Coronavirus

[Trell]

...
Both Swerd and I had to delay treatment because of this pandemic. Our cases here really ramped up as my treatment was being planned. So I elected to wait three months and was treated in the low point. There is recent evidence that we may be just starting our second peak here in Minnesota. In this pandemic timing of treatment is a big part of the key to success.

I consider myself lucky that I got my scheduled colonoscopy as at that time, in Sweden, at that time hospitals and other care centres had locked themselves down for the pandemic. The removed polyps was shown to be non-malignant as I was informed a couple of months later, though the surgeon said that they most likely was non-malignant.

 

[GO-NAD!]

Doc, that was not the intent, thus the question marks !! Sorry that I'm not perfect like you Swerd ........

Well, sometimes a question mark isn't just a question mark, so a post like this can raise hackles, even if it wasn't the intention.

The need to wear masks in enclosed public spaces when distance cannot be maintained shouldn't even be something to question anymore. They help prevent blowing gobs of snot on people, as well as catching the saliva of those who "speak moistly", i.e. "Say it, don't spray it".

 

[Kal-El21]

"Say it, don't spray it".

That gave me flashbacks of middle school... "Shake it don't break it, it yo momma 9 months to make it"

 

[3db]

I just looked at the data for Ottawa. I note you have had a late peak. It seems you now may be just passed peak. I can understand you want to get your wife's treatment started. However she will have the best outlook if she is treated in the Valley. It will not be good if she gets Covid-19 in during the treatment she will require.

Both Swerd and I had to delay treatment because of this pandemic. Our cases here really ramped up as my treatment was being planned. So I elected to wait three months and was treated in the low point. There is recent evidence that we may be just starting our second peak here in Minnesota. In this pandemic timing of treatment is a big part of the key to success.

First of, thankyou for looking this up.

The chief oncologist for the Ottawa General Hospital whose specility is ear nose and throat cancers has given my wife a timeline of weeks to a couple of months if untreated. The tumor has more than quadruppled in size since the oncologist made the first diagnosis this June. Its imperative thst she gets the tumor removed ASAP.

Now you understand my rant about these selfish stupid freedomists consuming medical resources.

 

[3db]

My surgery was originally scheduled for 13 April. It was cancelled one week before that date, and was eventually rescheduled for 25 June. It was a very long wait.

@3db – All the best wishes for your wife and yourself too.

To you and to Mark as well. I wish you all the best of luck. I too have an enlarged prostate gland but the latest biopsy came out negative. My PSA count was sitting at 10.3 when tested in June. My next PSA test will be in August and hopefully its gone down .

 

[highfigh]

First of, thankyou for looking this up.

The chief oncologist for the Ottawa General Hospital whose specility is ear nose and throat cancers has given my wife a timeline of weeks to a couple of months if untreated. The tumor has more than quadruppled in size since the oncologist made the first diagnosis this June. Its imperative thst she gets the tumor removed ASAP.

Now you understand my rant about these selfish stupid freedomists consuming medical resources.

US hospitals don't bill the Canadian insurance system, do they? That's unfortunate.

 

[Mr._Clark]

We now this virus can kill lymphocytes. We know that mortality decreases as lymphocytes go down. The depth of the lymphopeania is the best predictor for a difficult course and mortality.

TLS Guy, can you help out a non-medical audioholics brother?

Did you mean to say that mortality increases as lymphocyte counts go down? I'm not trying to argue, I'm just trying to understand.

If I'm reading it correctly, the following paper says low lymphocyte counts are bad news:

>>>Meta-analysis showed that patients with poor outcome have a lower lymphocyte count (mean difference − 361.06 μL [− 439.18, − 282.95], p < 0.001; I2 84%) compared to those with good outcome.<<<

Lymphopenia in severe coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19): systematic review and meta-analysis - Journal of Intensive Care

Objective Clinical and laboratory biomarkers to predict the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are essential in this pandemic situation of which resource allocation must be urgently prepared especially in the context of respiratory support readiness. Lymphocyte count has been a...

jintensivecare.biomedcentral.com

 

[rnaeye]

Thanks, but I copied and pasted the part before "...hopefully,.....". I guess I should have added quotes and a link.

I am relatively new to the site. I hope I did not offend you or anyone else. Actually, my intention was to add comment to the following article at the bottom for the author.

Coronavirus COVID-19: Will it Tank the Audio Industry?

Looking to buy a new electronic gadget this week? Thanks to the COVID-19 Coronavirus you may hear, "Sorry folks we're all out and don't know when new ones will come in." See how this is impacting us.

www.audioholics.com

Somehow when I posted it, it ended up right under your post . Maybe the thread is independent of the article?

 

[Swerd]

TLS Guy, can you help out a non-medical audioholics brother?

