I love your articles and information links. Yours is the only mail that I read immediately when it comes through—even if I’m unable to read it all at once, I can’t wait to see your topics.
I had Covid in Jan 2020 and left work the end of March. Getting help was an uphill battle but I’m working with amazing people now. I’ve been diagnosed with ME/CFS post covid. My disability came through this summer and covers from my last work day through my full retirement age.
Thank you for sharing your journey and for the links I’ve passed on to my doctors and therapist.
You have become to me like a lifeline in a sinking boat. Good luck to you and keep sharing! You have touched my life and improved my mental well being.
Cindy, your comment made my day. Thank you for taking the energy both to read and respond. Congratulations on finally getting awarded the disability benefits you need. If this is private disability through an insurer, I have some tips I could share, as they will still be contacting you every 3-6 months for “proof” of your disability. Happy to help if needed. I am so happy to hear that my posts have helped you in some way! That’s enough to keep me motivated ☺️. Thank you!
To help reduce anxiety levels, I have a friend who has a portable (nearly pocket sized) CO2 monitor she takes with her. The reason: the higher the CO2 levels in the air, the greater the likelihood Covid might be in the air among all those droplets we all exhale. If it gets above a certain level, she masks up. I'm going to scrounge around on Amazon and will post a link for purchase once I find it.
Have you seen Dr. Ryan McCormick’s post where he measures the CO2 levels all throughout a trip her took? He measures it in the airport, in the tube to board the plane, in the plane before takeoff, after takeoff, once landing. Really eye opening. I’ll never take a flight again unmasked, that’s for sure.
Thanks for sharing and walking us through your thoughts and decision-making, Amy. I hear you. I'm really happy you reconnected with these special people and enjoyed the weekend.
A personal thought from me - Every situation and person is unique. There's a point in all the decision-making where I get to a 'head-heart-gut' aligned point of no return...beyond that, it's only about how to move forward. Just as you did. We constantly have this risk:benefit ratio in our heads…it IS a personal decision that I don’t feel anyone has a right to judge, because no one can understand us the way we understand ourselves. It takes a lot of guts to temper our heads to allow our hearts to lead ;-)
I'll check out the Neosporin article. Although Mum and I are still COVID-positive and coughing, I'm hoping that means we have this season's antibodies. I'll still be masking, sanitising, and distancing—these strains keep recombining! Sterilised hugs are coming your way! xo
Thank you for reading and for those affirming comments. I really can’t say at this point that I regret my decision. I think the weekend would have been qualitatively different for me than it was for my peers if I had to struggle through the mask. As it was, my voice was raspy by Sunday.
I’m sorry you and your mom have COVID right now! Hope you don’t get any long term symptoms or worsening 🤞🏻
Ohh, thank you my friend! I wasn’t totally sure how into hearing about it people would be, so thanks for saying that. Kitties are starting their fall-into-winter nesting rituals! Meow 😸 🍁
My disability is social security. I took retirement at 62, so I didn’t get my full benefit. I fought for full disability which pays my full amount. So when I’m full retirement age, disability will roll over to my full retirement benefit. It took three years, 6 doctors and an attorney but it was worth the time. The paperwork and procedure was too much for me to process. I’m blessed my daughter took cake of all of it for me.
Oh wow - I never even thought about your very unique circumstance. I’m 49 and just got awarded SSDI as well and the monthly amount is fairly high, which I guess if I’m understanding you correctly, is the amount of social security I’d get at full retirement age. Good for you (and your daughter) for fighting for that. You deserve the full amount!
Thank you for sharing your experience with the reunion/retirement party. I was recently in a similar situation (we seem to be in sync), but with a different outcome.
One of the things my husband and I used to do was travel. He is the BEST travel buddy. However, with LC, I was only comfortable driving to the beach where I could continue to isolate & relax. I’m really tired of my husband now doing life with friends while I chill out home so I researched how to travel with ME/CFS. If anyone figured this shit out, it is these unsung heroes. I found river cruises: small boats easy to board, all excusions included, and they can accommodate my limited diet. I used a wheelchair in the airport, my oxygen concentrator on the plane, and we zipped right through customs. We took the red eye to sleep on the plane, but woke up early to get on European time. We took a day and a half for me to recover from the flight then boarded the ship. Prior to travel I did IV immune boost, masked on all transportation & crowds, daily nasal lavages with Xclear, twice daily antiviral mouthwash, and Neosporin in the nose. In the beginning of the trip I was hyper vigilant to all risks of illness. I noticed every cough, sneeze, congested voice, or conversations around being sick. I removed myself, sanitized, & masked. Meanwhile, my husband was oblivious to all of this. He was recently vaccinated and has the privilege to relax as an able bodied person. It was surreal to be on the same trip but in different realities.
