Woke up from a very restless night and, after coffee and a shower, suddenly realized I felt normal. It’s hard to express the difference between feeling a little bit ill, and not feeling that, because after all, normal is normal, you don’t usually comment on it. Its your basic condition. But to realize you feel normal after a couple of days of feeling more or less crappy, is pleasant.
Did some color spray on the model; all the small parts are now a rather luscious red. Tomorrow I will start spraying the two big body parts; and then go through the whole thing again with two coats of clear.
Mid-day I made sure I had the Sutter Health tele-medicine browser extension installed (they only support Chrome and IE, no Firefox or Safari, come on, people what is this, 1998?) and working. Then I wrote up a day-by-day account of this — what is it, an illness? — that started Wednesday morning. So I won’t waste the doctor’s time tomorrow. The nurse who brought lunch said she would make sure the test nurses knew I had this 9:30 appointment, and would call me for my swab before or after it.
By afternoon a degree of fever was back, but the pain was not. I sat on the deck and read. I’ve been getting more reading done these few days. I read all of The Salt Path by Raynor Winn and liked it. If you’ve lost your home and everything you ever worked for, and your partner has a fatal diagnosis, what should you do? Well, maybe take a 600-mile hike?
I got quite a few chapters forward in The Dream Machine by Waldrop, about a guy central to computer history of whom I had never heard: J. R. Licklider. The book is immensely detailed about computer history in the Twentieth Century, stuffed full of anecdotes about people whose names I do recognize, like McCarthy, Englebart, Fano, Shannon, Von Neumann, and detailed stories about the creation of machines I talk about at CHM, ENIAC and SAGE and so on. But apparently it was Licklider who, as the head of ARPA, created the vision and pulled all of them together to create computing as we know it now. I’m just up to the point where it is all coming together in “Project MAC” at MIT, the first useful time-sharing system. That was 1963-64. It’s kind of pathetic that at that time, I was putzing around in San Francisco, doing nothing of any value, feeling aimless. And in another universe… I could have gone to MIT and been one of the student hackers helping cobble together the first-ever online community. Not a very likely other universe, mind you. But geez. If only.
In the afternoon my temperature blipped up a bit. Couple Tylenol fixed that. Watched some TV. Wrote a long post on reddit. Going to watch Travels by Narrowboat and go to bed.
Crappy night, many small discomforts kept me tossing. Still, I got many hours of sleep.
Saturday 9/26/2020
My temp this morning is 98.3. Or 98.0, on the second try, or 97.7 according to the nurse that used an infrared gun to my forehead when she brought the breakfast I didn’t order. Anyway, approaching normal, a little high still. I don’t feel feverish, which I did yesterday. That’s weirdly disappointing. I want my fever back!
By 8:30am I had dealt with several emails related to volunteers. People saying, I can’t deliver meals for various reasons. One person, Linda, had a really good excuse; her husband had taken a fall in their kitchen area last night, and had to be transported to Stanford Emergency. Well I guess you are busy, then. Anyway, after a flurry of business I think I’m ready for a nap.
Other than some time spent spraying little car parts, most of the day was like before: reading, watching youtube videos, napping.
The chest pain that has been with me since Wednesday was minimal in the morning and afternoon, and has stepped up a little tonight. It comes on if I take an extra deep breath, or lean forward to pick something up. This led me back to Doctor DuckDuckGo (I haven’t used Google for searches for years) and to pericarditis. Marian had this for a couple of weeks following her heart attack, about 1998 or so, and that article says, it commonly follows myocardial infarction but also has lots of other causes including “huh?”. It’s a hit in that (1) the pain onset can be sudden; (2) can involve shoulders and/or back; and (3) it can cause a fever! Hello-ooo!
I had a fever the day after the pain started. I’ve been assuming that was a coincidence, an unrelated viral infection. But, hmmm.
