I got the sick in me

[bennevisplace]

Today didn't work out as planned - a late Christmas lunch with my daughter, her husband and three kids. Yesterday I'd called to postpone, my mild cold having progressed, my wife's too. This morning was a struggle to get out of bed. But it was my turn to walk the dog. One coffee then off you go, that's the rule, the only mitigations being thunderstorms or hot-air balloons, which Flint fears so much he will run away fast, usually but not always homeward.

An hour later than usual, Flint and I are out on the track. With no-one in sight, I pull out my phone and on YouTube find a version of Fairytale of New York with lyrics. This is the song I'd kept up my sleeve for the inevitable Christmas Eve karaoke turn, in which I would be Shane McGowan, my wife Kirsty MacColl.

To explain. We spent Christmas in Le Havre, northern France, with the family of my son's wife. They are social animals. They are a little bit crazy, and karaoke is de rigeur. Everyone must have a go. The main Christmas celebrations are on December 24th, but then the microphone was not working, and on the 25th everyone had forgotten about karaoke. I was disappointed that our five minute rehearsal at the hotel had been for nothing. Our French family go in for different festive fare. Christmas Eve dinner: Foie gras, roast pork, cheeses, each with a different wine; Christmas Day lunch: oysters, ceviche coquilles st jacques (scallops), unpasteurised cheeses. Spot the pitfalls CLLers!

Out on the track this morning, I'm giving the song another run-through, what with New Year fast approaching. The opening line "It was Christmas Eve babe" I manage shakily, but on the ascent to "In the drunk tank" my voice splinters and that's that. Also in the bin is a run-through of another party piece in the making: Tammy Wynette's Stand By Your Man, arranged for male falsetto with baritone interjections, to be performed only to audiences suitably intoxicated.

Half an hour later, when I notice we've been walking slower than usual, I put it down to the muddy surface. It wouldn't be Flint's fault, as he's nearly always off the lead and ahead of me. This morning we see a guy with two dogs approaching, so as a courtesy I put Flint on the lead, expecting the other owner to follow suit. He doesn't, and when his large male Alsatian-type heads straight for us I release Flint, allowing him to escape if necessary. The two dogs square up, growling savagely, but it's all posturing. I exchange reassuring words with the guy, whose face is familiar. Finally we wish each other a Happy New Year and carry on our separate ways. A few minutes later I realise I've been talking to Dave Gilmour, who must have been on his way home at that point. Later, just for fun, I attempt Lee Marvin's rendition of Wand'rin' Star on YouTube. It's a doddle.

Today we have brunch, prepared by my wife while I'm out on my musical dog-walk. I don't recollect doing much after that except feeling tired, and eventually I give in and go back to bed. My wife wakes me around 4 pm with two pieces of news: she's already given Flint his afternoon walk and she's just tested positive for Covid. An hour later, I do the test and get the same result. That takes care of New Year's Eve arrangements: just us and Jools Holland.

It's no use asking where we could have caught it. We'd spent five days on the loose in France, in the hotel, in bars, restaurants, family gatherings. The answer is: anywhere. If I had to guess, it would be in the hotel on the first morning, where I stood for some minutes at the breakfast bar next to a diminutive old man who then sat down and proceeded to cough throughout breakfast. Like the axe-murderer dwarf in Don't Look Now, minus the scarlet hoodie.

The other thing I caught in France was gastroenteritis. Fortunately the sickness and diarrhoea lasted only for the overnight sailing, which meant that I was in recovery for just one day, and the Christmas holiday was unaffected. Others in the family had similar symptoms at different times, so best guess is norovirus.

Well, one day to go and we can say did it, got through 2023.

One foot in front of the other will keep you going forward.

Happy New Year everyone!

[claree_ford]

Um, Happy New Year? (Really, I wish you a both a happy New Year). I don't sing when I walk, but my goodness do I talk to myself! I did find myself singing a descant in the supermarket last week (quietly, having checked the aisle was empty), thought I was doing alright, then realised the choir, who were singing the same descant, were doing it an octave higher than me....

Here's to you and yours.

[Newdawn Administrator]

Here’s to a healthier 2024! I’ve spent NYE in the company of Covid & Jools Holland too in 2021.

Keep singing and smiling though 😉

Best wishes to you and all members.

Newdawn

[bennevisplace]

Acknowledgement

Album cover: I've Got The Music In Me, recorded by Thelma Houston and Pressure Cooker, released by Sheffield Lab, 1975.

[SeymourB in reply to bennevisplace]

Bennevisplace -

Isn't that the album many hifi stores used to demonstrate stereo systems? That and Dark Side of the Moon (to show the woofer on the heartbeats).