The cruise was in fact perfect. I could do the easy excursions in the mornings (they even have a special group for those who needed more assistance). We ate lunch, I would sleep 3hrs while my husband explored the cities, and then we had dinner. Some excursions were on a bus. We sailed the Rhine seeing the castles & windmills from the boat. I skipped the night activities for chilling to decompress from the activities. We found a quieter place for lunch on the boat to help conserve my spoons. By the end of the cruise I was no longer in fight or flight and felt myself living for a change. So much of the past five years has been surviving, fighting, or existing. I was joyful & in the moment with my guy. On the last night, I joined the movie night trivia after dinner while my hubby was on a beer tour. The physician sitting next to me assured me she only had a cold & was improving quickly. It couldn’t be Covid. I knew better, but I was having fun and loved being normal.
Three days later at home I had a mild sore throat. I tested & sure enough Covid. I texted the group we had dinner every night & did the movie trivia with to encourage them to test & isolate. They all knew about my long covid as everyone on the cruise was interested why a young couple would be on this kind of cruise. The physician responded that they tested negative, but by that time her initial symptoms were almost two weeks old. Everyone else was negative including my husband.
Now I’m back on blood thinners and my energy stores that I had built up are gone. My husband doesn’t understand how scary it is for me to get the virus again that disabled me and took so much of my life away. I’m sure it doesn’t help to be isolated with my depression & fear. He wants to do another cruise because he loved seeing me living. It is so shitty that we have to decided between living risking further disability, early dementia, and death or try to prolong my life, but in the most limited capacity.
Lastly, the other thing that was hard for me while on the cruise was how nonchalant everyone was regarding Covid. I shared my story freely and yet I heard so many “no point in testing”, “masks don’t work”, or “it’s just a cold”. When I’m in my safe bubble, I can choose to ignore this BS by not reading about it, but here it was very much in my face. In the worst conversation, I excused myself & my husband was a badass in educating the couple on how badly they were misled & what the true risks are to themselves and vulnerable people like us.
I’m 17 days out from testing positive for Covid. I’m still recovering and know I need to take it slow. I don’t regret my trip. I loved the experience and sharing it with my husband. Will I do it again? I need to see how this round shakes out. I definitely learned my lesson to not get cocky and caught up in the moment. But I also think we need to seize opportunities (while trying to mitigate risks) to live.
Oh, Molly - I’m sorry that your experience didn’t turn out like mine. It does sound like a great trip and that you were able to enjoy it within your limitations, and that’s huge for our spirits. I know several long haulers who seem particularly susceptible to catching COVID again - some who have had it 5-7 times, even while taking reasonable precautions. It’s scary because we don’t know which ones of us are hyper-susceptible. My immunologist found I have some lymphocytes that are quite low, but she couldn’t correlate that to specific viruses or bacteria that I’d be more likely to get.
How are you feeling a few weeks out? I hope you can get back to baseline soon 🤞🏻
My energy envelope is greatly reduced. I need to build it back up slowly. My mental health took a hit too, which sucks since I was riding high while on vacation. I know my mood will improve as I start to be able to do more. Believing that I can build it up again helps.
That belief is so key! My therapist (who has ME/CFS) reminds me that the bad days come and go, which shows you that better days are possible. I hope you get your baseline energy back along with your previous mental health gains.
Amy your story of the reunion was beautiful, and for all of us who are careful that assumption of risk while letting our guards down in worthy situations can feel exhilarating. I hope you continue to feel “good” and elude a case. I can’t vouch for the Neosporin beyond the original study I quoted, but I’m not above trying it exactly in the situation you mentioned. Here’s to life on a planet with many dangers and joys and good people we love!
Thanks doc! I think of the Neosporin as a possible insurance of sorts. Definitely not something I want to rely on too often. Grateful for all your posts, COVID or otherwise.
I am so glad you took a considered approach to the wkend and made it for alll that connection, camaraderie and reminiscing. It’s so important to be able to tune into the precautions , be aware of feelings and not being entirely ruled by fear - whilst not being reckless either. Sounds like you had a good balance and can trust yourself to make decisions that are in alignment for you.
