Computers, covid & Christmas: life goes on & on

Remember me?  It’s been three weeks since I’ve last written, but feels a lot longer for some reason.  In my last post, I lamented that my 2011 laptop had finally bit the big one and I’d lost all my stuff and was unable to blog again for the time being.

Shortly after that, an old friend and former classmate reached out and told me about an apparatus on Amazon for extracting data from a defunct computer’s hard drive.  I was surprised to hear from her, we had a falling out a couple years ago and I assumed I’d never hear from her again.  She’s a better person than I gave her credit for, and it meant a lot.  Thanks Pen.

Around the same time I got my new laptop (which I’ve yet to do anything with), I learned my neighborhood pharmacy was shutting down, part of the big Rite-Aid bankruptcy.  My bp & heart medications were re-directed to the nearest Giant Eagle, a couple miles from me and not acessible by public transportation.  My old friend Susie drove me there, but the next day contacted me and said “Dougie, I have bad news.  You know I’ve been staying with my sister-in-law… she tested positive for covid this morning.  We’re probably next.”

Sure enough, two days later on Saturday December 9, I awoke feeling like someone had beaten me up while I slept.  Went to the bathroom, grabbed a covid test from my medicine cabinet and yep—I was positive for covid.

I know covid treats everyone differently—some people get slammed and wind up going to the hospital, for others it’s nothing more than a bad cold.  Mine was pretty rough, and for the next 4-5 nights I had a 102.6-103.0 fever.  I’d go to bed with my teeth clamped down from my baking head, and wake up in the morning with my teeth chattering from wet bedsheets soaked with perspiration.

My local senior center was wonderful during this time.  They checked in on me regularly, and since I couldn’t attend the annual holiday party, stopped by to drop off a nice gift and some holiday goodies.

 

I wish I could say things ended on a happy note, but exactly one day later—Saturday December 16—I awoke with my right jaw swollen, and my cheekbones and both eyes burning.  I wondered if all the stress from that covid had reactivated my TMJ disorder. 

I can’t say for sure what it is, but right now I’m dealing with a lot of mouth soreness and inflammation.  I was able to show my doctor using my smartphone, he thinks it could be a sinus infection, but won’t prescribe antibiotics just yet.  He has me on a couple of prescription strength decongestants for the rest of the week and says we’ll go from there.

While I am having some difficulty eating, at this time of year my local deli sells various holiday “fluffs” of roast turkey and ham & pineapple that are very soft & billowy, and require no chewing.  They’ll help me ride things out, but I’m sure things will return to normal soon. 

I want to look at events from a positive perspective; in the last couple weeks, I’ve lost 7.8 pounds!  This is the kick in the pants I needed to get things in motion.

Another good thing that resulted from posting my tech-woes here, I have my old laptop working again, sort of.  Someone local who wishes to remain anonymous wrote and asked me the particulars of my defunct laptop.  He recommended a couple accessories on Ebay which I got a couple days ago and wonder of wonders, did “re-energize” my laptop. 

I don’t know how much longer this old girl is going to last, but at least now I have a little more time, and can shoot out a couple more blogs using good old Windows 7. 

I sure hope everyone out there is doing well, thanks for listening and Merry Christmas.