Report of 19 April 2020
Good evening from our containment zone balcony -
We are well and I can sincerely say I hope the same with all of you. Health officials were at our apartment complex last week, testing all contacts of the resident who tested positive and all residents older than age 60 who live in the *same building*. That's how nasty the SARS-CoV-2 virus is.
We are approaching age 60, the very age that is the cut-off for people deemed vulnerable to the virus. Thus, while I have been tempted to gad about volunteering my services for the Tamil Nadu Health Service, Naren reminded me of my age. Scott reminded me that I am indeed working for the Banyan - from home - and that that service counted more than anything else. That was timely. It is the Banyan residents and staff that I serve.
There have been calls from the B about sundry health issues. Some senior personnel have gone to our residential facilities to replace those who need a break and who have other issues to take care of, after working for 21 days without a break. We have a vulnerable population and all are working to safeguard them; I am tremendously privileged in the colleagues that I work with.
It is sometimes difficult to try and determine by phone the cause of a certain illness. The B called about someone with one-sided facial swelling and the questions had to commence - Rotten tooth? Look like an abscess? Did someone beat the patient? Insect bite? Negative to all the questions, and then I recommended 1 dose of an antihistamine and steroid, and the patient appears better. A different patient had swelling of the entire face and then my sleuthing skills had to truly come to the fore; I remembered that the girlfriend of a friend from yore had facial swelling after eating a tub of popcorn at a movie, and I asked that our Banyan patient have a low-salt diet for a bit. She appears better. I am pleased. There is truly - for me - nothing better than seeing the patient in the flesh, but telemedicine is the way of the foreseeable future.
Our extended family tried to get online yesterday on Zoom, just to chat. It took 1 hour and 20 minutes not to get everybody online, as technical difficulties abounded. It was all hilarious, however, and those of us who were online managed to get a nice chat in with others - amid laughter at yet more tech troubles. We are to try again next week.
We hung out with our children last week and there was lots of chatter and laughter there, too. We had discussions of COVID-19, the family, TV shows and movies. I must be the only one in the world not to like the serial "Breaking Bad" and our older child - the actor - agreed. For me, it's a combination of watching the unthinkable havoc that methamphetamine can do to the marvellous human body and wishing like heck that the protagonist had chosen a different line of work. The acting was first-rate. We have watched a bunch of Tamil, Spanish, Japanese and English movies since. I have also managed to keep up with online continuing medical education (CME), which is a boon.
I spoke to my father, also, and will do so again in a few minutes. He is well, which we consider a great blessing.
Stay safe and well.
Unw -
R
We are well and I can sincerely say I hope the same with all of you. Health officials were at our apartment complex last week, testing all contacts of the resident who tested positive and all residents older than age 60 who live in the *same building*. That's how nasty the SARS-CoV-2 virus is.
We are approaching age 60, the very age that is the cut-off for people deemed vulnerable to the virus. Thus, while I have been tempted to gad about volunteering my services for the Tamil Nadu Health Service, Naren reminded me of my age. Scott reminded me that I am indeed working for the Banyan - from home - and that that service counted more than anything else. That was timely. It is the Banyan residents and staff that I serve.
There have been calls from the B about sundry health issues. Some senior personnel have gone to our residential facilities to replace those who need a break and who have other issues to take care of, after working for 21 days without a break. We have a vulnerable population and all are working to safeguard them; I am tremendously privileged in the colleagues that I work with.
It is sometimes difficult to try and determine by phone the cause of a certain illness. The B called about someone with one-sided facial swelling and the questions had to commence - Rotten tooth? Look like an abscess? Did someone beat the patient? Insect bite? Negative to all the questions, and then I recommended 1 dose of an antihistamine and steroid, and the patient appears better. A different patient had swelling of the entire face and then my sleuthing skills had to truly come to the fore; I remembered that the girlfriend of a friend from yore had facial swelling after eating a tub of popcorn at a movie, and I asked that our Banyan patient have a low-salt diet for a bit. She appears better. I am pleased. There is truly - for me - nothing better than seeing the patient in the flesh, but telemedicine is the way of the foreseeable future.
Our extended family tried to get online yesterday on Zoom, just to chat. It took 1 hour and 20 minutes not to get everybody online, as technical difficulties abounded. It was all hilarious, however, and those of us who were online managed to get a nice chat in with others - amid laughter at yet more tech troubles. We are to try again next week.
We hung out with our children last week and there was lots of chatter and laughter there, too. We had discussions of COVID-19, the family, TV shows and movies. I must be the only one in the world not to like the serial "Breaking Bad" and our older child - the actor - agreed. For me, it's a combination of watching the unthinkable havoc that methamphetamine can do to the marvellous human body and wishing like heck that the protagonist had chosen a different line of work. The acting was first-rate. We have watched a bunch of Tamil, Spanish, Japanese and English movies since. I have also managed to keep up with online continuing medical education (CME), which is a boon.
I spoke to my father, also, and will do so again in a few minutes. He is well, which we consider a great blessing.
Stay safe and well.
Unw -
R
posted by Renu at
5:00 AM
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