I’m just on my way back from another mountain - not been since the last time we chatted about it back in January. No overdoing it here. I have high hopes for. Steady increase next year. 6 years in and my inflammation levels have been the lowest I e ever known. Slow and steady wins the race. And I know we’re talking snails pace here, but it’s so worth it x
Yay for mountains! We’ll take whatever bit of them we can get, right? I’m so glad I decided a few years back that it was worth just being in the woods, even if I couldn’t do the five mile hike just yet. Yesterday we did a short local hike and the fall foliage was gorgeous. Good for the heart 🧡.
So worth being in the woods! You’re worth it, I’m worth it - we’re all worth it.
Nature is healing 💚 of that I have no doubt.
I began with a couple of K 6 years ago, steadily built it to 5miles in a couple of years, threw on the odd hill (lots of rest stops) from then on. Slow and steady gets us to where we want to be. And in the meantime, let’s enjoy the scenery 😍
Amy, so glad to hear it turned out to be one of the very best weekends. How wonderful. Thank you for sharing your pro-con calculus, plus the added weight of having to do the calculus. Relieved you did not catch anything. And the links are fantastic, as always. I learn something new every time.
Hiiii thanks for sharing your process, I had to skip over most of it for my own delicate flower nervous system but I really appreciate you sharing your complex math and how it changes as needed, and how that doesn't mean you're now done masking...etc etc. It's COMPLICATED and we have to let it be complicated. Kind of. Also we have to demand a culture shift so that the burden of masking/safety isn't only or mostly on crips, because if everyone else in a room is masked, it's less scary to take yours off for a moment. Our safety is a collective project!
Speaking of which...I can't remember if I told you I posted about my pluslife, the home molecular (pcr-level) covid test I have? It's a german test and most of the guidance I've seen about it is very longwinded so I tried to make an explainer that I would myself find useful. Maybe useful to you or people you know? https://couchcrafts.wordpress.com/2024/08/11/covid-testing-at-home/
incredible that you had such a big socializing project of being away and also near humans!! and thank you for keeping gaza in the conversation. xo
Thank you for using your limited spoons on my post, and for commenting. I have to be honest; I’m beyond having the energy to demand the culture shift of getting everyone else to mask (though I agree it’s a worthwhile goal). It feels very much like the train has left the station on that. For example, had I said, “I can’t come to the reunion unless everyone masks,” then I would be the only one suffering at home. I DID make a quick joke during my speech about the retirement event being a superspreader. The funniest jokes have some element of truth, right? 🤷🏼♀️😆
I think I’m not understanding this test devise. Is it a reusable situation? I’ve not seen anything like that here in the states. Where do you get the swabs and testing fluid?
oh yes i don't mean YOU have to demand a culture shift. i mean we in general do, and like we discussed in another thread, we take turns and we pick the things we have energy for and feel called for and then we snuggle on the couch with the cat for a week.
honestly for me being around unmasked people makes me so angry that it's not fun for me (or them) enough to have to do the math about whether it's worth the risk. i'm working on that anger, but for now it at least makes it easy for me to stay home and not have to think too much about it. it seems like it's much harder when you WANT to see the people and have to do complicated math about it. anyway i'm trying to say a positive praisey thing to you about listening to your gut and making the right choices for you and only you know whats best for you, hope that's coming across :) love the joke you made!
yes the test device is a molecular test device you keep at home, it's tiny, and order refills of the testing kits. you get all the supplies from the same company. i'm in the US too, in new england! we have a group in my area of folks with the pluslife machine, so that we can share in shipping costs and lend each other extra tests when needed. and i have folks come over and test themselves on my patio, as a community resource, which feels like such a great thing to offer. VERY HAPPY TO DISCUSS MORE if you want, it's really improved my quality of life since i am super inflexible about my risk :) and my partner does have a job Out There in the World.
Your positivity definitely came across and is appreciated ☺️. And thanks for the test device info. My husband also has a job out in the world, but luckily he’s able to spend most of his shift outside.
I love your articles and information links. Yours is the only mail that I read immediately when it comes through—even if I’m unable to read it all at once, I can’t wait to see your topics.
I had Covid in Jan 2020 and left work the end of March. Getting help was an uphill battle but I’m working with amazing people now. I’ve been diagnosed with ME/CFS post covid. My disability came through this summer and covers from my last work day through my full retirement age.
Thank you for sharing your journey and for the links I’ve passed on to my doctors and therapist.
