Taste Like Chicken Monday 3/2

Kathy, good that you were able to stock up on some things yesterday. Not surprising about the Purell, after trying to find travel size packs of wipes on Amazon. I'll be surprised if store shelves are impacted here when I go tomorrow. I don't think people are taking things too seriously around here yet, which may be foolish because we are getting to the tourist season. I was sorry to hear that Pete Buttigieg dropped out. Will your local paper endorse someone else now that he pulled out of the race? So now we have Amy, who will be 60 this year and isn't doing well in the polls, and a bunch of septuagenarians. I hope some younger people get tapped for VP in case the winner doesn't make it all 4 years. The last president to die in office of natural causes was FDR, so we may be due. What did you think of Doctor Who and Outlander episodes. I hope to be able to watch both this afternoon. We liked 11/22/1963 and I had forgotten it was Stephen King. I didn't read the book. Maybe I should.

Pretty flowers, Linda. We have lots of greenery and a few flowers have started to emerge here. I'm not sure we have any Covid-19 tests in TN yet, tainted or otherwise. I heard that the Louvre was closed but hadn't heard about potential lockdown in the UK. I think the president finally quit saying it was a hoax and now has moved on to "it's just going to disappear". I unfollowed my DB on FB, so hopefully that will help a little. I still don't plan to go on every day. I know what you mean about people who don't want to listen to facts. Sorry about the continuing knee issues. I hope you can get shots approved quickly to get some relief.

Liz, I saw that the first NY case is from Manhattan. Is the person at your hospital? Stay healthy. What's the dental status?

WOW on limiting hand sanitizer at HEB, Becky. We'll see what options I have tomorrow. The wind can really take it out of you, so cutting your walk short may have been a good ideas. No way I could vote for Bernie. I still haven't figured out what Bloomberg is all about, other than being richer than I could ever imagine. Still don't know what I'll do tomorrow but I better make up my mind. You're not a Trump head or you would agree with everything he says without question.

Chele, why did I think DN wasn't due for a couple more months? Glad everyone is doing well. Are you having rain today like we are? It's almost 50 and not much wind, so it's not particularly awful.

It's been a weird 12 hours here. Just after dinner last night, I got an unexpected call from my sister from another mother, telling me that the adult son of one of our close friends committed suicide yesterday. So I've been calling and texting some of our group yesterday evening and this morning to make sure they heard before it goes on FB (which it did this morning) or some place else. Our friend is, understandably devastated. This son had been her rock through some difficult times over the last few years. He apparently made a comment to her a couple of weeks ago about suicide and she apparently responded that if he did, she wouldn't be far behind him. That sent a chill up my spine. Another friend who I talked with this morning has a family history of suicide, including her father, so she took it pretty hard. It would be about 8 hours one way to the funeral and a few of our other friends are planning to go, so they will convey my condolences. I'll probably do a memorial contribution to the church or something. This morning was my weekly housecleaning binge, between phone calls, so fairly busy. Dale had a haircut and then to the pool. It's good to get him out of the house so I can clean. Arya is another story always underfoot.

Good Afternoon Chicks and thanks for the start Karen.

Chele - wow on some crazy weather you've been having.  We've just been doing the roller coaster with temps.  Congratulations on new baby Zachary!  Things are crazier than normal here at St. Crazy.  Much planning has begun and strategies for different levels of Covid-19 and the potential for transmission.  As all of you know the information changes literally on a daily basis and sometimes multiple times during a day.  Much of the media coverage has not been helpful.  There are shortages of so many different PPEs that are important for healthcare facilities and will do little for the average person on the street.  Wash your hands, wash your hands and wash your hands.  There's already plans for folks who had traveled to China and other affected areas with home quarantines.  How was Sam's Club?  I was in CVS in Sat. and they already had run out of hand sanitizer.  I was online trying to purchase gloves and masks for my staff and the pricing and availability has gone bonkers.  PS:  the avatar is adorable!

Kathy - how are you doing?  I believe they did have a couple of suspected cases in FLA as of this morning but testing is still not 100%.  We have our single case identified so far here in NYC but not surprising.  It was always going to be not a matter of it happening but more a matter of when.  The panic is simply tangible in so many ways now and it's scary when folks go overboard.  

Becky - sounds like you're making good headway on having the house ready for when you get home after surgery.  One of the things that Gary did that helped me tremendously with my hips was to put a simple rail in next to the toilet in our powder room.  The other very helpful items are raised toilet seats that you can get very reasonably at Walmart.  I now have them on all of our toilets and they're very helpful with our knees as well as my hips.  I am so amazed at you walking almost a mile last week, that had to have an impact on you at least the next day.  I'm sending you great karma and healing thoughts for the surgery day!

Linda - so glad that the patient did well and is making good progress.  Yes, something as simple as a hospital gown can come in very handy in situations such as yours.  How's things going today for all of you?  Has Micki been out of sorts with his daddy not his normal self?  Have you been sleeping?  How is DH's appetite doing now?

