The "virus" What are your thoughts

dwna1a said:

If you had the choice, would you even start chemo right now?

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Absolutely. Why would I not start chemo if it has the potential to lengthen my life.

My wife and I live along the Columbia River. We took the dog down to the riverbank this afternoon. It was about 70*, zero wind, no clouds, perfect day.

I sat on one of the chairs that someone put along the river and watched the boat traffic and watched the dog run up and down the river bank. As I sat there the thought crossed my mind that at some point in the not too distant future this little slice of heaven could all come to an abrupt end.

I can only hope and pray that my doctors know what the heck they're doing and can prolong things indefinitely.

Gofirstclass said:

Absolutely. Why would I not start chemo if it has the potential to lengthen my life.

My wife and I live along the Columbia River. We took the dog down to the riverbank this afternoon. It was about 70*, zero wind, no clouds, perfect day.

I sat on one of the chairs that someone put along the river and watched the boat traffic and watched the dog run up and down the river bank. As I sat there the thought crossed my mind that at some point in the not too distant future this little slice of heaven could all come to an abrupt end.

I can only hope and pray that my doctors know what the heck they're doing and can prolong things indefinitely.

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My thoughts are with you!

Rob

Haven't seen this posted yet...

Gofirstclass said:

Absolutely. Why would I not start chemo if it has the potential to lengthen my life.

My wife and I live along the Columbia River. We took the dog down to the riverbank this afternoon. It was about 70*, zero wind, no clouds, perfect day.

I sat on one of the chairs that someone put along the river and watched the boat traffic and watched the dog run up and down the river bank. As I sat there the thought crossed my mind that at some point in the not too distant future this little slice of heaven could all come to an abrupt end.

I can only hope and pray that my doctors know what the heck they're doing and can prolong things indefinitely.

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Absolutely you start chemo!! You have to do whats best for you in this situation. Wish nothing but the best for you!!!

I was asking for my piece of mind. Docs are still in the early stages for me. More blood work and a biopsy. Chemo was brought up yesterday

I'm already at risk, won't the chemo make things worse? Doc questions, I know.

El Capitan said:

With all due respect you are misinformed.

The SYMPTOMS do run it’s course however the test results of positive or negative will remain after you recover.

The antibodies remain and result in positive test even if you’re not “sick”.

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Likewise, with all due respect ....you are wrong about that being the case in the US. While that may hold true in other parts of the world (China) the vast majority of cases in the US are recent infections and currently sick. Trust me.

Here’s some data points for you guys:

Currently there are 26,168 ACTIVE cases in the US. This means these people are currently sick. There are a total of 26,684 in the US (516 that have had an outcome) Of those: 176 have recovered and are no longer ill, the remaining 340 have died.

Conversely China has a total of 81,054 cases, but 72,440 have recovered and no longer listed as active. 3261 have died. So China actually only currently has 5353 active cases, or people who are currently sick.

If you're interested, you can find all the data the world over and the breakdowns here:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

M Prod said:

Likewise, with all due respect ....you are wrong about that being the case in the US. While that may hold true in other parts of the world (China) the vast majority of cases in the US are recent infections and currently sick. Trust me.

Here’s some data points for you guys:

Currently there are 26,168 ACTIVE cases in the US. This means these people are currently sick. There are a total of 26,684 in the US (516 that have had an outcome) Of those: 176 have recovered and are no longer ill, the remaining 340 have died.

Conversely China has a total of 81,054 cases, but 72,440 have recovered and no longer listed as active. 3261 have died. So China actually only currently has 5353 active cases, or people who are currently sick.

If you're interested, you can find all the data the world over and the breakdowns here:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

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We’ll agree to disagree. Positive blood tests cannot determine when you became infected.

K

dwna1a said:

I was asking for my piece of mind. Docs are still in the early stages for me. More blood work and a biopsy. Chemo was brought up yesterday

I'm already at risk, won't the chemo make things worse? Doc questions, I know.

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At risk populations should be locked down, quarantined, etc. until this passes. You'll be fine, if you're not exposed.

M Prod said:

Likewise, with all due respect ....you are wrong about that being the case in the US. While that may hold true in other parts of the world (China) the vast majority of cases in the US are recent infections and currently sick. Trust me.

Here’s some data points for you guys:

Currently there are 26,168 ACTIVE cases in the US. This means these people are currently sick. There are a total of 26,684 in the US (516 that have had an outcome) Of those: 176 have recovered and are no longer ill, the remaining 340 have died.

Conversely China has a total of 81,054 cases, but 72,440 have recovered and no longer listed as active. 3261 have died. So China actually only currently has 5353 active cases, or people who are currently sick.

If you're interested, you can find all the data the world over and the breakdowns here:

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

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I am skeptical of the outcome numbers right now. How are they keeping track of people they send home? For many, it only lasts a week or two. Maybe, hopefully, we'll see some huge spikes in the positive outcome numbers.

El Capitan said:

We’ll agree to disagree. Positive blood tests cannot determine when you became infected.

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They are not doing blood tests initially. They are doing swabs.

I don’t see how people can draw conclusions from the data we’re seeing; specifically, the number of infections reported and the number of recovered people.