You have become to me like a lifeline in a sinking boat. Good luck to you and keep sharing! You have touched my life and improved my mental well being.
Cindy, your comment made my day. Thank you for taking the energy both to read and respond. Congratulations on finally getting awarded the disability benefits you need. If this is private disability through an insurer, I have some tips I could share, as they will still be contacting you every 3-6 months for “proof” of your disability. Happy to help if needed. I am so happy to hear that my posts have helped you in some way! That’s enough to keep me motivated ☺️. Thank you!
To help reduce anxiety levels, I have a friend who has a portable (nearly pocket sized) CO2 monitor she takes with her. The reason: the higher the CO2 levels in the air, the greater the likelihood Covid might be in the air among all those droplets we all exhale. If it gets above a certain level, she masks up. I'm going to scrounge around on Amazon and will post a link for purchase once I find it.
Have you seen Dr. Ryan McCormick’s post where he measures the CO2 levels all throughout a trip her took? He measures it in the airport, in the tube to board the plane, in the plane before takeoff, after takeoff, once landing. Really eye opening. I’ll never take a flight again unmasked, that’s for sure.
https://open.substack.com/pub/mccormickmd/p/flying-in-a-plane-during-this-summer?r=o3zsi&utm_medium=ios
Thanks for sharing and walking us through your thoughts and decision-making, Amy. I hear you. I'm really happy you reconnected with these special people and enjoyed the weekend.
A personal thought from me - Every situation and person is unique. There's a point in all the decision-making where I get to a 'head-heart-gut' aligned point of no return...beyond that, it's only about how to move forward. Just as you did. We constantly have this risk:benefit ratio in our heads…it IS a personal decision that I don’t feel anyone has a right to judge, because no one can understand us the way we understand ourselves. It takes a lot of guts to temper our heads to allow our hearts to lead ;-)
I'll check out the Neosporin article. Although Mum and I are still COVID-positive and coughing, I'm hoping that means we have this season's antibodies. I'll still be masking, sanitising, and distancing—these strains keep recombining! Sterilised hugs are coming your way! xo
Thank you for reading and for those affirming comments. I really can’t say at this point that I regret my decision. I think the weekend would have been qualitatively different for me than it was for my peers if I had to struggle through the mask. As it was, my voice was raspy by Sunday.
I’m sorry you and your mom have COVID right now! Hope you don’t get any long term symptoms or worsening 🤞🏻
Amy! I’m so happy you had such a great weekend and I loved hearing about it all 🥹 I was enthralled!!!
Can’t wait to go through all the links 😍😍😍 and the kitties look magnificent as ever!
Ohh, thank you my friend! I wasn’t totally sure how into hearing about it people would be, so thanks for saying that. Kitties are starting their fall-into-winter nesting rituals! Meow 😸 🍁
I loved every line! ❤️🔥 and I am so here for nesting rituals 🥰
My disability is social security. I took retirement at 62, so I didn’t get my full benefit. I fought for full disability which pays my full amount. So when I’m full retirement age, disability will roll over to my full retirement benefit. It took three years, 6 doctors and an attorney but it was worth the time. The paperwork and procedure was too much for me to process. I’m blessed my daughter took cake of all of it for me.
Oh wow - I never even thought about your very unique circumstance. I’m 49 and just got awarded SSDI as well and the monthly amount is fairly high, which I guess if I’m understanding you correctly, is the amount of social security I’d get at full retirement age. Good for you (and your daughter) for fighting for that. You deserve the full amount!
Thank you for sharing your experience with the reunion/retirement party. I was recently in a similar situation (we seem to be in sync), but with a different outcome.
One of the things my husband and I used to do was travel. He is the BEST travel buddy. However, with LC, I was only comfortable driving to the beach where I could continue to isolate & relax. I’m really tired of my husband now doing life with friends while I chill out home so I researched how to travel with ME/CFS. If anyone figured this shit out, it is these unsung heroes. I found river cruises: small boats easy to board, all excusions included, and they can accommodate my limited diet. I used a wheelchair in the airport, my oxygen concentrator on the plane, and we zipped right through customs. We took the red eye to sleep on the plane, but woke up early to get on European time. We took a day and a half for me to recover from the flight then boarded the ship. Prior to travel I did IV immune boost, masked on all transportation & crowds, daily nasal lavages with Xclear, twice daily antiviral mouthwash, and Neosporin in the nose. In the beginning of the trip I was hyper vigilant to all risks of illness. I noticed every cough, sneeze, congested voice, or conversations around being sick. I removed myself, sanitized, & masked. Meanwhile, my husband was oblivious to all of this. He was recently vaccinated and has the privilege to relax as an able bodied person. It was surreal to be on the same trip but in different realities.
