COVID COMPARISONS: USE THE TOOLS, NOT THE FOOLS

The best covid comparisons are the also the most sad. And who enjoys the sad sack? Hands up.

There’s no joy in seeing illness silence a strong voice of reason. At the same time, there’s also no joy in seeing illness silence medical kooks.

Or, maybe it’s just me. I’m soft on suffering. Don’t like it, don’t like seeing others down, and like Mr. Rogers’ mom reminded him, I look for the helpers. You, too?

The journey to understanding how others deal with adversity, especially health problems, is different for everyone. Don’t you love that reminder: “Everyone is different.”

At some point in life we ought to know that everyone is different without a reminder. Different is good, but how different can we be and still make the cut?

Caregiving for an old man did it for me, and it wasn’t my dad. It was my father in law. He was different.

Before he got sick and landed on death’s doorstep, my father in law and I shared some touching moments.

The first time I went to their place as the new ‘boyfriend’ he pulled me aside for this jewel:

“You may sleep with my step daughter where you live, but not here. That would make her a whore, me a pimp, her mother a madam, and this a whorehouse.”

He said it with pace and clarity, so much that I wondered about the other boyfriends he had met.

After I married my girl and we had our first born the next year, he shared this:

“I don’t like the way you talk to my wife, and your wife. And I don’t like the way you’re raising your son.”

I listened politely, no feedback, no ‘what-about-you’ back talk. He sounded like a father in law should. But, since it was my first marriage, what did I know?

Covid Comparisons To Parkinsons

From his not so subliminal messages, I felt like big daddy was setting the stage to avoid the usual grandparent routines of visits and birthdays and family unity.

To tell the truth, and why not, it sounded like a good idea.

If he had plans, had a life, and didn’t want any interruptions, I was fine with it. No matter what, my mother in law wasn’t going to be denied her grandkid, the one her husband called ‘the offspring.’

Cute, right?

She was in for a visit when she got THE PHONE CALL.

Her husband had an emergency and she needed to leave. Right now.

We gathered up and got her to plane from Tigard, Oregon in less than forty-five minutes. It was pre-911, but still a record.

The old man was diagnosed with Parkinson’s Disease, a nasty one.

He progressed from bad to worse until we met our destiny together: I volunteered to move him from assisted living, where he ended up in the hospital, to my writing room. It became his new hospital room.

We spent lots of time together after that. Lots and lots and lots of time. Then lots more. Covid would have killed him in his diminished state, but it was years away. Parkinsons did it’s best in the meantime.

Did we become buddies? I like to think so. Did he like me now? Probably about the same as before, but he was pretty quiet about his feelings.

Army Medic Caregiver

My former training kicked in as a caregiver. Instead of following my gut instinct, quackery, or mixing up medicine in the garage, I followed established protocols. He got his food processed to where he could eat without choking, kept clean, and got his meds on time.

He couldn’t do any of it on his own. Turns out the hired hands we brought in to give me a break couldn’t do much either. They all quit after one day, or sooner. Quitters.

Parkinson’s is pretty straight forward. There’s little room for the medical speculations of fringe opinions that show up during the pandemic.

Covid comparisons to other diseases usually includes polio. That shows the scientific progress from iron lung to respirator.

Covid Care Nation

What do you make of the idea that covid is an excuse of a disease?

I heard a man say that cancer and heart disease are cured because the only deaths that matter are covid deaths.

That’s as wrong as saying the 150,000 covid deaths, and counting, are normal. Before you start with the ‘Oh good, another jerk on a soapbox blog blowhorn,” read a few posts.

I’m not a soapbox writer. On a walk through London’s Hyde Park, I heard about Speaker’s Corner. I had a talk planned, but didn’t do it.

My covid speech is pretty short, even without a ladder to stand on:

Do wash your hands. Avoid touching your face. Wear a mask. Try to mark hot spots of covid infection off of your travel plans.

Personal health allows us to do the things in life we need to do. Curing a dire disease often seems as dreadful as the problem. Ask a cancer chemo guy for clarification.

If you ask me, I’ll answer.