Unfortunately “The pain is usually relieved by sitting up or bending forward, and worsened by lying down” which is exactly the opposite of my pain. It is cool with lying down and gets worse leaning forward. Also unfortunate in that there’s no real good diagnostic test.
Still, I will propose this hypothesis to Dr. Dibiase on Monday.
Went to bed last night about 8:30, right after a phone conversation with Scott. He very sensibly pointed out that if my “back pain” was spine-related, I would feel it if I bent or twisted my back, which I don’t.
I had lots of sleep with frequent wakings. At 5am I got up. Temp 99.4, and feeling crappy, feeble, low energy as one does with a temperature. So I reported that on the morning report form, and ticked the box for “fever” as well — only that, among about 20 other symptoms. My sense of taste is fine, I thought, sipping coffee.
Lounged about mostly on the bed waiting for the staff to react. Feeling a little better after a couple of hours and temp down to 98.9.
At 10am I called the nursing desk. Valentina asked the usual questions about symptoms and said she’d be right up. I reported honestly that I’d been in a hobby shop (only 2 other people, both masked) and had walked through the Cal. ave. market Sunday. Neither got any reaction. She came to the door soon, asked more questions about symptoms, took my temp with an ear-gun. 99.2. She cautioned me about not leaving my room, and put the dreaded red dot on my door, meaning nobody can come in. I’ll be getting my meals delivered by a nurse. I know how that goes, from doing volunteer meal delivery. A special cart comes out of the kitchen, with trays for isolation units, before any other carts come out. A nurse comes and wheels it away.
Now, why did I not mention the might-be-angina etc? Two reasons. One, that pain has subsided to almost nothing during the night. There’s just a bit of sensitivity if I inhale deeply to expand my chest. Two, I didn’t have any confidence in being able to communicate with Valentina, who has a heavy Russian (well, Eastern European) accent, and is just a nurse, not a doctor and certainly not a cardiologist. If I tried to explain all that, either she wouldn’t get it or else would overreact and call 911.
But I really do have some kind of bug causing a temperature, could be a cold, flu, or COVID. That, she can deal with and has appropriately. She said the COVID nurse would come around for a test later.
No test was done today. I shall call the nursing desk first thing tomorrow. For the rest of the day I just flumped around the apartment, reading and napping and soaking up the sensation of having a mild fever.
On Rhonda’s 4pm call, it was clarified that of the seven AL residents infected, three have gone to hospital. All are expected to return “in a few days”. Some restrictions have been lightened, for example two residents can ride in the same car, if one drives and the other sits in the back, both masked.
No run or exercise this morning. The back pain was minor and didn’t keep me from getting a lot of sleep. When I first got up it seemed entirely gone, but later there was a minor ache. I read internet articles about sudden back pain and about angina. This event, together with another sudden-onset pain across both shoulders a couple of weeks ago, could conceivably be angina.
So I got on My Health Online, the internet presence of Palo Alto Medical Foundation, and requested an appointment with my cardiologist. In the ridiculously small 55-character comment field, I wrote “2 events of sudden back/shoulder pain, might be angina”. 55 characters, but containing two words that I thought would catch somebody’s attention, “sudden” and “angina”.
Not so much. Very shortly came a response, quote,
Dear David E Cortesi,
My name is Fred Nelson, I am replying to your message about your appointment request in Encina Cardiology. I am going to help by scheduling your appointment for
Date: Wednesday, October 28, 2020
Time: 3:00 p.m.
With: Dr. Dibiase
…I hope that I have answered all of your questions. Please let me know if you have any additional questions. We appreciate you trusting Palo Alto Medical Foundation for your care.
Hmmm. I guess those words were not magic, for Fred.
There is a conflict here. The online appointment pages are full of red notices, “this is not for urgent problems; if you have blah blah, call 911 or go to an emergency room”. The conflict is, I do not know if this is an urgent problem. I would like my cardiologist’s opinion on whether or not it is urgent. Which apparently I will get a month from now.