The cruise was in fact perfect. I could do the easy excursions in the mornings (they even have a special group for those who needed more assistance). We ate lunch, I would sleep 3hrs while my husband explored the cities, and then we had dinner. Some excursions were on a bus. We sailed the Rhine seeing the castles & windmills from the boat. I skipped the night activities for chilling to decompress from the activities. We found a quieter place for lunch on the boat to help conserve my spoons. By the end of the cruise I was no longer in fight or flight and felt myself living for a change. So much of the past five years has been surviving, fighting, or existing. I was joyful & in the moment with my guy. On the last night, I joined the movie night trivia after dinner while my hubby was on a beer tour. The physician sitting next to me assured me she only had a cold & was improving quickly. It couldn’t be Covid. I knew better, but I was having fun and loved being normal.
Three days later at home I had a mild sore throat. I tested & sure enough Covid. I texted the group we had dinner every night & did the movie trivia with to encourage them to test & isolate. They all knew about my long covid as everyone on the cruise was interested why a young couple would be on this kind of cruise. The physician responded that they tested negative, but by that time her initial symptoms were almost two weeks old. Everyone else was negative including my husband.
Now I’m back on blood thinners and my energy stores that I had built up are gone. My husband doesn’t understand how scary it is for me to get the virus again that disabled me and took so much of my life away. I’m sure it doesn’t help to be isolated with my depression & fear. He wants to do another cruise because he loved seeing me living. It is so shitty that we have to decided between living risking further disability, early dementia, and death or try to prolong my life, but in the most limited capacity.
Lastly, the other thing that was hard for me while on the cruise was how nonchalant everyone was regarding Covid. I shared my story freely and yet I heard so many “no point in testing”, “masks don’t work”, or “it’s just a cold”. When I’m in my safe bubble, I can choose to ignore this BS by not reading about it, but here it was very much in my face. In the worst conversation, I excused myself & my husband was a badass in educating the couple on how badly they were misled & what the true risks are to themselves and vulnerable people like us.
I’m 17 days out from testing positive for Covid. I’m still recovering and know I need to take it slow. I don’t regret my trip. I loved the experience and sharing it with my husband. Will I do it again? I need to see how this round shakes out. I definitely learned my lesson to not get cocky and caught up in the moment. But I also think we need to seize opportunities (while trying to mitigate risks) to live.
Oh, Molly - I’m sorry that your experience didn’t turn out like mine. It does sound like a great trip and that you were able to enjoy it within your limitations, and that’s huge for our spirits. I know several long haulers who seem particularly susceptible to catching COVID again - some who have had it 5-7 times, even while taking reasonable precautions. It’s scary because we don’t know which ones of us are hyper-susceptible. My immunologist found I have some lymphocytes that are quite low, but she couldn’t correlate that to specific viruses or bacteria that I’d be more likely to get.
How are you feeling a few weeks out? I hope you can get back to baseline soon 🤞🏻
My energy envelope is greatly reduced. I need to build it back up slowly. My mental health took a hit too, which sucks since I was riding high while on vacation. I know my mood will improve as I start to be able to do more. Believing that I can build it up again helps.
That belief is so key! My therapist (who has ME/CFS) reminds me that the bad days come and go, which shows you that better days are possible. I hope you get your baseline energy back along with your previous mental health gains.
Amy your story of the reunion was beautiful, and for all of us who are careful that assumption of risk while letting our guards down in worthy situations can feel exhilarating. I hope you continue to feel “good” and elude a case. I can’t vouch for the Neosporin beyond the original study I quoted, but I’m not above trying it exactly in the situation you mentioned. Here’s to life on a planet with many dangers and joys and good people we love!
And great links shared at the end!
Thanks doc! I think of the Neosporin as a possible insurance of sorts. Definitely not something I want to rely on too often. Grateful for all your posts, COVID or otherwise.
I am so glad you took a considered approach to the wkend and made it for alll that connection, camaraderie and reminiscing. It’s so important to be able to tune into the precautions , be aware of feelings and not being entirely ruled by fear - whilst not being reckless either. Sounds like you had a good balance and can trust yourself to make decisions that are in alignment for you.