=seymour=

[SofiaDeo in reply to SeymourB]

I personally used to use Jeff Beck's "Blow by Blow" when choosing audio hahaha!

[may04cll in reply to SofiaDeo]

You ROCK

[SofiaDeo in reply to may04cll]

OMG the entire album is uploaded to YouTube! Someone did in in 2021! Listening to it now, none of my vinyl is here.....Stevie Wonder as the writer, as well as playing the clavinet, of "Thelonius" is one of my faves lolol

I played tenor saxophone in a studio orchestra in high school, I love jazz as well as my rock. My preferred daily dance workout was various parts of Emerson, Lake & Palmer's "Brain Salad Surgery" hahaha wow what a flashback!

[bennevisplace in reply to SofiaDeo]

My copies of Truth, Blow by Blow and Wired are in good order. Occasionally I'll spin some vinyl.

[bennevisplace in reply to SeymourB]

Yes! I once bought a pickup cartridge based on Thelma Houston among others lpgear.com/product/STANTON6... (throw away the brush)

[SeymourB in reply to bennevisplace]

My ears are quickly approaching AM radio quality with 8-10khz tinnitus.

[bennevisplace in reply to SeymourB]

My right channel is on the blink (Menieres), but curiously the brain adjusts the sound balance when wearing headphones.

[Skyshark in reply to bennevisplace]

Major loss in both channels. Musical tinnitus is horrendous. Sometimes it sounds like a drunk Welsh male voice choir. They don't know the song but every time they get it wrong they start jeering. Other times it's been a Sally Army brass band doing John Brown's Body. Then there's the Red Indian war dance or even a didgeridoo.

[bennevisplace in reply to Skyshark]

It would be wrong to 'like' your reply Skyshark. Fascinating to read about, but I imagine for you the novelty wore off long ago. Horrendous I can well believe.

I know that quite a few folk on this forum suffer from tinnitus, and some have it bad. MIne is there all the time and is probably associated with the Menieres (which is under control). But the noise is low level, higher frequencies, fairly constant, and is easily ignored.

[JEEA]

Loved this post---what a Christmas! Greatly envious of your French Christmas food. Worth living through gastroenteritis and now Covid--which hopefully will be light.🤞 Assume that you will be getting antivirals?

As to singing Fairy Tale of New York, --we were having a good pre-Christmas sing with close friends--one with terminal esophageal cancer-- and blanched when we came to the line "An old man said to me, won't see another one", but he carried on gamely through, as he strives to enjoy as much as is possible. Poignant for us all.

Happy New Year and may we all enjoy as much as possible in the year ahead. Eleanor

[RogerPinner]

I'm pleased to see covid has not reduced your ability to write interestingly and amusingly. Wishing you well soon.

Roger

[ygtgo]

Thanks for sharing ... I haven't been anywhere for the past 2/3 months, that's how I like to read real experinces like yourself.

As for myself, on the 7th Dec, I got a heavy cold from hell ...'twas like my lungs were full of catarrh, but I could not 'bring it up ... lasted over two weeks+ and disappeared in time for Christmas ... 4 days later, I,m back to square one feels more like the flu ... then again what chance do I have when Mrs ygtgo works in a school (bug town) and my son works in a supermarket( bug city) ...

Dave Gilmour ? ... all I would have probably said was ... " Thank you ! "

Hopefully I'll be able to 'see in the bells' ... wishing yourself and all on here a guid New Year from bonnie Scotland, and lang may yer lum reek !

ygtgo

[bennevisplace in reply to ygtgo]

Sorry you're feeling fluey again. Harsh, with Hogmanay on us.

"Lang may yer lum reek" I've not heard for many a year. Thanks, and the same to you and Mrs ygtgo. May the New Year bring better health.

I'm terrible at remembering people's names, though in DG's case it's the dog's name I've already forgotten. His country pile is close to where we met.

[ygtgo in reply to bennevisplace]

Mrs ygtgo has just put me 'right' in regard to Mr David Gilmour ...

For 50 years, I have bought all his music from vinyl through to tapes, cd's and downloads ... I have all his music concerts on DVD/Blu ray ... my wardrobe has dozens of his t-shirt merchandise ... " Who lives in the 'country pile' ? "

😎Ok, so I have always been a music 'collector' ... I have me own 'radio station' of cd's ... Despite all my efforts in 😎😎😎taking Mrs Ygtgo to all kinds of concerts, I'm afraid she finds it hard to get over her teenage years of Glam Rock and Country music ...

