I suspect at present we are in just as much danger of catching covid
as ever. I don’t believe the numbers.
People are mixing more. Several in our village have it. They’ve stopped bothering to report it.
Many are turning off the app, assuming they had it in the first place.
Even our elected leaders are bending the rules. It’s sensible to be sensible.
I read Piers Morgan’s account of catching covid at the Wembley football final. I’m aware he’s an arrogant know-it-all but he has my sympathy in this. Despite being fully vaccinated, he had an awful experience: high fever, aches, coughing; “definitely the roughest I’ve felt from any illness in my adult life” he said. He makes the fair point that without vaccination it is likely he would have been considerably worse. It may even have saved his life.
His respiratory consultant (lucky him!) said to monitor his arterial saturations and to seek help if they fell below 93%.
Obviously, you can’t monitor your blood oxygen levels if you don’t have a gadget, so, for £16, I got one, just in case any of us at home catch covid.
And when you’ve got one of these oximeters you can’t resist playing with it. I’m mostly somewhere between 96% and 99%. But what if you take a reading when you’ve been active or exercising (still 96-99%)? What does it show if you clip it on your toe (oh dear, a bit lower, I hope I’ve not got vascular disease)? How low can you make it go?
Did you know that if you stop breathing until you can’t resist any longer, and then push it a bit more by counting slowly to 10 before you breath in, nothing much changes except your pulse rockets up. Thankfully, you then breath in. And about thirty seconds later, when the blood gets to the end of your finger, you might have managed to get it down to 86%. Beat that!
Now, I wonder if it works with cats. Would it go best on Phoebe’s paw or on the end of her tail?
Sounds like a good way to aggravate a cat!
ReplyDeleteNow, one more tip: say that you contract your case of covid despite all your common sense precautions, and you notice that your blood oxygen levels are dropping. Spend as much time lying on your stomach as you can.
I'd be doing deep breathing and all sorts of things, but if it gets that bad I'd seek medical help, which is what it's for.
DeleteSomething to measure your oxygen levels in years past would have been so expensive. Clearly not now. In spite of checking, I've no idea what the word 'lony' means seen on the information label.
ReplyDeleteI think it means too many ions. I read it as loony first.
DeleteOh my, another little gadget I might want to buy. I have both my vaxes, but have gotten more relaxed about going to restaurants, etc. I see Obama at his party is leading the way in gathering without masks.
ReplyDeleteIt's like a thermometer, really, something to check how poorly one is.
DeleteHa - I love it and all the tests you are putting it through! I would definitely be putting it on my cat. You must be a gadget lover, although I agree that is a smart item to have these days. My husband gave me a smart watch for my birthday Monday and I love it. I have always enjoyed electronic gadgets. Besides heart rate, steps, etc. this watch is also supposed to measure your blood oxygen levels. I have no idea how accurate it is but it's interesting!
ReplyDeleteBut a smartwatch probably reports it all to President Xi Jingping who writes it all down on a list.
DeleteWho do you mean when you say 'they've stopped bothering to report it'? Do you mean the sufferer or some agency? If I had, or had had, Covid I doubt anyone would ever be told or have been told or ever know I had it.
ReplyDeleteIf you do those home lateral flow tests then you are asked to go online and report either a positive or a negative result and the test serial number. It is recorded and used for giving you a covid status certificate. Like me, you may not have used them, but my wife has to do them twice weekly for organisations she works with, and we've asked our children to do them before they come home for a few days because they are in contact with quite a lot of other people.
DeleteSo who did you mean by "they"? How would you know what other people are reporting so are you referring to an agency giving out results, or your local media? I still don't understand what you are referring to.
DeleteFriends of son and daughter and that source of all knowledge my wife's hairdresser. A lot of people are saying that when they do the home lateral flow tests (rapid antigen test, free in packs of 7 from doctors or some supermarkets or by post from the nhs website), they are no longer recording results on the nhs test and trace app.
DeleteI seriously hope you have left Phoebe well alone!! :-D
ReplyDeleteA friend of mine in the UK has also caught Covid in spite of being fully vaccinated. He is super fit and strong, and it flattened him completely for a while. He says he hates to think of what the virus will do to people who are not as strong.
Only joking. Yes it sounds as if it can be bad even for the vaccinated. Some friends in our village had a hard time, and it put our 21 year-old nephew to bed, althought he was better after a couple of days.