I’m just on my way back from another mountain - not been since the last time we chatted about it back in January. No overdoing it here. I have high hopes for. Steady increase next year. 6 years in and my inflammation levels have been the lowest I e ever known. Slow and steady wins the race. And I know we’re talking snails pace here, but it’s so worth it x
Yay for mountains! We’ll take whatever bit of them we can get, right? I’m so glad I decided a few years back that it was worth just being in the woods, even if I couldn’t do the five mile hike just yet. Yesterday we did a short local hike and the fall foliage was gorgeous. Good for the heart 🧡.
So worth being in the woods! You’re worth it, I’m worth it - we’re all worth it.
Nature is healing 💚 of that I have no doubt.
I began with a couple of K 6 years ago, steadily built it to 5miles in a couple of years, threw on the odd hill (lots of rest stops) from then on. Slow and steady gets us to where we want to be. And in the meantime, let’s enjoy the scenery 😍
I am so happy that you had a great experience Amy! I appreciate your thoughtful analysis of the risks and decision-making process.
Thanks for reading, Paula! 💛
Cats are why we can’t have nice things!!
You are a gifted storyteller my friend 🖤
Shucks, thank you friend 🫶🏻
Amy, so glad to hear it turned out to be one of the very best weekends. How wonderful. Thank you for sharing your pro-con calculus, plus the added weight of having to do the calculus. Relieved you did not catch anything. And the links are fantastic, as always. I learn something new every time.
Thanks Brianne! I feel so lucky to have dodged infections this time around 🤞🏻
So glad your reunion story has a happy ending! Events like that one really are food and balm for the soul. ❤️
Thanks Teri! That’s a good way of putting it.
Hiiii thanks for sharing your process, I had to skip over most of it for my own delicate flower nervous system but I really appreciate you sharing your complex math and how it changes as needed, and how that doesn't mean you're now done masking...etc etc. It's COMPLICATED and we have to let it be complicated. Kind of. Also we have to demand a culture shift so that the burden of masking/safety isn't only or mostly on crips, because if everyone else in a room is masked, it's less scary to take yours off for a moment. Our safety is a collective project!
Speaking of which...I can't remember if I told you I posted about my pluslife, the home molecular (pcr-level) covid test I have? It's a german test and most of the guidance I've seen about it is very longwinded so I tried to make an explainer that I would myself find useful. Maybe useful to you or people you know? https://couchcrafts.wordpress.com/2024/08/11/covid-testing-at-home/
incredible that you had such a big socializing project of being away and also near humans!! and thank you for keeping gaza in the conversation. xo
Thank you for using your limited spoons on my post, and for commenting. I have to be honest; I’m beyond having the energy to demand the culture shift of getting everyone else to mask (though I agree it’s a worthwhile goal). It feels very much like the train has left the station on that. For example, had I said, “I can’t come to the reunion unless everyone masks,” then I would be the only one suffering at home. I DID make a quick joke during my speech about the retirement event being a superspreader. The funniest jokes have some element of truth, right? 🤷🏼♀️😆
I think I’m not understanding this test devise. Is it a reusable situation? I’ve not seen anything like that here in the states. Where do you get the swabs and testing fluid?
oh yes i don't mean YOU have to demand a culture shift. i mean we in general do, and like we discussed in another thread, we take turns and we pick the things we have energy for and feel called for and then we snuggle on the couch with the cat for a week.
honestly for me being around unmasked people makes me so angry that it's not fun for me (or them) enough to have to do the math about whether it's worth the risk. i'm working on that anger, but for now it at least makes it easy for me to stay home and not have to think too much about it. it seems like it's much harder when you WANT to see the people and have to do complicated math about it. anyway i'm trying to say a positive praisey thing to you about listening to your gut and making the right choices for you and only you know whats best for you, hope that's coming across :) love the joke you made!
yes the test device is a molecular test device you keep at home, it's tiny, and order refills of the testing kits. you get all the supplies from the same company. i'm in the US too, in new england! we have a group in my area of folks with the pluslife machine, so that we can share in shipping costs and lend each other extra tests when needed. and i have folks come over and test themselves on my patio, as a community resource, which feels like such a great thing to offer. VERY HAPPY TO DISCUSS MORE if you want, it's really improved my quality of life since i am super inflexible about my risk :) and my partner does have a job Out There in the World.
Your positivity definitely came across and is appreciated ☺️. And thanks for the test device info. My husband also has a job out in the world, but luckily he’s able to spend most of his shift outside.
Signed the healthcare worker letter!
Thanks, Amy!