There is always a glimmer of hope ... she has asked me to put on a Stones concert from Brazil occasionally, most surprising was a request for a Lynyrd Skynyrd concert both on DVD ... either I must have poured the drinks a little strong, or after 43 years some of me music is getin' through.

Either way, she is right ... David Gilmour has me to thank for a couple of 'bricks' in his country pile !

[bennevisplace in reply to ygtgo]

Hehe love it. My Floyd collection is thin compared with yours: a mere 6 albums. Wish You Were Here is one of very few LPs my wife and I both owned before we met. Our musical tastes converge mostly in the sixteenth century!

DG's place is a grand old Sussex farmhouse with separate recording studio, stables, paddocks, two lakes, airstrip, etc. The only other time he and I 'met' was many years ago, when I was walking my dogs through the property as he was doing some gardening. Even high earning musicians live normal lives in private! On that occasion he looked unimpressed but said nothing (I was on the public footpath). I'm glad we're now best mates 😄 If I ever get an invitation, I'll be able to give you a rough estimate of the number of bricks in each wall.

I don't know how much time Dave spends down this way. He will have other homes, and he's plenty of offspring to visit too. Like I said ...normal lives in private!

[SeymourB]

bennevisplace -

You make illness entertaining. I do hope you're feeling better day by day, and look forward to BenNevisPlace 2024 edition.

=seymour=

[bennevisplace in reply to SeymourB]

Thanks Seymour. So far it's been a mild affair.

As far back as I can remember, every medical situation involving one of us or one of the dogs has started at the weekend. The surgery is closed, the haematology switchboard is unmanned, so my only helpline is NHS 111. The to and fro could cost me hours. Plus, from others' experience, I know that in order to get the antivirals to which all CLLers used to be entitled (in theory), I would have to lie and invent symptoms I don't have. Fever, sore throat, breathing difficulty, headache: none of the above. Cough: intermittent, upper airway, improving. Fatigue, muscle weakness, loss of appetite: moderate.

I had a booster jab with the updated Pfizer BNT two months ago.

BTW, How are you? I was delighted to read about your progress on the trial.

[SeymourB in reply to bennevisplace]

Bennevisplace -

I had my own weekend infection the weekend before Christmas.

One thing we don't hear much about is that some trials require one to report any fever greater than 100.4F/38C to the trial Hotline, and then go to the hospital emergency department for tests. The tests ruled out COVID, RSV, Flu A and B. So they admitted me for observation and IV antibiotics (Zosyn and Vamcomycin, several bags each) and Gammagard IVIG. They also did a blood culture - which takes days and was negative. But no sinus culture.

I had really feared going to the ED/A&E on a Saturday night. I had been there before when it was filled will all sorts of respiratory, accident, and violence mayhem. It's a community hospital. But the department was completely empty.

I had a reaction to the IVIG - severe chills. No sweats, though. So they slowed it, and it took 24 hours to infuse the 1.2L/110mg bag of Gammagard. I hate antecubital (crook of the arm) IV's, but I have tantalizingly good veins, and the nurses can't resist. The arm flexes, and little by little, damage is done. I ended up with a hematoma.

The fever dropped. But that was partially because of what I suspect is poor thermometer calibration by the BioMed department at the hospital. I always bring my own thermometer to compare. There was as much as a 1 degree F difference, depending on which vitals cart - theirs was always lower. I compared my thermometer to the one at M. D. Anderson a week later, and only 0.2F difference, repeating both the MDA and my own measurements twice.

So they set me free Monday afternoon. MDA called in a 7 day prescription for Amox-Clav (Amoxicillin-Clavulanate) 825-125mg. After a couple of tablets, I had some mild itchiness all over, so they changed it to 10 days of Levofloxacin 500mg. So I think it's now in my record that I'm allergic to penicillins. I was hoping that my CLL treatment had gotten rid of a lot of allergies by killing the B-cells responsible for the reaction - a topic for another day.

On the Thursday before Christmas, still feeling week and having nasal discharge but no fever, we drove the 360 or so miles to Houston for End of Cycle 11 testing and clinic. My lymphocytes were oddly below normal at 0.8K/uL, which they haven't ever been. Ever. All else in the normal range except monocytes still above normal at 1.25K/uL. No other fancy testing this cycle.

The next fancy tests come at End of Cycle 13 in February - BMB, CT neck to pelvis, clonoSEQ MRD on marrow and peripheral blood, and probably multiple flow cytometries (MRD4 and lymphocyte subset). If I'm at least uMRD5 (<1 CLL cell in100K WBCs) on clonoSEQ, the treatment will end. I expect that my B's and I will meet that challenge. Then comes the long wait for immune recovery and quarterly followup, includung MRD testing.

