There is an article in "Nature" by Mauro Giacca, former director of the International Center for Genetic Engineering and Biology in Trieste Research Area, now at King's College in UK, that says that a drug called Niclosamide used to treat intestine pests like tenia is greatly useful to reduce the damages of Covid-19 infections. This drug is now tested in India on 120 patients. ICGEB has a site both in India and South Africa. It is sponsored by the United Nations Organization.
Tullio

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London WC2

14th inst

It is with gratitude that I note the return to the boards of the Author of this thread. I feel at this juncture that it would be most efficaceous to receive an update pertaining to the progress of both Lori and Kittyman.

Yours Sincerely,

Sidney J. Snodgrass CDM + Bar

Here, Here old man.

Mark you have kept us for several nights now worried about you and Lori.
Please confirm that she is well on the road to recovery?

Well....OK.
Lori is not 'well on the road to recovery' quite yet.
She has only in the last few days started to feel quite a bit better though.
She finally has enough energy to walk from one end of her house to the other.
But after much activity at all, her oxygen level has dropped and she has to sit down and take a break to recover again.
It's been a real fight for her, but she sounds much better the last few days and her demeanor is very positive at last.
She's starting to talk about maybe being able to go back to work at the end of the month.
But she knows it's a day by day thing and that she is progressing, albeit slowly. She also knows that in order to increase her strength she has to try to push herself just a tiny bit here and there without overdoing it.
She has a doctor's appointment later this month and a lot of things depend on all of her test results.
I do hope that there are no signs of permanent damage due to her long term fight with the virus and she can slowly get back to her 'normal' status.

As for me, I am doing OK, and Purrball kitty is still doing all right for her advanced age. Sleeps a lot, loves me a lot.
I was supposed to get my COVID vaccination yesterday, but just hours before my appointment, the moronic FDA put a hold on the J&J vaccine I was scheduled to get. Which was a bonehead move, considering they were basing that decision on 6 reports of a serious blood clot problem out of 6.8 million vaccinations administered. I hope they release the hold soon and I can reschedule my shot.

Meow

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"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."

Thanks for the update Kittyman. It is good to hear that Lori is making progress towards recovery, albeit slow, but progress all the same.

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Thanks for the update Kittyman. It is good to hear that Lori is making progress towards recovery, albeit slow, but progress all the same.

Yes, it is a good day when I call her and she has awoken feeling just a little better that day rather than having taken a step backwards.

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"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."

Thanks for the update. Glad to hear she is recovering.
Hope you are able to get your shot soon.

Thanks for the update and good to hear a steady recovery even if steady patience is needed still.

Go steady and healthy for you all!

Keep us posted!!


Best wishes,
Martin

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See new freedom: Mageia Linux
Take a look for yourself: Linux Format
The Future is what We all make IT (GPLv3)

I am happy to be able to report that Lori had a good day yesterday.
She got up and was able to take a shower and wash her hair in the morning. May not sound like a big deal, but it was for her, considering her last few weeks. She did say that her arms got rather heavy keeping them up to wash her hair.

Later in the day, she caught up on some paperwork and bills which needed attention.
A friend of hers stopped by to bring her a kid's meal with chicken from Culver's and she ate a fair amount of it.
And she even had enough energy left over to do some girlie things, like trimming her hair and painting her toenails.
And later, she was getting ready to cut up her leftover chicken from lunch into a salad for dinner.
She was in rather good spirits when I talked to her last night.
Which left me in much better spirits as well.

Meow!!

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"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."

Good News \o/

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Thank you Mark for the most recent update on Lori.

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A new “proof-of-concept investigation” by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania adds more evidence to the pile that dogs can detect COVID-19.
In its study, nine dogs were able to identify positive coronavirus samples with 96% accuracy on average after three weeks of training.

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It's been a few days since Kittyman's last post, let's hope no news is good news for everyone.

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Well, Lori is doing OK.
She seems to gain just a little strength most days.
Her breathing/oxygen intake is still pretty much her limiting factor.