Did you mean to say that mortality increases as lymphocyte counts go down? I'm not trying to argue, I'm just trying to understand.

If I'm reading it correctly, the following paper says low lymphocyte counts are bad news:

>>>Meta-analysis showed that patients with poor outcome have a lower lymphocyte count (mean difference − 361.06 μL [− 439.18, − 282.95], p < 0.001; I2 84%) compared to those with good outcome.<<<

I'm not TLS Guy, but I think I can answer your question.

Saying mortality decreases as lymphocyte counts go down doesn't make sense, especially in the context of that meta-review paper. It might have been a typo.

The SARS-CoV-2 virus infection doesn't seem to directly kill lymphocytes, but it can indirectly lead to low counts of those critically important immune cells. Right now, that's something of great concern and interest. If a medical treatment can ameliorate the lymphopenia, or prevent it from happening, it might very well improve the prognosis of these severely ill patients.

Understand that lymphocyte count is a somewhat coarse clinical lab value that includes any & all lymphocytes in the blood regardless of whether they recognize SARS-CoV-2 virus or viraly infected cells. This would include all B-cells or Plasma cells (they produce antibodies), T-cells (helper, killer, regulatory, and memory T-cells), B- or T-cells in the process of differentiating into mature lymphocytes, and other lymphocyte-like cells (which I can't describe without extensive quotes from textbooks or Wikipedia).

 

[TLS Guy]

I am relatively new to the site. I hope I did not offend you or anyone else. Actually, my intention was to add comment to the following article at the bottom for the author.

Coronavirus COVID-19: Will it Tank the Audio Industry?

Looking to buy a new electronic gadget this week? Thanks to the COVID-19 Coronavirus you may hear, "Sorry folks we're all out and don't know when new ones will come in." See how this is impacting us.

www.audioholics.com

Somehow when I posted it, it ended up right under your post . Maybe the thread is independent of the article?

Yes, a low lymphocyte count is an independent risk factor for mortality in Covid 19 infection.

Neutrophil-to-lymphocyte ratio as an independent risk factor for mortality in hospitalized patients with COVID-19 - PMC

Several studies have described the clinical characteristics of patients with novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) infected pneumonia (COVID-19), indicating severe patients tended to have higher neutrophil to lymphocyte ratio (NLR). Whether baseline NLR ...

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov

Lymphopenia in severe coronavirus disease-2019 (COVID-19): systematic review and meta-analysis - Journal of Intensive Care

Objective Clinical and laboratory biomarkers to predict the severity of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) are essential in this pandemic situation of which resource allocation must be urgently prepared especially in the context of respiratory support readiness. Lymphocyte count has been a...

jintensivecare.biomedcentral.com

 

[Mikado463]

one can only hope and pray that the death rate continues its weekly trend downward, but I'm fearful that with some of the recent resurgence in case count we may have a real 'bump' in the road .......

 

[Dan]

To you and to Mark as well. I wish you all the best of luck. I too have an enlarged prostate gland but the latest biopsy came out negative. My PSA count was sitting at 10.3 when tested in June. My next PSA test will be in August and hopefully its gone down .

I know you have a ton on your plate at the moment. But see if you can get a prostate MRI given a PSA that high. It can help direct a biopsy toward a focal abnormality so there is a better chance of not having sampling error. In other words the random biopsies don't sample a small tumor.

 

[Mikado463]

With a lot of mask discussion and confusion as of late (not that I was trying to add to the confusion earlier), perhaps this article may be educational to some ..............

https://www.sphosp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Letter-in-response-to-N-95-use-RA-Final.pdf

 

[Swerd]

With a lot of mask discussion and confusion as of late (not that I was trying to add to the confusion earlier), perhaps this article may be educational to some ..............

https://www.sphosp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Letter-in-response-to-N-95-use-RA-Final.pdf

Thanks, that may be of use. Micro particle filtration doesn't behave as we might imagine.

Lately, the only question about face masks has been should we wear one or not? I'd like to see a mask that I could wear while drinking through a tube at the same time.

 

[Mikado463]

Thanks, that may be of use. Filters of micro particles don't behave as we might imagine.

Lately, the only question about face masks has been should we wear one or not? I'd like to see a mask that I could wear while drinking through a tube at the same time.
View attachment 38154

sadly, I suspect some of the whacko 'Trumpsters' might actually try Jimmy's stunt. Then again do we really want that gene pool propagating ?? ..................

 

[Swerd]

A short, 8 minute video, on immune responses to infection by the SARS-CoV-2 virus.

 

[Mr._Clark]

The smell/taste thing is super weird. I absolutely cannot smell anything but my taste seems at least 90% whereas it was 0 on Saturday. I know they're supposed to come and go in tandem but they just aren't.

