Not much to report. Still doing what I can to avoid catching The Rona. Maharajah & I are like pink unicorns (rare! non-existent!), as we are the last of everyone that we both know who have managed to not catch the virus.
All this is to say, it makes us a huge pain in the ass to the majority of people who are acting as if the pandemic is over. I'm holding out hope that Novavax will become available, and once it is available, hopefully I won't have to be in crisis mode, high alert, hyper vigilant. It's exhausting constantly assessing risks.
That all being said, we did manage to go on a cruise to Nova Scotia last month, and managed to do so and not catch the virus. So no huge hardship! It can be done.
I have curtailed a lot of my walking, 50% due to mobility issues due to that foot injury from 2019 in Mexico, and 25% the weather has just been so unpredictable and extreme this summer, and 25% I don't feel like being harassed by random men on the street if I am wearing my mask.
So let's see, where am I in the scope of my medical shit as that's the focus of this blog. I've been on trintelix since December thereabouts, and the lowest dose is holding me, though lately I have felt as if I were about to sob at my desk, and yet the feeling passes.
Two weeks ago I had my 12 month follow up with the surgeon regarding my hip replacement. All is well with that, and I don't have to bother seeing him again for another two years. I saw my ENT the next day. I'm good for another year. And I cancelled the ortho evaluation for my foot, as HSS isn't requiring masks anymore, and it just isn't worth the risk going to a crowded waiting room, knowing I'm 10 months out from my bivalent shot I had in September. In the meantime, I'm trying my best to rehab my foot, but I know that will only go so far.
In about 2 weeks, I have a regular appointment scheduled w/my kidney guy. Normally these are every six months, and I flubbed the scheduling. So hopefully this will be the only appointment this year. I'm really cutting back on all my care. The rest of the world has moved on from COVID, and yet, here we are 1200+ days into this and I feel LESS safe now than I did at the beginning. Hopefully the kidney guy can run whatever annual tests he can so I can avoid going to my PCP for an annual exam, as when masking was still mandated, she was sloppy about it and wore a "baggy blue" and not a respirator or a 3m Aura. I also have my mammogram that same week, so once this is all done, I am done with medical shit for the remainder of the year--with the exception of my weekly acupuncture appointments.
He doesn't know it yet, but I've even curtailed my bi-weekly chiropractic appointments too. I think I am on week 3 or possibly 4 since my last appointment, and I'm not keen on going back. My appointment is the last one of the day, and even though he's wearing an elastomeric respirator, he's no longer requiring his patients to mask up, there's no hepa air purifier evident, and the windows aren't always open. My chiropractic appointment is usually about 30 minutes more more, with me lying on the table with a heating pad and a TENS machine blasting me before he does whatever sorcery he does. I'd be happy just to ghost him, and have him mutually ghost me in return. Let's see how long it will be when he finally breaks down and texts me.
Even though I am dining out (always outdoors), and having acupuncture, and going to work (I mask up any time I am away from my desk, where I have a UV HEPA air purifier blasting 24/7, even days I'm not in the office), I'm still out and about doing things in a modified way, it still feels very isolating.
My sister's husband has stage 3 lymphoma and MS (and a post-viral exacerbation of his MS, too), and has decided not to mask up or take precautions. Her daughter who has a blood clotting disorder (and lost a kidney days after she was born) isn't masking either. And my sister is just complacent about it all and breathing in all the covid laced vapors her husband and daughter are expelling--and then asks me when are we ever going to visit again. This is the same level of cluelessness everyone in my family is exhibiting. And I'm a weirdo or a pariah because I put a higher premium on maintaining whatever level of health I currently have.
Like I said, it's very isolating.
Anyway. I'm still alive and kicking. Let's see what the next few weeks of summer will be like.