I wonder what to do next. I guess I can try for a tele-appointment with either the cardio or my PCP. But what is the very first thing a doctor wants to do when presented with a symptom that might be cardiac-related? Put a stethoscope on it, duh! Which I don’t think their tele-appointment software is up to. Never mind, I went around the software again, requesting a video visit with the cardiologist, and the same 55-character comment. And got a 9/28 video appointment. So I canceled the 10/28 office visit.
Later I’m thinking, come on. Whatever happened yesterday was intense briefly, but then settled down to, and has remained, a low-level back-ache for 24+ hours. That isn’t angina by any description.
Also, it is not an issue with my artificial aortic valve. I’ve been well schooled in what to watch about that. If the valve starts to break down, the heart pumping action becomes inefficient, with a lot of blow-back on compression. So the BP drops, you feel tired and short of breath, maybe the rate goes up trying to compensate. That’s a 911 call immediately, no foolin’. Angina is a pain caused by the heart muscle not getting enough oxygen, usually from being clogged, sometimes by a “spasm”. Angina by itself is not reason for a 911 call, just a checkup, EKG, etc., to diagnose further.
Other than fussing over Doctor Google and making appointments, it was a very boring day. I started spraying color on pieces of the model. At 1:45 the housekeepers came to do my room, so I took the car out for a drive. But mostly I sogged around feeling… just a bit crappy.
It was hard to distinguish between boredom, combined with irritation at not being able to sit comfortably, versus actually feeling ill. Just before supper, I took my temperature: 99.1! Which is about 1.5F higher than my normal, as established by the spreadsheet where I’ve been recording temp, weight, and BP for months.
If it is still elevated in the morning, then shortly after I report my temp to the website where we do that each day, a nurse will arrive at my door in full PPE, take my vitals, give me a covid test, and tell me I am quarantined. So I have that to look forward to.
Started out with a run, which ended in an unexpected way. About half-way, just as I was approaching the bridge over the creek, I was hit by a pain. It came on suddenly, in mid-stride: a very strong (7-8 on a scale of 10), diffuse, pain around my chest. I came to a halt and leaned on a pole. Obvious check: heart attack? My heart rate felt normal and I wasn’t short of breath, and it wasn’t focused on the left or radiating down the left arm. Over a couple of minutes it reduced to a general upper-back pain. I walked home.
Over a couple of hours it reduced to a localized pain across my upper back just under the shoulderblades, say T-5 or so. Curiously I am most comfortable standing up. Sitting down I have to sit very erect to minimize the pain. So. WTF? Don’t know. Don’t want to pursue medical help at this point. The treatment for back pain is almost always “tylenol and time”. I will rethink that if the severe pain comes back.
About 12:30 I took a vicodin and after eating lunch, I had a nice two-hour nap, after which the pain was reduced to annoyance level. Taking tylenol before going to bed, leaving a couple of tylenol out for use if/when I get up in the night.
We got official permission to add solo sitting spots on the 11th floor. I met with Marcia there and we set up a couple of places. She went off to make signs for them, and prepare an announcement. She sent me the draft announcement, I did a little copy-edit and posted it to the house BB.
I put two more coats of primer on the model MG. Tomorrow I’ll start spraying color.
Let’s not bury the lede: this afternoon the announcement went out that four additional Lee Center residents have tested positive, for a total of seven. According to the email, all seven have symptoms and “some are hospitalized”. Some meaning… more than one, I suppose.
One of our meal delivery volunteers, Carol, immediately emailed to ask to be taken off the schedule. “As I have diabetes I am at extra risk,” she said, and although delivering meals to her neighbors was “the high point of the day” she wanted to minimize contact. Very sensible. But that brought to mind the fact that all the volunteer jobs we have set up, and meal delivery especially, represent points of face to face contact. Masked and distanced, yes, but still. So I would expect that if even a single case appears in the Tower, the IL spaces, we will get shut down quick, and all those jobs will go back to staff.
