Biguglygremlin

I do like that graph Sierra. It's quite clever for the amount of information it needs to display.

Yes Australia is well positioned for many situations including this virus. Being a vast area surrounded by oceans with relatively few people does have it's advantages.

The charts are obviously derived from whatever numbers each respective government has made claim to and I doubt that any countries have or could give an accurate account of the number of persons with the virus at any specific time because all the factors are so transient and because he who controls the testing controls the numbers.

In our country as with many the testing was originally limited to very sick incoming travellers and is now limited in general to severe cases in hospital and to medical workers.

There is no way of really knowing who is or is not infected nor how this will play out in the weeks, months and years ahead.

We've had a busy few months recently with fires, floods and pandemic. It will be interesting to see what the new normal might be once the dust settles.

You all know that I'm not a sceptic right and I never ever resort to sarcasm. :)

Well I do love how governments, councils, committees, organisations and forums all give you, me, us the impression that we can have some input.

It's just so gratifying and reassuring to know that you can really make a difference, right? :)

Perhaps it's appropriate for this forum to enjoy the same fate as it's threads. To slowly drift into peaceful oblivion.

Thank you RebeccaR

The AASM link makes for an interesting read but I can't believe the number of questions beneath it.

One thing this pandemic has taught me is just how ineffective our language is for the accurate and clear dispersal of information.

I suspect that many older people who don't get out much will have to deal with this virus without getting diagnosed.

Not that it's a good idea to avoid diagnosis but many of our governments, for reasons mostly to do with politics and economics, are not making testing available to the majority of their citizens no matter what symptoms they might have.

So I figure that it will be treated by many of us like most other infections that we deal with at home, unless it becomes life threatening, at which point medics, doctors and hospitals will need to be involved and, if it is serious enough, they will run diagnostic tests for their own safety.

I can see the point you are making about avoiding hospitals Sierra, and agree with it in pretty much all circumstances including this virus, while ever it is safe and sustainable, but I doubt that a GP would have any leverage with the hospital system and I don't think any hospital in Australia would offer credible assurances in advance because many of their decisions are made and unmade on the spur of the moment, so it would all come down to changing cirumstances, availability and priority.

I guess that is a good argument for effective preparation and communication.

Perhaps preparing a brief medical history clearly noting relevant details and medications as well as the severity of Apnea and the machine settings.

Letting those we share our lives with know about the medical history and showing them how to pack and prep the CPAP in case it is possible to use it later.

One of the greatest risks is that the patient might be too sick to do what needs doing and perhaps even too sick or confused to communicate effectively.

Hopefully none of these considerations will be needed but, according to the concepts espoused by Murphy, being unprepared is not a good option.

For those of us with very severe Apnea not using the CPAP is not an option, unless there is another device available. (like a ventilator)

I understand the concerns but a good sneeze would have the same effect, so if we are going to apply every possibility of proximity and drift and airflow and duration and surface contamination etc etc then add in the human factor, we would need to move to another planet.

All we can do is be informed, be sensible and be careful.

Yesterday, when I was young ........

We used to have a flock of sheep and despite the respect they enjoy in some books they are pretty stupid creatures. If we were driving them along a fence and they spotted something on that fence, like a jacket carelessly flung there in the heat of the afternoon, each sheep would baulk, then do a funny leap and run past it. The overall effect was a pile-up much as you see on every highway when a car has pulled over, way off the road, and caused a 5km traffic jam.

My point is that, as much as I hate to admit it, we are not particularly smart either individually or collectively and we baulk and react much like those sheep.

The other aspect that I notice, even amongst all the smoke and mirrors of current politics and the resulting media frenzy, is the profound power of a single word or concept.

In the past we have seen the power of words like communist or terrorist or terms like illegal immigrants and people smugglers then we discovered concepts like greenies and climate change and many others. Now we get to add words like panic buying, hoarding, pandemic and lockdown.

Ok I've lost the plot again but I think what I'm getting at is that those words are used like the jacket on the fence. They focus our attention. They provoke a reaction. All of which is essentially good right?

But they are also used to distract us so that we don't see the cause and effect, or the many other options, or what is happening elsewhere. And, of course, they work brilliantly.

The power of a word is incredible.

So our commercial world runs on just enough margin between supply and demand to ensure that most shelves are stocked most of the time. The pattern changes and demand gets a bit stronger, The supply chain is slow to respond and the public become aware of the shortfalls and the media pick up on the issue and slap some labels on it. PANIC-BUYING! HOARDING! Demand becomes even stronger and the entire manufacture, import, retail supply chain begins to fail.

That puts us all in the position that Sierra describes above where, in the middle of a pandemic, instead of going out to the shops fortnightly or perhaps once a week to grab the meds, fruit and veg, meat and groceries in one trip, we find ourselves coming home without many of the essential items we went out for, and having to go out again earlier or later or on a different day, and no longer able to select our preferred brand or size but just grab whatever is still available, effectively adding to the supply problem for everybody else and increasing the risk of infection for ourselves and the greater community.

I suspect that the best protection from a problem of this magnitude in the future, is somehow connected to encouraging independent media, global education and compulsory voting. Which is tantamount to wishing for world peace.

We are a bit off track with this thread but they say that humour is good for us.

Stay together

Oh how I do love 'experts' and statistics, although what I was able to find at the above site, was more like a disclaimer, with no rationale provided.

I wracked my poor brain for a while to find a situation in which that potential might apply, and once I got past the point that Sierra makes, which is essentially that the only viable alternative was to simply stop breathing, and my own view that most of us 'oldies' are more likely to be the destination than the source, it occurred to me that if we transplant the scene into a hospital ward then the CPAP machine might become problematic, depending on what containment systems are in place, and certainly there would be issues to do with cleaning and maintenance.

I really can't see how it would increase the risk at home. In fact a full face mask or chin strap would serve to suppress any droplets from coughing. Not that that would make any difference because anybody else sharing the same space will be infected anyway.

I had wondered about the oxygen. It might be interesting to know more about although I really hope things don't get to that stage.

I didn't intend this thread to become apocalyptic.

I am not personally stressed or anxious about this virus, although obviously new rules and concepts do apply. For me it is interesting and challenging. Yet another puzzle to be solved.

I intended this thread to be about being prepared and if SleepDent's observations reflect the views of the medical staff at large then it is something we do need to be aware of.

Ok thanks Sierra for your good advice.

I might try to get some of that syrup.

I rarely get a cough so I don't usually have anything like that on hand.

If I was really sick and had wound up the pressure to compensate for congestion it would be more than just the mask that was making farting noises, but I think I'd be a bit beyond caring at that stage.

So you figure that what you had was very similar to the new virus?

Hi Lynn

I confess that I felt the same way after the first few nights and still hate my machine and resent my dependence on it but, like yourself, I had no choice, so I persisted and eventually I resigned myself to the necessity and simply endured.

Others could give you loads of positive encouragement and advice but the best I can offer is that you are probably at the worst stage of the process.

Hang in there and try to focus on other things.

Maybe a twisted kind of humour might help.

The Longest Sentence