She is able to slowly get up and down her basement stairs again so she can take care of her kitties' litter boxes.
She is able to handle driving again, so I was able to go on a shopping excursion with her on Wednesday for some much needed kitty litter (the 40lb containers are a little bit of a challenge for her even under normal circumstances, so I generally go with her to help carry them) and some grocery items. It was the most time she spent on her feet in over a month, and she was able to carefully trudge along for the whole trip. I tried to stay close to her in case she needed some assistance, but she did very well.

She felt well enough this week that she got outside for a little bit of sunshine and dabbled with her spring gardening for a little while. And she does very much like her gardening, so I was happy for her.

She did have one bit of a kitty misadventure........she had used her sunroom door to go outside and didn't get it completely latched, so a little later the wind blew it open. And her Sterling kitty was there and decided to check out the great outdoors for the first time ever. Upon doing so, he rather panicked and started to run for the treeline at the edge of her lot, which has a very busy street just on the other side of it. So, of course now Lori was in a panic and had to use every bit of energy she had to run after him. Thankfully, she caught up to him just as he reached the trees and grabbed him. She had to lay there for a bit to gather up enough strength to get back on her feet again and return with Sterling to the house safe and sound. She was pretty worn out that evening, for sure.

Lori has a doctor's appointment on Monday for a full workup. Have to see if most of her vitals have returned close to baseline. Due to the virus/multiple meds/steroids, she had some diabetic issues crop up while in the hospital and was on insulin for a bit. Hopefully, her blood sugar levels are maintaining themselves better now that she is off of most of the extra medication, and hopefully her bout with the virus didn't cause any new conditions to deal with.

Her employer has kept her on the payroll throughout all of this, and said earlier this week that they will continue to give her full pay for the last few months she had planned on working before she officially retires. And they are going to work with her so that she can start some 'work from home' next week. Which she and I both are very grateful for, since after all she has been through, she is very scared of the possibility of catching one of the variant strains starting to make the rounds in some places, because she cannot get vaccinated yet.
The issue she still has to deal with is how long must she wait until she can get her vaccination, as it sounds like the advice is to wait until the current infection has pretty much run it's course before proceeding. And as slowly as it seems to be letting go of her, that is apt to be a while yet.

And as for me, they finally released the J&J vaccine again, so hopefully I can arrange an appointment early next week to get my vaccination!

Meow

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"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."

Thanks for the update Mark.
One step at a time, and good news to hear that the J&J vac has been re-released (we've had a couple of stop/starts in Europe to check that bad things aren't really happening).

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Bob Smith
Member of Seti PIPPS (Pluto is a Planet Protest Society)
Somewhere in the (un)known Universe?

Thank you for the big update.

Nice to hear she has made many small steps and her employer is working things out in her favor. You hardly hear that kind of kindness now days.

Wishing both of you good kitty vibes. Meow.

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Thanks Mark. Good to know she is recovering.

Thanks, Mark.

Good news indeed.

Please pass on our best wishes for a full and speedy recovery.

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Happy Crunching,

Graham

Will do, Graham.
And thank you to all of you who have continued to show your thoughts and support.
It's very hard when everyday tasks become mountainous obstacles to overcome when faced with such a terribly persistent enemy, and not even the simplest chores can be taken for granted.

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"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."

Lori continues to do well and seems to gain a little strength each day. She still has a few breathing issues now and again, but nothing serious. She has been able to go out and do her spring gardening work a bit at a time and has been much happier because of that. I have been helping her with moving some heavier plants outside. (LOL...and then back in again, as a unusual cold snap drove temps back to freezing at night. I'll help her move them back outside this weekend.)
All in all, she is beating her covid, one day at a time.

And good news for me as well. I finally, after weeks of trying, was able to schedule my JJ covid shot on the 26th. I shall be much relieved when I finally have that accomplished.

Meowmeowmeow!!

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"Time is simply the mechanism that keeps everything from happening all at once."