I read my “turning point” thing at the writers’ group and got very nice comments. I’ll append it.
I spent some time sanding and filing on the plastic of the major two pieces of the MG body in order to make them fit just right. I also completed priming the smaller pieces and the first coat of primer on the body.
Another half hour of air time in X-Plane. I finally reached Seattle and I have to say, I’m not too impressed with the scenery. Highly accurate world scenery is one of the selling points of the new Microsoft Flight Simulator. X-Plane has highly accurate aircraft physics, but the scenery? Not so much.
Over West Seattle, approaching downtown. Definitely no Safeco field or Smith Tower.Apparently Seattle Center has been converted to a park. Along with several blocks of downtown, the Viaduct, a lot of Queen Anne hill and the Ferry terminals. Can forgive no Great Wheel, it’s only been there 11 years.
Turning point at the Pruneyard, 1974
To understand this turning point the reader must know more about the organization and internal politics of a multi-national corporation than may be healthy.
In the 1960s, decades before anyone conceived of computers small enough to be owned by individuals, IBM enjoyed a modest income from selling interactive access, via typewriter-based terminals, to mainframe computers in what it called Service Bureaus.
Other companies, notably one founded by now-famous entrepreneur H. Ross Perot, wanted some of that action, and pointed out that IBM had an unbeatable edge in that it didn’t have to buy the mainframes to which it was selling access. The United States Justice Department agreed. To avert what might have been a disastrously broad monopoly ruling, IBM basically gave away its entire United States Service Bureau business to Ross Perot’s EDS corporation, and went out of the remote terminal access business.
However, IBM’s European division, headquartered in London, was under no such constraints, and wanted to continue offering computer services out of their offices. They particularly liked the idea of selling time on remote terminals, and in fact wanted upgrades and added features to that time-sharing software for which IBM U.S. no longer had any use.
That software had been developed and maintained in an IBM office in Palo Alto, where I and my wife both worked. (Here enters the personal connection.) IBM Europe offered to fund a major rewrite of the remote access software, and our management agreed. Our 30-person department moved to bigger quarters at the Pruneyard tower in San Jose, and set busily to work creating what was grandly named VSPC: Virtual Systems Personal Computing — the first use of “PC” for “personal computing”, long before what we now call “PCs” existed.
Our staff was reinforced by the addition of Martin and Geoffrey, two blokes from the London office, who would be managing the software when it was finished and deployed at IBM offices across Europe and the Middle East. One day in 1974, when the project was nearing completion, I joined Martin and Geoff for lunch at a restaurant in the Pruneyard. We talked about the project and how it could be handled by them in London. In the middle of the conversation an idea popped into my mind.
“I don’t suppose you’d want to take along some people from here to help with maintenance, would you?” I asked.
Martin and Geoff exchanged a glance, and Martin said, “We might do. Are you interested?”
I said I was, and that I was pretty sure that Marian would be also. I may have pointed out that it would be cheaper to relocate a couple than two separate assignees. Martin said he’d make some phone calls.
At home that night I told Marian, who was immediately on board with the idea. We’d both enjoyed a two-week vacation in England a couple of years earlier, and were sure that a longer stay would be fun.
It took weeks for everything to be arranged, but management on both sides of the Atlantic were clear on the advantages of getting two, top-notch programmers (I flatter myself) who both knew the software system in detail, to help deploy it and train the local programmers.
The result was our spending just short of three years living in Twickenham. We had satisfying, productive work alongside IBMers from England and across Europe, while on weekends and holidays we’d drive all around England. It was wonderful at the time, but also had the unforeseen outcome of establishing our fortune.
While we were in England, IBM’s generous relocation supplements to our salaries, along with the income from renting our Palo Alto home, collected in the bank. When we returned we had enough surplus to buy a rental property which, when sold decades later, established the bulk of our retirement nest egg — the nest egg I drew on to move to Channing House.