It seems to me that an insufficient number of people are being tested, so the tests are probably only giving an indication of the tip of the iceberg. Then some people are extrapolating insufficient data to make their conclusions.

And every time I read someone quote Chinese infection numbers, I cringe. Personally, I wouldn’t put any stock or trust in any number provided by the Chinese government.

I’m certainly not an Andrew Cuomo fan, but he’s correct when he points out that the numbers in NY reflect the number of positive tests, not the number of actual infected citizens. Also, NY positive case numbers are higher because they’ve performed more tests than anyone else.

If the government wants to use data to get a handle on the true numbers of infected people and cured people, then it seems to me they have to get a way to collect and analyze data that either is from the whole population, or at least is somehow a representative sample of the whole population. None of this is really in my wheelhouse, just a common man’s 2 cents.

It is a mess. My prayers for everyone’s health and safety.

Steve S said:

And now this from my marina - North Point Marina in Winthrop Harbor, IL.

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My marina is fully open and yesterday was as busy as a July weekend with temps hitting 80 and bright sunshine. There was a lineup of boats waiting at the fuel dock. The restaurant is doing a great takeout and dockside delivery business.

I live next to the largest park in Charlotte. There were thousands of people out yesterday walking, running, biking.

These are very difficult times but everyone I have encountered has been courteous and helpful. Let's hope the civility remains as this situation drags on.

JimT said:

My marina is fully open and yesterday was as busy as a July weekend with temps hitting 80 and bright sunshine. There was a lineup of boats waiting at the fuel dock. The restaurant is doing a great takeout and dockside delivery business.

I live next to the largest park in Charlotte. There were thousands of people out yesterday walking, running, biking.

These are very difficult times but everyone I have encountered has been courteous and helpful. Let's hope the civility remains as this situation drags on.

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Yeah, LKN was a busy place yesterday for a March day - but the weather was about as good as it can be this time of year. Nice to get out for an afternoon - been WFH for a week now. My marina is open, people were keeping their distance - the dockhands were asking before they touched boats or handled any lines.

Blueone said:

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I see he is eating a doughnut!

Golfman25 said:

They are not doing blood tests initially. They are doing swabs.

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I have over 100 reference lab customers. They are all processing blood tests

The drive-by stations and ER’s and Dr offices when there is no phlebotomist do swabs as well.

I know this because my customer reference labs tell me.

Of course, they could all be lying.

dwna1a said:

I was asking for my piece of mind. Docs are still in the early stages for me. More blood work and a biopsy. Chemo was brought up yesterday

I'm already at risk, won't the chemo make things worse? Doc questions, I know.

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dwna, I hope I can answer your questions from my position of being in chemo treatment and hopefully they will put our mind somewhat at ease.

My chemo is given by IV, not a port. I sit in a recliner chair while it's administered and the whole process takes about an hour. My nurse said I might feel a warm sensation in my arm as the solution went into my vein. Nope, no sensation at all.

I got my chemo treatment on a Tuesday. The rest of that day and Wednesday I felt fine. Friday I started to feel tired and spent most of the day lying back in my recliner. Same thing for Saturday. No nausea with any of this though they gave me some anti-nausea pills. There's one pill I take two of the day prior, two the day of the treatment and two the day following. Those are to ward off any nausea and they seem to work fine.

By Saturday evening I was starting to feel better and enjoyed a big corned beef, cabbage, spuds and some coleslaw. That was the first I'd had to eat since Thursday. Not because I was sick, just not hungry at all.
.
Sunday I felt pretty good though I was tired. Monday and from then on I was feeling 100% and the past few days I've been doing yard work and some projects around the house.

Today we're taking the boat out for a cruise up and down the river.It's as much to get out of the boredom of being cooped up as anything, but it'll be good to be on the water for awhile.

Now everyone reacts to the chemo differently and some get nauseous, some lose their hair, some get achy all over. I didn't get any of that, just really tired for a couple of days.

When my series of 6 chemo treatments is done I won't be "cured" of the cancer. The doc will assess my "success" and determine what course to follow next. I'll probably be under some type of treatment for the rest of my life. Likely it will be a shot every 3 months and maybe a monthly pill to take. To use a bad pun; I can live with that.

Would I do the chemo again? YOU BET YOUR ARSE! I hope this helps you with your decision process. If you have any questions you want to ask and keep them between us, just PM me.

Mike

El Capitan said:

I have over 100 reference lab customers. They are all processing blood tests

The drive-by stations and ER’s and Dr offices when there is no phlebotomist do swabs as well.

I know this because my customer reference labs tell me.

Of course, they could all be lying.

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The blood tests are for something else, not initial testing. Maybe afterwards?

By the numbers I see the mortality rate is still around 1.3% .
In the next week or so the manfacturing of medical supplies will be churning it out.
In my opinion is the gov will be changing
Their recommendations about the same time. No doubt this virus is a bad thing. But currently I am leaning that the guidelines/cure is not as bad as what Is being done to economy.
The other thing I can’t figure out is how working at Amazon is safer than manufacturing cars, etc.
Optimism !