Wow. Sorry, SK and Mik.

Jodi, I'd like to hear more about your back, too.

I wear surgical masks.

I'd estimate the number of people I see wearing one at around 1% to 2%.

Here at the Sphinx house, we are hurting. Three of four adults have stomach virus.p, and all three babies have had it for days. Baby girl had to be treated in the emergency room last night for dehydration because she couldn’t keep anything down. Babies vomit huge amounts without warning when they’re not blowing out their diapers. Even the dogs are vomiting.

Copays are $300 and climbing.

Sorry, Cindy. That certainly sounds unpleasant and expensive.

Oh no Cindy, I'm so sorry to hear that!!! I hope everyone gets better soon!!!

Wow, I'm sorry to hear about so much crud going around. I hope everyone feels better soon!

Yikes! Sick households with babies and Covid and flu together?!

I had an epidural steroid injection last week. Hard to know if it’s helped. I have a follow-up next Wednesday. New neurosurgeon doesn’t arrive until end of April. I’m ever so slowly improving, but it’s like I measure it in weeks, not day to day. Still can’t ride upright in the car or sit in a chair for long, but longer than before. Am walking around the neighborhood, doing my exercises, and spending a lot more time on my feet, but still have to rest flat out on the floor. I can bend all the way over and put on my socks and tie my shoes, which I needed help with before. So improvement but VERY slowly.

quote:

Originally posted by jodi:
Yikes! Sick households with babies and Covid and flu together?!

I had an epidural steroid injection last week. Hard to know if it’s helped. I have a follow-up next Wednesday. New neurosurgeon doesn’t arrive until end of April. I’m ever so slowly improving, but it’s like I measure it in weeks, not day to day. Still can’t ride upright in the car or sit in a chair for long, but longer than before. Am walking around the neighborhood, doing my exercises, and spending a lot more time on my feet, but still have to rest flat out on the floor. I can bend all the way over and put on my socks and tie my shoes, which I needed help with before. So improvement but VERY slowly.

Sending along wishes for improvement for all y’all! Babies, stomach viruses, flu and covid, herniated disc…OUCH.

quote:

Originally posted by Cindysphinx:
Here at the Sphinx house, we are hurting. Three of four adults have stomach virus.p, and all three babies have had it for days. Baby girl had to be treated in the emergency room last night for dehydration because she couldn’t keep anything down. Babies vomit huge amounts without warning when they’re not blowing out their diapers. Even the dogs are vomiting.

Copays are $300 and climbing.

Oh my. Have you thought about recruiting help?

Jodi, glad to hear you’re having some improvement, but sorry it’s so slow going!

Re covid & flu together, ugh.

It’s getting close to graduation season here, and my dept had various events for graduating students, and we have some grad students graduating. Among other events, I’m supposed to be in the platform party (i.e. wear regalia on stage). I had been thinking I would attend those events without a mask, but now I have to decide if I actually do want to mask.

And of course, this is my first year at this school, and we have a new dean.

Even though I just got sick, it wasn’t the flu or Covid, so . . . Yeah.

People already have noticed I’m often the only one masking, so maybe no one will bat an eye?

My alma mater’s regalia is red btw, maybe I can get a matching red mask. (The ones I have now include purple, blue, pink, and maroon, but not true red)

Gonna go google red KN95. . .

Back in the height of Covid, our household used mostly the regular blue surgical masks but we also got some black ones at Costco once. The black looked a LOT better and instantly became my kids' favorites from a "fashion standpoint" - I would think if you can't find red, look for black -- it's neutral and I think would blend well with any graduation regalia. (Purple and pink with the red? I'd think twice on that LOL!)

If the ceremony is outside, maybe you could go maskless, but if inside, I'd wear it and not worry about it. They may assume its cultural (as I believe in many Asian countries it was already common to mask in public long before Covid) or they may assume you or a family member are immunocompromised....but either way, no one should be judging you for it.

I haven't worn a surgical mask in... forever. I always wear KN95s. (I don't like over-the-head strap style of the N95s)

Anyway, I do have some black KN95s.

The pink KN95s I have are actually kind of a pale pink, they might work because from far away, they're not very noticeable on me.

I wouldn't do purple with the red regalia. But maroon might work just bc it's in the same color family.

Oh, I have a photo of me in a pink one, this is from a conference I was at last month (excuse the slightly fun-mirror effect, this is a super close crop of a shot originally with a bunch of people)

Ugh, I bet this will look awful with a tam.

Actually, black might work better then, since the tam is black.

I'll try to take a photo later....

quote:

If the ceremony is outside

P.S., nope, it's inside.

btw here's a maroon one. (I had this photo already in postimages, I think this was probably from when I first got these masks, so in 2020!0

Sorry for all the maladies reported here. Cindy, I can't even imagine....

there is a product called Odor Mute, a concentrated powder, relatively cheap, found on Amazon. It works to get rid of odors and stains like nothing else. When we got our leather sofa back from our renters I discovered there was baby puke left to fester under the cushions. Soaked it in Odor Mute and the smell was gone instantly. Never came back.

We use this product all the time in our carpet shampooer. Works in the washing machine also. Gets rid of any odor of organic origin. Needed it a lot with the dogs.

Knock wood we have not been sick since before Covid, and I would love to keep it that way. But we aren't masking in public spaces or in group gatherings any more. Still, I think our odds of getting sick are pretty low since most of our socializing takes place outdoors.