DeleteSuspect that in a couple of weeks it will be something else for the 'second drawer down' of stuff.
ReplyDeleteYes, I hope it is, like the thermometer, pain and sting relief, sticky plasters, antiseptic liquid ...
DeleteI want one!
ReplyDeleteTrust you.
DeletePhoebe - watch out, next thing someone will be shaving a bit of fur off you to test out a human gadget. Resist. It will insert a microchip in you and you will give off rays that will infect other cats. I know because I have seen all this stuff on the internet. xxx Mr T
ReplyDeleteFur stops it from working properly. It might work on her ear.
DeleteAaahhhh so you have tried it already?
DeleteThere are no red marks on my hands just yet.
DeleteDare not get one - I would become obsessed.
ReplyDeleteAs potty comments above, it will go in the drawer pretty quickly. It's like having a medical thermometer - for use when ill.
DeleteHave one. Several years ago my DH had pneumonia and it was useful to discover his oxygen level was 86 because the doctor's receptionist wasn't going to give him an appointment at first (they were busy, she said...so it was "just rest and drink fluids")...until I mentioned his levels. Amazing how fast they got him in then.
ReplyDeleteThat's pretty low. No wonder the gave him an appointment. Anything below that begins to affect ability to think.
DeleteWell, he didn't think he needed to see the doctor. Proving the point that he was not thinking clearly. But then he discovered he could barely walk to the car without my help. It wasn't good. Took him almost two months to recover. Had never been ill before in his life, so he was shocked at how hard it hit him.
DeleteSome commentators seem to imply they are unnecessary but the situation you describe is exactly the reason I got it. Hope it does turn out to be unnecessary.
DeletePhoebe hasn't got paws or a tail. She has got two chubby legs and two chubby arms - like most healthy babies. By the way, I finally got what you mean about enlarging photos by opening a new tab. Thanks for providing a smidgeon of your advanced technical know-how Tasker.
ReplyDeleteOh good, you'll be able to examine all the dust, hairs and dandruff on my oximeter.
DeleteDon't think I'll mention this to Himself, he would just go straight out and buy one. Our drawers are cluttered enough already.
ReplyDeleteBut it's no bigger than a matchbox.
DeleteEh up, we've ordered one!
DeleteNext - an assertiveness course.
DeleteDear Influencer, I am barely oxygenated, please sign me up for the assertiveness course.
DeleteI have one of those thingys. Never tried it on a cat.
ReplyDeleteI've no doubt it would give some kind of reading if you shaved off fur so the detector picked up the skin, but what it would make of the colour of cat blood I can't imagine. Their metabolism is different - they're warmer for a start. There was also stuff in the news recently about them not working problem for people with darker skin, so cats might be problematic too.
DeleteRespiratory Consultant. The stage before the Co-op Undertakers.
ReplyDeleteI am fond of breathing. What a guy has when the libido is gone.
I stopped smoking when my daddy warned me about emphysema.
Leave a balloon outside in winter; it is the same with the lungs.
Ken Tynan had oxygen tanks in his room at the end. Heavy smoker.
How can I leave Shikasta (Doris Lessing's name for Earth) when I still haven't read all of Tasker Dunham's back issues?
Haggerty
I got the impression that the respiratory consultant is one of his mates. It's going to take ages to get through all the back issues with 'new month old post'. One day this may be in that series.
DeleteNow THAT's interesting -- I hadn't thought of investing in one of these, but maybe it would be a good idea! (And as you point out, it could also be entertaining.)
ReplyDeleteI haven't put mine away yet.
DeleteI got one because I'm old and would be trying to tough it out. It's a nice toy. I played with it quite a bit, got my son to try it when he came over. Now it's away with the thermometer, in case I need to consult both!
ReplyDeleteSensible. I think Mary's story, above, sums it up well.
DeleteHahaha, Tasker -- a fine toy you've got! (I had month ago ordered one from Amazon - just in case - then I thought: oh no - and sent it back. My sister wrote she has one - but doesn't use it). I look out to live healthy , walk and move a lot and eat delicious&healthy. Am vaccinated, are not too overbold but not timid either - so that has to be enough. Hopefully.
ReplyDeleteI hope never to need it, like other things in the medicine box.
Delete