Just 4 years ago...

I've been thinking about how it was just 4 years ago.

If you're a kid, it probably seems a lifetime ago.

But for me, I feel that yesterday suddenly our world was turned upside down, millions of people were dying, and nobody had a cure. All the restaurants suddenly closed. All the retail outlets closed. Grocery store shelves were bare. Nobody who was in the entertainment industry had a job any more...at least live entertainment. You just didn't go where other people would also be inside with you.

We suddenly wanted to eat outside on patios (when we first went back to restaurants.) Doors all had signs on them, masks were required.

It was the COVID-19 pandemic.

And so far, it's escaped TV shows. But believe me, at some time, there will be a show with the setting (medical perhaps) and the background of the early days of the pandemic.

I just found a memory on Facebook, which they somehow cull through to give me just a few of the ones I posted...but this one was about how to deal with the virus when you caught it.

Good advice from a nurse on Twitter if you should get the virus:

I know we’re all tired of hearing/talking about it, but one thing I HAVEN’T really seen going around is advice for what happens if you DO get coronavirus (many of us will), only advice for how to try to AVOID it.

So as your friendly neighborhood RN, a wee thread:

Things you should *actually* buy ahead of time (Erm, not sure what the obsession with toilet paper is?): Kleenex, Acetaminophen (Tylenol) in 325 mg tablets, Ibuprofen (Advil) in 200 mg tablets, Mucinex, Robitussin or DayQuil/NyQuil, whatever your cough medicine of choice is.

If you don’t have a humidifier, that would also be a good thing to get. (You can also just turn the shower on hot and sit in the bathroom breathing in the steam). Also a good time to make a big batch of your favorite soup to freeze and have on hand.

If you have a history of asthma and you have a prescription inhaler, make sure the one you have isn’t expired and refill it/get a new one if it is.

You basically just want to prepare as though you know you’re going to get a nasty respiratory bug like bronchitis or pneumonia. You just have the foresight to know it’s coming.

For symptom management, use the meds I mentioned. For a fever over 101, alternate Tylenol and Advil so you’re taking a dose of one or the other every 3 hours. Use both cough suppressants and expectorants (most cough meds have both). Drink a ton, hydrate hydrate. Rest lots.

You should not be leaving your house except to go to the doctor, and if you do, wear a mask (regular is fine, you don’t need an N95). You DO NOT NEED TO GO TO THE ER unless you are having trouble breathing or your fever is very high and unmanaged with meds.

90% of healthy adult cases thus far have been managed at home with basic rest/hydration/over-the-counter meds. We don’t want to clog the ERs unless you’re actually in distress. The hospital beds will be used for people who actively need oxygen/breathing treatments/IV fluids.

If you have a pre-existing lung condition (COPD, emphysema, lung cancer) or are on immunosuppressants, now is a great time to talk to your PCP or specialist about what they would like you to do if you get sick. They might have plans to get you admitted and bypass the ER entirely.

One major relief to you parents is that kids do VERY well with coronavirus— they usually bounce back in a few days, no one under 18 has died, and almost no kids have required hospitalization (unless they have a lung disease like CF). Just use pediatric dosing of the same meds.

(If you want to share, copy and paste.)

And (knock on wood) I've not yet had the virus. Incidentally, this nurse was wrong, as many kids did get very sick with COVID.

I got to have a heart attack. Not until May 15, 2020. So the protocols were in place for COVID when I went through ER. But since I have a chronic cough with my COPD, it was confusing for them. For hours I was in isolation, because the hospital had run out of COVID testing supplies, and they would have to send the test out to a lab which might take a day for results. Then my Dr. said to get my test done immediately and it was negative. (I had no fevers, and just pain in my neck and shoulders as heart attack signs.) But of course my blood work kept showing something that they know indicates a heart attack. I depend upon labs...because we all know a heart attack in a woman presents differently than a man. No numb left arm, no sweaty clamy face, etc.

Anyway, 4 days later I went home with a stent on my heart and lots of new meds to take, most for the rest of my life.

But I was right there with these front line care teams. I got to see them at work, seriously overworked, since there were so many patients coming into hospitals. Did they have enough beds? I got shuffled around a few times...so they were working on that.

And I remember just 4 years ago, Millions of People Died from COVID in the pandemic.

Millions of first responders worked above and beyond, as well as care teams in medicine.

I won't forget.

And here are some good links from PBS' NOVA giving some not-so-current information about the pandemic.

Covid and Climate Change for breathing- by Drew Lanham, ornothologist and conservationist in 2021

Lingering Symptoms from COVID-19 are “Unprecedented” published 2021

I think I'm going to go looking elsewhere for more recent findings. I'm quite sure the medical professionals have been studying this virus for the whole 4 years it's been around.

Today's quote:

It’s precisely the people who are considered the least “likely” leaders who end up inspiring others the most. Everyday people and everyday acts of courage eventually change everything.

AI-JEN POO