Kvn, any chance you can post an update?

 

[Mr._Clark]

With a lot of mask discussion and confusion as of late (not that I was trying to add to the confusion earlier), perhaps this article may be educational to some ..............

https://www.sphosp.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Letter-in-response-to-N-95-use-RA-Final.pdf

Thanks, that is one of the more informative papers I've read on this topic.

The orange guy in the white house said that wearing masks is patriotic. I suspect that's the end of the mask debate on social media (assuming a miracle occurs and the orange guy doesn't contradict himself).

 

[Kvn_Walker]

Kvn, any chance you can post an update?

Hey man! Yeah believe it or not, I'm on the internet less when I'm not at work! Don't tell anybody...

1 week later.. Today is as close as it has been to my first "good day" since the whirlwind started last Friday. Wednesday and Thursday I was mostly plagued by heavy coughing. I was coughing so much Wednesday night thought I was going to break a rib. I relaxed that with OTC cough suppressants though. Yesterday was a bit better, and today a bit better still.

I've been reading, sleeping, streaming... mostly being a bum. But I make it my mission to do "one productive thing" every day. Like one day I went over to the new house and put new outlets and switches in a room that had been repainted. Or one day I mowed the front yard here, and mowed the back another day (today is the first day this week we haven't had 100+ degree heat index, so I do as little outside as I can manage). Earlier in the week I'd wake up with energy but would feel pretty drained by late afternoon. Yesterday and today I've felt better into the evenings.

My best half did finally get through all the red tape and was able to get tested Tuesday (it wasn't an insurance thing; she had to follow specific steps in order to get reimbursed for lost time at work). She got her results back positive yesterday. It's crazy how differently her work handles the process than mine. It's going to take her possibly 2 weeks longer to be cleared to return than I will. The compensation plan is way different too.

I'm a little concerned for her, because while we've had some symptom overlap (and varying degrees of severity for the symptoms we've had in common), her breathing has been more troublesome. Not at a level where I would panic, but enough that I'm badgering her to show me she can take deep breaths. She's a stubborn ass, but I will take action if I think for a second that she's struggling. She did over 2 miles on her treadmill yesterday though, which was very impressive. Were it not for the oppressive heat we'd do some walking in secluded areas, but this has been the hottest week of the year so far.

One of my coworkers has been out since Monday and she tested positive. I feel bad since the possibility exists that she got it from me. We wear masks and our desks are spaced apart at the lab, but it's still people sharing the same small building. Plus our building doesn't have its own bathrooms so we have to walk over to an adjacent office building for that, which means you don't know whom you're going behind. I hope she comes through okay. Whether or not I was the vector, if she takes a bad turn it will weigh on my conscience. She's actually already lost people (3 family friends and 1 relative) to COVID, so her catching it is the sick irony of the universe.

 

[Hobbit]

One of my coworkers is on a ventilator. Just to be sure because people don't realize this, he's in an induced coma. He had to have a serious kidney operation and is also on dialysis. I'm assuming his life is forever changed. I also believe he suffers like most Americans, being overweight. Which is the leading cause of chronic health conditions such as heart disease and diabetes. If all this wasn't bad enough, his brother-in-law died from covid the week before.

In America we seem to like to follow meme's about not being able to breathe rather than doctors and expert advice. If you go in a clinic and you're there because you're sick, they give YOU a mask to wear. I have a picture of an ENT friend getting ready for surgery - It's crazy what they're making him wear. But he gets on with the task, which anymore is trauma. I did a bike ride the other day, at the last section of the climb my HR was 175 and I'm still here to write this. I was wearing a mask even though I was by myself on a mountain road.

It appears there's a correlation to when a country adopted wearing masks to the death rate. Whether or not perfect, if I can help save lives by even one life, I'll wear a mask, no argument. That person's life I may have save could be your loved one. I actually saw a sign in a store window that said masks are optional because I fought for our freedom in Iran. I doubt he and his fighting for our freedom would support me walking in naked!

We also seem to value our economy over life. Something that's confused me, I've been told on more than one occasion that it's God's will to take these people so we should go back to work because we need to make money. Do they go to the church of capital gain? This isn't a moral viewpoint to me.

Europe seems to have gotten this under control through strict lockdowns. I've read about professional athletes who had permission to go outside and exercise were beeped at and told to go home. While in America we may look at this as bad, It's government control and takes your freedom away, etc. What I see in Europe is a sense of community between the people and the willingness to do whatever it takes to fight this thing (at least to date). On 7/1 a lot of Europe opened up to non-essential travel. Of course, the US isn't on the list.

I don't understand why this is so hard for Americans? We used to pride ourselves on our graciousness to others.

Here's the latest chart I could find comparing the US to Europe's curve .

https://cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/22102.jpeg