Karen - there's much going on as you have wondered and mentioned.  It's really about planning and figuring out who and how things will be handled depending on the severity of transmissions.  Much of what will need to happen is having folks work from home whenever they can if it comes to that.  It's also screening at all areas on in-coming to the hospital and clinics.  It's knowing that much of what is flying off store shelves will not stop the transmission of the disease.  Hand washing is crucial for at least 20 seconds; and keeping your hands away from your face and any mucous membranes important.  People were coming in off the street and taking handfuls of masks from the ED here so now we give them out one by one.  Manufacturers and distributors of needed PPEs are running out or back ordered due to people panicking and stock-piling.  I check the CDC website several times a day and let that be my guide along with updates from our ID folks here in the hospital.  I have to go back to the dentist this Thurs. to do another impression.  Apparently whatever she did last time wasn't correct and there  were problems at the lab so I have to redo it.  I have unfortunately learned the hard lesson which will benefit Gary that at open enrollment I will get PPO instead of DMO for our dental insurance.  Cheap does not equate to quality in this case at all I'm afraid.  My surgery is scheduled for March 26th, I opted for sedation as I figured 10 teeth were a whole lot of discomfort and needles.  I'm so dearly sorry to hear about your friend's son.  What a terrible tragedy!  I was crazy busy last week again with steps being 12K to my all time high since surgery of 16.5K on Thursday.  I did my errands and walked the pups this weekend; otherwise just did my best to rest the knees and my body.  

I hope you will all stay safe and well.  There's still a great deal of flu out there which people seem to forget.  Warmest wishes to all of you dear ladies; ciao for now~

Kathy, that was quite a cliffhanger on Doctor Who. I knew something would happen but never expected the Judoon to be back this season. I watched Outlander this afternoon as well, and I hope Roger and Brie take the baby and go back to the 20th Century because it's not safe. I like the medical stuff but I'm afraid Claire is stepping into dangerous territory. I have to say that I thought the problem in the attic at the house was going to be Stephen Bonnet. I'm glad it wasn't, but I know he'll be back, probably while Claire and Jamie are away. I also hope my friend will get at least some counseling. She has needed it for a while so I hope this will be what drives her in that direction. I have about a dozen little bottles of the B&BW hand sanitizer, as when I lived in NC, we had one pretty close and I always hit their semi-annual 75% off sale to stock up on that, body wash and lotion. Glad now that I did. Shame on that guy for sneezing on your stuff at CVS. How rude! Amy dropped out today, so I guess I'll be voting for Biden tomorrow, especially since both Amy and Pete are endorsing him. Maybe he'll tap Amy for VP. That would be a good choice.

Good luck trying to protect your staff and get the needed PPE, Liz. I saw a really cute hand hygiene video that I think was from Vietnam, on Last Week Tonight, but I think it came from TikTok and I'm not on there. If I see it again, I'll post the link. I know all that planning will pay off because, as they say, it's not if but when. Dale heard an epidemiologist say today that everyone would have exposure within the next 3 years. I told him we just need to stay vigilant and healthy so we won't have any co-morbidities and we should be able to survive. Going for the higher priced dental plan if it's an option is a wise move and it's a shame you didn't think about that last year, but then you didn't know what you would be facing this year. Sedation is a good idea for the surgery, plus getting at least a small supply of good pain meds for the first day or two. How did you feel after your post-surgery step record on Thursday? I think my record was about 30K on a hike in NC when I got lost and it took me 5 hours to do what was only supposed to take 3 hours. Are you still using your elderberry?

Becky, why did I think SXSW was in April? That would be a huge loss of revenue, but I hope they don't regret not canceling. Yes, I do not want Bernie. Of all the Democrats who were running from the beginning, he was always my last place candidate. You would think they would be more diligent about keeping cart wipe dispensers full in grocery stores right now. I hope they are also not in short supply at AF tomorrow. But I have some in the car and if needed, I will get them and keep them with me. I'm glad I didn't vote early now that Amy is out of the race. We don't have any local races and it would have been awful to have voted for Amy early and then she isn't in the race and my vote didn't count. I ended up voting for a 3rd party candidate in 2016 because I didn't trust Clinton any more than Trump. Spreading out the LR cleaning in advance of surgery is a good idea. Apparently you can't get the low toilets any more and the ones we have here are the taller ones, so easier on the knees. The higher seat would do the same thing without having to spring for an entire toilet. Good luck to your DN. I hope the surgery goes very well and she's back on her feet in no time. She could use a little good medical news.

Thanks for the condolences for my friend. She did post a couple of things on FB today, which was the big reason I felt that I needed to check in. Hopefully that's a good sign, but with her it's hard to tell. We are expecting rain tomorrow, so I hope there isn't much of a line at the polls so I won't have to stand outside. I'll be in and out quickly because president is the only thing on the Democrat ballot and I'm unaffiliated, but that's how I'll vote tomorrow. Fortunately, we have open primaries in TN.