All that resulted from a casual question at lunch time in the Pruneyard.
I went for a run at 7:15 and it was one of those times when I felt better, stronger than average. There’s no reason for such days, as there’s usually no reason for the days when it feels very difficult. Just enjoy the ones and don’t fret about the other.
In the morning I dealt with two assignments, of sorts. It’s the week of the Writers’ group and since I blew off the last two, I thought I’d better contribute something this time. The cue was “turning point” and I wrote 700 words about the time in 1974 when, during a casual lunch at the Pruneyard, I suggested to two assignees from IBM Europe, that maybe they should take a couple of developers from here back to London to help support VSPC. With the result that Marian and I lived in England for three years.
That done, I got caught up with my volunteer sign-up sheets. I should have created a “next week” sheet for the package reception task yesterday. Creating a new sheet is a simple task: I tell the app to “clone” the previous one; then I step through each of the sign-up slots (14 for packages, 21 for meals) and change its date to a week later.
I talked to Marcia about how there were not many signups for the Safety Sitters sheet. We decided to eliminate some of the times, just do afternoons on weekdays. I made that change, then posted an email giving links to all six sheets (this week and next week, for the three tasks) to the house BB.
Later I worked on the MG-TC, two ways. One, I did more spraying of primer on small parts. This involves a short spell of “shooting” paint, followed by an hour or more of drying time. Which means, cleaning the airbrush after each shoot, or it will dry and clog. That was a pain with the spray setup on the balcony. I moved the whole thing to the bathroom.
I worked on another problem: I didn’t like the way the body tub fits into the main piece that represents those lovely curved front and rear fenders. I’ve seen this kind of problem in previous kits where it just isn’t clear how exactly one big piece relates to another. Eventually I decided that it definitely needs some plastic shaved back to let the body settle in better. I used tape to carefully define a nice smooth curve along which I will remove a shaving about 1/32 wide on each side.
About 9am, after doing the puzzle and watering the plants and feeding the livestock (hummingbirds) I went for a walk, over to the California Ave. farmers’ market. I ended up with 4 miles for the day, most in that walk.
In the afternoon I used my airbrush for the first time, with mixed results. It mostly worked well, but a couple of times I wanted to stop and clean it, and that’s awkward. My “spray booth” is on the end of the balcony farthest from the kitchen sink. So I have to turn off the compressor, unscrew the air line, carry the brush to the kitchen, clean it, reverse. And waste the paint in the cup, or else work out how to store thinned paint.
I also had problems supporting the many (7) small parts I wanted to spray. You spray it, then it’s wet, and you try to set it down, and it flips over and puts the wet side against the paper towel, so you pick it up and carry it to the kitchen and wipe all the wet paint off with alcohol and dry it and take it back to do it again. I stopped after half an hour realizing I need to work out better techniques. Everything needs multiple coats (and this is just the primer; there’s still the color and the clear to do) with drying time between. I also stopped to find out how long it takes this particular primer (a good quality acrylic) to get hard. It’s dry enough to touch in ten minutes but it feels kind of tender to the fingernail. The bottle talks about curing for 12 hours before masking. I wonder how long before I can sand it? At least that long.
I spent another half hour flying X-plane, working mostly on trying to fly straight and level and maintain a constant heading. Which the plane does not want to do; it likes to just sneakily roll a tiny bit and start curving left or right, or start climbing or dropping a couple feet a minute, or something. And that is in dead still air. I should turn on weather in the app. Two days ago I flew it over Tacoma to check out the Narrows bridge and was disappointed; the scenery in this app is really basic. It knows there are two roadways but it shows them as simple raised roadbeds over the water. The two Narrows bridge spans are big suspension ones like the Golden Gate.
