”

The Vlogbrothers are supporting the PIH initiative to A Bold Solution to a Maternal Health Crisis in Sierra Leone, where “1 in 17 women run the risk of dying in pregnancy or childbirth.” I had made a contribution to this specific PIH project last year, and will likely do so again in 2021.

There are PIH programs around the world, including the Navajo Nation. PIH “acts on the belief that the best way to guarantee high-quality, dignified care is to rely upon and invest in local health systems.

“What does building a health system look like? It requires–among many things–well-trained staff; proper and ample medications and supplies; health facilities with reliable space, electricity, and running water; and universally shared best practices that ensure patients receive quality care.”

Or

I’m not suggesting that Partners In Health is the only vehicle for addressing health crises, only the one that appealed to me. I would however suggest that, before donating to any cause, check out the Charity Navigator. This link vets 900+ health-related organizations. PIH, BTW, received four stars.

I remember watching television

In the spring of 1962, I had only two TV choices

Mark Evanier posted the openings to the 42 different television shows that comprised the spring 1962 prime-time TV schedule for CBS. Of the shows, listed at 23:45 of the video, the only shows I never heard of were Ichabod and Me, Window on Main Street, Oh! Those Bells, Frontier Circus, and Father of the Bride.

I’m not sure I ever watched Hennessey, Checkmate, or all of the anthology dramas. But I surely viewed the others, especially the Saturday night lineup of Perry Mason, The Defenders, Have Gun Will Travel, and Gunsmoke.

He also posted the lineups for NBC for Fall 1962 and ABC for Fall 1961 (both at 24:50). I recognize many, though not most of the NBC shows. Maybe it was that WNBF, the CBS affiliate was on VHF, Channel 12, while WINR was on the UHF range, Channel 40.

But I recognized a LOT of ABC shows, even though Binghamton didn’t have an ABC affiliate until November 1962, when WBJA, Channel 34 came on line. That’s likely because WNBF carried a lot of ABC shows.

Unsurprising, I ran the category Old TV Theme Songs on a recent JEOPARDY!

Meanwhile, Ken Levine, who has written for prime time network television, recently noted that some recent network shows, one that had been on for four seasons, had been canceled and he had never heard of them. I’m very much in the same boat.

It’s a different time. Netflix and a bunch of platforms followed by a plus sign, from Disney to Paramount. And even shows that others recommend to me I can’t find the time/inclination to watch. As a result, I’ve seen NONE of the programs nominated for this year’s Emmys that weren’t on broadcast TV.

Just a few

So what I DO watch is heavily influenced by what my daughter views. She got into Station 19, which is a spinoff of Grey’s Anatomy. These stories are so intertwined that if you were to see one without the other, it might not make as much sense.

It reminds me of when I was collecting comic books, and you didn’t understand what was going on in the Fantastic Four or the Amazing Spider-Man if you didn’t also check out a particular issue of X-Men or The Avengers.

The other thing odd about the 19/Grey’s series is that the storylines were almost a year behind “real-time” this past season. So the narratives in the spring of 2021 took place in the height of COVID and demonstrations right after the murder of George Floyd. Then in the last episode of Grey’s, but not 19, the story fast-forwarded almost a year.

I have a friend who writes, every time I mention television, that I should not watch it. Yeah, yeah, I know, I know. It’s bad for your sleep, your health, your brain, your self-esteem, maybe your eyes.

I take my blood pressure daily in the morning, before breakfast. If my wife’s had the TV on, even if it’s off the ten minutes before the reading, my BP is about 15 points higher systolic and about 10 points higher diastolic.

I’m sure watching far less, and the pandemic did not increase my consumption by one iota.