Rant away about COVID, the vaccine, etc.

Trishyla

New study published today in the Journal of American Nephrology finds that even survivors of less severe cases of Covid19 had a heightened risk of kidney damage.

The researchers wrote that given the massive scale of Coronavirus infections in the U.S. and worldwide, "the numbers of people with long COVID in need of post COVID care will likely be staggering and will present substantial strain on already overwhelmed health systems ".

Great. As if having kidney damage from chemo wasn't enough, here's another reason to worry about contracting Covid. Or am I just being, as some have posited, too much of a nervous Nellie and terrified of an untimely death? /sarcasm

Chowdog

illimae,

Here are a couple NIH sponsored studies on cancer patients & vaccine:

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/clin...

https://www.cancer.gov/about-cancer/treatment/clin...

illimae

My nomination for official pandemic T shirt, lol

moth

There have been a bunch of vaccine trials internationally.

Here's one that was a cohort matched trial looking at cancer pts matched to healthy cohort. "To evaluate the use and safety of the BNT162b2 vaccine in patients undergoing treatment for cancer."

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamaoncology/full...

The vaccines have been extensively trialed. People volunteered for clinical trials, and they've been running trials in youth & children.

Anonymous

Love the shirt , illimae.

exbrnxgrl

olma,

Apologies if you thought my post was directed toward you. People often do lump censorship in with restrictions on freedom of speech so I threw that in for those who might equate the two. Regardless, the mods can do what they want, though I know they try to stay away from over managing this forum.

AlwaysMeC

Olma, I don't think masks affect the social skills of the majority of children. My 6 and 7 year olds were in school all last year, masked throughout the day, except during lunch. The students this year seem to be very capable of communicating. I think the lack of facial cues helped them to be more outspoken and inquisitive with each other. It's also interesting that they raise their voices to avoid mask muffle. Normally soft spoken kids have to speak louder. I did ask my youngest to guess feelings based on eyes, and that was a funny game!

It does concern me however, that some kids do need those facial queues. I really hope we can get back to in-school without masks as soon as possible.

Annabelle2

I have not yet read through the last day or so of discourse and argument. That being said............

• I cannot f-ing believe this Covid debate shit has taken over the one place I felt I belonged (even though I rarely talk to anyone here).
• Not taking the Covid vaccine is like saying "I live in Rhode Island and I've never seen a tornado, so they must not be real, and the meteorologists are just making them up to scare us into compliance because they work for the media".
• Not taking the Covid vaccine is like saying "I have stage IV (mBC), and there's a new scientifically tested vaccine that would reduce my chance of dying of this fucking-awful-disease that destroyed my body, marriage, and sense-of-self, but I won't take it because Trump-and-Fox-and-Marjorie-whatever-the-F-her-name-is-and-some-lady-on-Facebook said it's fake and it's all Nancy's/Hillary's/Obama's/Biden's/Afghanistan's fault.
• Not taking the Covid vaccine makes my husband (who works the front line in a federally-funded healthcare environment) literally roll his eyes at the dumb-asses who come in literally unable to breathe, but before they are intubated are still flailing and yelling and screaming about conspiracy theories - but actually they can't say anything because their lungs are filled and they can't breathe so he just reads the look of sheer terror and disbelief on their faces.
• Not taking the Covid vaccine is preventing me from living the rest of my short life. I was diagnosed 02/2018, completed active treatment 10/2018, completed residual treatment 02/2019, spend the rest of 2019 trying to heal from the physical and mental trauma, was really hoping to get my life back in 2020. Sucked it up and did my part to protect the vulnerable (including our 3 elderly parents, and my HCW husband, and friends and family who weren't able to isolate/social distance) for all of 2020. Like BC, I don't know what the F this shit is, but I have a few short months to live my life before I am diagnosed with stage IV mBC. F*** everyone who is that damn stupid-selfish-naïve. I choose not to take my AI's *based on scientific data and statistics*, but that choice won't kill you, only me.
• Of all the places on God's Green Internet, I never expected this shit here. This was my only source of support, and I will not be back. Thanks and good luck to all the anti-vaxxers.

Trishyla

Please don't leave, Annabelle. Don't let the ignorance rob you of that vital support. Ignore this thread; block it if you must, but know that this isn't the entirety of BCO. It is so much more than this.

Trish

Anonymous

AlwaysMe - early on in the pandemic, I saw an article about a woman who designed masks with a clear plastic panel for people with hearing difficulties who need to lip read. I thought it was genius! I would like to know what came of it. Not sure how comfortable it might be if the clear panel had to be non-porous, maybe that is why they aren't widely adopted.