Had I not been in the trial, I would have sought RSV and Flu tests at the local Walgreens. I was negative on multiple BinaxNow antigen tests before going to the hospital. I could not cajole them into doing a BioFire 2.1 RP respiratory panel (18 viruses and 4 bacteria). So it was unidentified. I might have gone to Urgent Care to seek that BioFire. I think it's important to detect viruses even if there's no antiviral available, so that we build a case for developing antivirals.

I'm still more tired, though all symptoms of sinus infection are gone.

=seymour=

[bennevisplace in reply to SeymourB]

Thanks for those insights into your trial emergency protocol etc. The same 38C trigger applied to me on the FLAIR trial, and three times I had a similar no-questions order: get down here now, wait here for your room to be readied, a few questions, vital signs, blood samples, then IV antibiotics every 4 hours. This is not in the hospital's Accident & Emergency department, which can be a living nightmare, but the Emergency Floor, where there is bed capacity and patients will normally require isolating. My short stays were at the start of the pandemic and on the door to my room was a notice "Do not enter without personal protective equipment" the meaning of which I didn't fully understand first time around.

I like the sound of the BioFire 2.1 RP respiratory panel.

Just re-read your reply. The hospital discharged you on the afternoon of December 25th? Dear me, that's cruel.

[SeymourB in reply to bennevisplace]

Bennevisplace -

They discharged the week before Christmas.

We waited 5 hours for a room in the main hospital (400 rooms, but some dedicated wards).

There was very little masking among staff. I verbally requested nurses to mask, and onr or two did. I wore an adjustable KF94, but took it off when nobody was in the room, and for oral temps and eating.

They used a nasal swab called Nozin on me twice.

nozin.com/

The one thing I'm nit sure about BioFire 2.1 is whether it reports PCR cycles. If not, it could be have sensitivity issues. I asjed the young Infectious Diseases doctor about it, but he was not aware of it. My ENT (ear, nose, throat) doctor ordered it for me after I had COVID for 3 weeks in 2022, plus he also did a nasal culture, which found a staph infection back then. But this year, it was all mild.

=seymour=

[Fran57]

Great story! I loved reading it, although,since both of us have just recovered from our first ever dose of Covid, I’m sorry to hear of your unwellness 😢

I confess to having to look up Dave Gilmour 😌… and Paul looked at me, as if I were stupid( he’s a fanatical collector of all things vinyl… David Bowie being his all time musical hero).

We, too, will be sharing our New Year’s Eve celebrations with Jools Holland!

Happy new year. Get well soon,

Fran 😉

[kc1953]

I must say you are in good spirits for feeling so sick, and you spin a yarn exquisitely. Wishing you a happy and prosperous 2024. I too am ending 2023 a bit ill, but not COVID…just a garden variety virus. Still no fun.

[bennevisplace in reply to kc1953]

Thanks for your kind wishes. The same to you and yours, and a quick recovery too.

[Peggy4]

Sitting here with only my chest infection for company ( an extra gift bestowed by my youngest grandchild.) Your post made me laugh out loud. (it hurts).

Peggy 🤣🤣

[bennevisplace in reply to Peggy4]

Oh, sorry about that Peggy. I hope you're allowed one drink to toast the New Year.

[Thundercat2]

Wow that's quite the story Bennevisplace. I'm in awe of your ability to keep a sense of humor with all that going on. Also, very cool that you saw Dave Gilmour, Pink Floyd is also a favorite of mine. Wishing you a speedy recovery and smooth sailing in 2024. For all of us!

[MistyMountainHop]

Very eventful!

I wish you more luck than poor Kirsty and Shane had.

Happy New Year on the bright side of the moon🌝.

[beanlake14]

I’m so sorry you are sick. But. What an entertaining read this was; you write so well!!

[mdsp7]

What a wonderful wonderful bright and cheerful and vivid description of your world. I'm really sorry you and your wife caught covid, and I hope Flint will be understanding if the walks are very short, but thank you for sharing such lovely writing with us. May you recover quickly. Today my own husband reports that he's not feeling well, he's napping and if not better tomorrow he will test. Ah well, ah well. Be well, be well!

[bennevisplace in reply to mdsp7]

Thank you for your kind comments. Actually we're quite both well enough to do the usual two daily walks, the longer being about an hour this time of year when it's wet underfoot.

Good health to you and your husband.

[Shedman]

Good stories.Sorry of covid, hope you're well recovered soon.

The gastric episode could simply be a symptom of covid.. the newer variant does have this symptom.