Still depressed. However, put out a BB post thanking volunteers and listing all signup sheets. Then joined Marcia to meet with Kim H.R. to discuss 11th floor issues. We suggested having two additional monitored spots particularly for solo users who want to sit up there (the penthouse is a really pleasant place to sit) and use their computers. Kim was to take that to Rhonda today; later she wrote that it sounded good but needed further staff input, see you next week. (Kim works Tue-Sat.)
I started working on the MG-TC model. It’s big, 1/16 scale where the usual is 1/25. The MG is a very small car, though, so the final product won’t be a lot bigger than the Chevy or Ford models. I set up my camera and started recording some of this work, with commentary. Maybe, if it isn’t too bad and I feel like editing it, I will put it on my YT channel. I still have over 100 subscribers, despite not having posted anything in 18 months or so.
In the evening I watched most of a solo concert streamed by Club Fox in Redwood City. I’ve attended concerts at the Fox (a restored grand old theater) and Club Fox, their blues/rock nightclub next door. They’ve just started a series of streamed concerts. This one by Drew Harrison was … ok.
In COVID news, as I noted yesterday we have a total of 4 positive tests among residents in the AL center. Tonight’s staff email noted that they and the staff members who tested positive, all have one or another symptom.
Started with a run, felt normal. At 11 I headed out to find model paint. My first and last stop was J&M Hobbies in San Carlos. Two employees wearing masks, nobody else in the store. They’ve been in business over 50 years, and have absolutely everything a modeler could want. Such a resource! I was able to look over racks and racks of paint and pick out a red acrylic that will be just right for the MG.
At 3pm I met with Marcia on the 11th floor to review the status of our volunteer efforts. Everything is going pretty well. There are some questions on proper use of the 11th floor, especially use of the piano for piano practice. We agreed I would present this at Rhonda’s 4pm weekly meeting.
Which I started to do, and 10 seconds into my presentation, my computer lost the internet. By the time I got logged back into Zoom, Rhonda had moved on to give her remarks on the COVID status. Briefly, two staff members from the Lee (nursing) wing have tested positive, are quarantined at home, are sick and other members of their family are sick as well. Our one resident with the virus is isolated and being tended by 3 nurses, who are living in hotel rooms to protect their families.
So I gave my little spiel, reviewing the background of the 11th floor sitters, the reason for them. Basically the 11th floor is off limits because housekeeping cannot disinfect all the furniture there frequently, as they do in the main lobby. I explained that, if there was unrestricted use, you could never be sure that some person with the virus hadn’t sat in any particular chair, or leaned on any table, before you. The chance of infection is very tiny, but can’t be ignored, so the 11th floor is off limits. So the point of the “sitters” is that we have specified tables that you know will be disinfected before you sit down, and will be disinfected after you get up. Thus the floor can be used while a sitter is there.
During the meeting, an attendee broke in with the news that Ruth Bader Ginsburg had died. And everyone’s hearts sank. This is just so depressing. You immediately know that Trump will nominate some troglodyte, the Democrats will try to stall the nomination until after the election, blah de depressing blah. I’m so discouraged about the state of the country. I’m again reviewing the chances of moving to New Zealand. Or some other country with a touch of sanity. Seriously. It would cost a good chunk of the Nest Egg but could be done.
At about 8pm came a new email from staff: tests were administered to all Lee Center residents and staff after yesterday, after the 2 staff and one resident were found positive. Results of those tests came back this evening and, quote “We are sad to report that we have 3 additional residents and 1 additional staff member who have tested positive for Covid-19.
The one staff member was one who had been sent home to quarantine on Friday 9/11, owing to close contact with another staff member who tested positive. So that was no surprise. But three residents? That was not expected and is very serious. There are now 4 cases in the “COVID wing” that was set up months ago and hadn’t been used until last week. Will it stop there? Have they contained it? Only time will tell.
So the sequence was, two staff members had symptoms, were tested, went home, are now sick along with family members. Staff exposed to them were also sent home; one of those has now tested positive. First one resident positive, then three more a week later. Scary.
Codgerville 