Exbrnxgrl- understood. Thanks for the response.👍🏼

Anonymous

Annabelle,

Don't go. This site is more than this one thread. You can block the topic from your view.

magiclight

exbrnxgrl

I have said this before but it bears repeating re: children masking in school.

I had my entire class, save for 5 who remained on remote learning, back in the classroom for the last few months of the school year. Not a one had trouble complying with masks nor complained about not being able to breath. This was true of the other two grade 1classes, 3 kindergarten classes, 3 second grade classes and 2 TK. Kids are remarkably adaptable and were quite able to work on their social skills in person even without facial cues, though don’t discount how well they figured out how to use their eyes more expressively.Since the alternative would be Zoom, I’d venture to guess that most teachers had similar experiences. Staying home on Zoom was bad, though I’m grateful we had it. If the the way to get back to the classroom is by masking most would take it any day over Zoom! *

* No, I am not talking about those who have legit medical reasons for not masking. They remain on remote learning.

wrenn

ETA. removing post when I realized I don't give a shit about that person.

Have to stop caring for blood pressure. There is a protest of Rogan true believers in front of the hospital where my friend was admitted with ascites which probably means she doesn't have a lot of time left with her 8 year old.

Trishyla

I'm so sorry about your friend, wrenn. I've lost too many friends to this shit disease, including one with a four year old.

Older people getting cancer makes me sad. Younger people getting cancer makes me angry.

The one thing I will say, though, is that ascites is not necessarily indicative of the end of the road. I've heard of many people living years after having ascites, as long as a treatment is found that knocks them back.

Sending virtual hugs.

Trish

wrenn

Thanks Trishyla, I am getting a call at 7 with an update which makes me think the path was that the fluid was malignant or the update would just have been in the email.

I am just angry watching protesters here where an ambulance trying to reach or leave the hospital had to go slowly to avoid hurting a protestor. The ones they speak to on the news sound as crazy as some of the posts here and I am just so done with that attitude.

wrenn

To protest in front of a hospital ranting about their "freedoms" is proof that they are heartless.

Anonymous

wrenn - Sorry about your friend. Those protesters are unbelievable. HCWs don't deserve that.

Anonymous

Obviously I'm for vaccinations. I don't know personally anyone who died of COVID, but I know people who have lost loved ones. I have relatives who are doctors (retired), nurses (COVID ward and trauma), pharmacist (vaccinator), and EMT. They are all vaccinated. I live in what was a hotspot, and I don't recommend it. Don't let it happen to your community.

I hate that the pandemic has been politicized, but that didn't stop me from really looking at any possible treatment (really I even looked into ivermectin). I don't dismiss anything just because I don't like the messenger. I've always hated taking any medication and still hate needles to this day. I reviewed my options and got my shots in my thigh, not my arm.

wrenn

My sister, her husband and 2 adult children had it. Two friends from my cancer centre where we have meditation (Zoom these days) have had it and both still have fatigue weeks later.

I was hesitant to get the vaccine before it was available and then I started to read reputable articles and listened to people who have studied pandemics. I ignored anyone who couldn't provide proof. I study alternative treatments for cancer and am open to anything that works and does more good than harm.

AliceBastable

Trishyla, that kidney study scares the crap out of me. I had my left kidney removed in 2018 due to cancer (same year as BC, what fun that was!). My kidney function numbers are pretty good for having one kidney, but it puts me on a much narrower scale of "good" before sliding into "bad" - my good numbers are the same as stage 3 kidney disease for someone with 2 kidneys. Now I want a magic shield! Oh, got one - a mask! And my vaccine (and boosters as needed and available) are my trusty, loyal companions on my quest to stay healthy.

Illimae, I love that shirt. LOVE it.

Melbo

Java — most of what you said makes sense and shows logical thinking. However, I am always flabbergasted anytime someone says “I personally don’t know anyone who has had it.”

Why does that matter? (Serious question — not snark.) most of the younger generation don’t personally know anyone who has had measles, mumps, rubella, tetanus, rabies, polio, or smallpox — and yet the vast majority of people understand how serious and deadly those diseases are and protect their children from them. You mention a farm — do your pets get rabies shots?

AliceBastable

Melbo, that's a great point. I also don't personally know anyone who's had Covid, but friends of mine have lost people they know, and many times over the last year and a half, my husband has come home from work saying someone in his building has tested positive.

Java, this part of your post puzzles me:

"I live in a tiny rural county with extremely low case and death count (54deaths/20,000ish population so far). And I'm not callously dismissing those deaths. I know they are beloved humans. But I honestly do not know anyone personally who has even had a case of covid beyond mild, let alone hospitalized or died. Yet I've had two family members die of good old fashioned heart disease (Oct) and cancer ( this weekend) plus have another family member and a dear friend with cancer, thankfully earlier stage. Our local economy was devastated last year due to shutdown. The unemployed and lost business owners are just as precious."

It's full of contradictions and bad analogies. Heart disease and cancer are not contagious; why would you compare them to Covid? How can you compare lost business to lost LIVES? We've all had cancer. We've all known people who have died of cancer, heart disease, car accidents, and all sorts of other causes. NONE of those have a thing to do with Covid except that in many places, there aren't enough ICU beds for non-Covid patients, and if those people are exposed to Covid, they're usually at higher risk of death or serious side and after effects. I'm in Missouri and the hospitals are overrun with Covid cases. Most of my family and friends are of an age where a major illness or fall could get us at any time. What if there's no room in an ICU for those people because of the Covid overload, the same Covid that is most heavily spread among the unvaccinated and unmasked? And even if it's someone I don't know, I still care because they are a fellow human being. I can't believe I have to say that when it should be the default empathy setting for all of us.

GoldensRBest

Alice - I too have only one kidney. My right one was removed in 2017. It was an incidental finding in a work up for back pain, when we discovered my ureter was twisted and my kidney was nonfunctional. Just as with you, my remaining kidney is functioning ok, but it sure puts us at risk. Having been hospitalized at the beginning of August for covid, thank God I was vaccinated. The treating docs all said that with so many underlying medical conditions, I would have been on a vent. Scary to think that I’m now at risk for kidney disease. Because covid is such a new disease, I think there will be continued “surprises” through medical studies and trials.

AliceBastable

JavaJana, in what way has the government destroyed businesses? I haven't heard that on the news.

Anonymous

Living in a rural community doesn't mean you're safe from the virus. It means you quickly succumb to the virus because you have limited resources. runor is safer than you because she's surrounded by more vaccinated people.

Iraan, Texas was essentially shut down by the virus.

https://news.yahoo.com/rural-texas-towns-shut-down-130100478.html

Anonymous

When we were on the highest restrictions there were limits to how many people were allowed inside stores. The strictest business was the liquor stores. They implemented the restrictions themselves because they are unionized. They had the arrows on the aisles. There was a line outside. An employee gave customers a cleaned cart that was required for each customer. The number of customers was limited by the number of carts the employee had. Sometimes it was only 3 depending on the size of the store. This wasn't mandated by the government. The employees demanded it to protect themselves.

wrenn

Pandemics are inconvenient. Governmet shutting things down isn't done to punish.

I too have a neighbourwho thinks that if it didn't happen to her it didn't happen.

Anonymous

About businesses closing, the WSJ says 200,000 excess closures occurred, 2/3 were small businesses

https://www.wsj.com/articles/covid-19s-toll-on-u-s-business-200-000-extra-closures-in-pandemics-first-year-11618580619?st=g10tmx7gfq81ejw&reflink=article_copyURL_share

The article says this wasn't as severe as expected and they're hoping for a comeback. But a lot of people did lose a lot.

More from The NY Times

These Businesses Lasted Decades. The Virus Closed Them for Good.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/27/nyregion/coronavirus-small-business-nyc.html

I don't feel like we had input from a diverse range of experts on what the effects might be when this decision was being made. Psychologists, economists, etc

I absolutely resent that from the very outset, before a lay person like myself could even fathom how serious this might become, to even question “wow they're locking everything down, closing the economy, is this really necessary?" I would get shouted down on social media. I'm just a nobody with an opinion or two, why did people feel so strongly that we all must think in lockstep and not question anything. Caring about potential economic ruin and caring about grandma’s (and everyone’s)health are not mutually exclusive.

I do believe a lockdown like this is unprecedented. A few people have mentioned 1918. I don't know much about that.

But there was another pandemic in 1968. I was a middle schooler at the time. I remember hearing about “the Hong Kong flu" in the background of my life. But school wasn't shut down for a year. My dad wasn't home from work for a year. If I'm remembering correctly, life went on pretty much as usual. A vaccine was developed and fortunately the virus mutated to become less deadly after two years. But still, 1968 was a serious pandemic. I'm open to hearing about why COVID is different.

illimae

I’m one of those who doesn’t know anyone who has died of covid but that statement was not intended to dismiss the virus or the fact that it is deadly for some. However, from my perspective, it has not been the rolling death storm that was implied constantly and dramatically last year. It was new and scary, I get that but more than a year later, we know how to protect ourselves, which people should be doing in the ways they can.