Posts by eleanorrees@mas.to
(DIR) Post #AcFP6dJpCXyLCiih96 by eleanorrees@mas.to
2023-11-27T12:07:17Z
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Anyway, I'm supposed to make a list of recovery goals. No. 1: get well enough to go out and find Boris Johnson and kick him in the nuts.(If you're reading this at GCHQ: Yes, that is a literal threat. Just not an imminent one.)
(DIR) Post #AcFP6fDW8y7D5jmgam by eleanorrees@mas.to
2023-11-27T18:10:52Z
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(Everyone says Mastodon has a reply guy problem, but if I'd posted this thread on Twitter the replies would have been a raging binfire in twenty minutes.)
(DIR) Post #AcLSfGw9sDQ6jccOps by eleanorrees@mas.to
2023-11-30T18:46:03Z
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This video from the UK #CovidInquiry yesterday starts with Sajid Javid being asked if #LongCovid was factored into the decision to lift restrictions in summer 2021.Javid says, with much deflecting verbiage, that they knew it would increase risk but decided the trade-offs (getting people back to work etc.) were worth it.The lawyer asks him why, in that case, there was no public information campaign about the increased risk. Javid flannels for a while and can't answer.https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kiefzf_KwS0
(DIR) Post #Ad2pIkWnJ7z6IzMUAy by eleanorrees@mas.to
2023-12-18T12:50:52Z
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I vividly remember watching a health select committee hearing in 2020, where Miriam Cates sat staring and blinking while various experts tried to explain to her why it wouldn't be a good idea just to let Covid rip through the entire population (this was well before vaccines were available). She just could. not. get it. It was like watching someone try to teach a Labrador to do long division.https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/miriam-cates-tory-mp-rishi-sunak-b2465851.html
(DIR) Post #Ad2pVIkVtpETuplQZc by eleanorrees@mas.to
2023-12-19T18:10:54Z
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"...while deaths from acute infection and the risk of the NHS becoming overwhelmed have been an indisputable political focus, the slow, rumbling ruin of lives, healthcare planning, and economies by years or decades of chronic disease is perhaps harder to grapple with and easier to kick down the road for some other, future administration."Good summary by @chrischirp and Danny Altmann. https://www.bmj.com/content/383/bmj.p2972#LongCovid #CovidInquiry
(DIR) Post #AhkFwntAoob0FGhyJk by eleanorrees@mas.to
2024-05-10T10:02:58Z
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@TheBreadmonkey reminds me of an old tweet from when Twitter was funny
(DIR) Post #AlFvS8LCF5QrHpHQie by eleanorrees@mas.to
2024-08-23T09:48:09Z
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The plastic thing on the juice carton broke, so I had to teach my child the ancient magic.
(DIR) Post #AlGN5DVVfJOpMjxt4q by eleanorrees@mas.to
2024-08-23T15:31:49Z
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Today I’ve been ill for a thousand days. #LongCovid has taken away my independence, my social life, my job, my plans. The way I used to be able to think and to move. My identity, piece by piece. I’m going to talk about it now. Fair warning if you want to mute.(Please don’t reply with medical advice: I guarantee that either I’ve already tried it or there’s a good reason why I haven’t.)1/n
(DIR) Post #AlGN5FSOPs5vPeWQUq by eleanorrees@mas.to
2024-08-23T15:33:02Z
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I was fit and healthy before I got Covid in 2021. It never crossed my mind that I wouldn’t be back to normal in a few days.Now I can’t work. I can’t walk 20 yards without a rollator. Simple thoughts take effort. If I exert myself beyond a small limit I get so ill I can only lie in the dark. And I’m not the worst affected. Some people are lying in the dark all the time.Resting isn’t restful. I ache and shake, I’m lightheaded, I can’t breathe properly. It takes a long time to fall asleep.2/n
(DIR) Post #AlGN5HJFWpy99sG9WS by eleanorrees@mas.to
2024-08-23T15:33:36Z
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Brain fog is like being drunk and hungover at the same time - every day, for years.I lose words in conversation, or just zone out. On the phone I forget who I’m talking to or what we’re talking about.I can’t leave the house without a helper, because I get exhausted and confused. The noise of a public place is painful and my brain stops being able to process language. The last time I went to a cafe was January 2022. I used to love dining out.3/n
(DIR) Post #AlGN5J6Yqz0Yj6L31U by eleanorrees@mas.to
2024-08-23T15:34:17Z
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I constantly forget what I’m supposed to be doing, multiple times every hour, every day. I can’t drive, because I can’t remember how to control the car or what a red light means.Reading was the most consistent joy in my life. I edited books for a living. Now I can’t read for work or pleasure: I can’t remember what I’ve read from one page to the next. Reading for more than a few minutes gives me a migraine. A huge part of my identity, gone. I can skim a bit online; it’s not the same.4/n
(DIR) Post #AlGN5KyTtzjWWcZchs by eleanorrees@mas.to
2024-08-23T15:35:38Z
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I can’t watch two TV episodes in a row: the light and sound get overwhelming. I can watch cricket, but often have to mute the commentary. I have constant searing tinnitus.I can do one or two light household jobs a day, in small stages with long rests in between. I used to love cooking. Now I can cook a few simple familiar things using prepared ingredients, on a good day. I can't follow a new recipe.5/n
(DIR) Post #AlGN5MjJNMmry9UXL6 by eleanorrees@mas.to
2024-08-23T15:35:54Z
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I can’t take my kids anywhere, or do anything with them that isn’t quiet and careful. (If you remember I mentioned a family game of Monopoly recently? Someone had to roll dice and move the counter for me, because I can’t physically do that for long enough to play a game.) I try and keep most of my day’s mental energy for the kids, because when I’m exhausted and noise is painful so I have to ask them not to talk to me, that’s the worst thing.My nightmare is that this happens to them too.6/n
(DIR) Post #AlGN5OceL6e9q4OFEW by eleanorrees@mas.to
2024-08-23T15:36:19Z
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I have no idea if or when any of this might get any better. I stay positive day to day, mainly because I'm lucky to have supportive people around me. But it is no fun being dependent, and seeing how my illness restricts their lives too. Having to let go of plan after plan and hope after hope.It’s bad. And it’s not going away. People right now are catching Covid and it isn’t crossing their mind that they won’t be back to normal again in a few days...7/n
(DIR) Post #AlGN5Qc0wRKK0g6lWK by eleanorrees@mas.to
2024-08-23T15:36:56Z
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In summary: if you enjoy doing things and having a life, Long Covid is well worth avoiding. I haven’t written all this for sympathy (although it’s appreciated). I also won’t have the energy to do much replying. I just hope perhaps it helps someone understand what their friend/relative/colleague might be dealing with, and maybe even avoid spreading one infection themselves. Even one would make a difference./end
(DIR) Post #AvPrRa9d8saWjVgfDs by eleanorrees@mas.to
2025-06-23T08:12:43Z
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@Nickiquote Douglas Adams has the quote for it, as usual.
(DIR) Post #Axq8iLfybw4SNaV7AG by eleanorrees@mas.to
2025-09-03T19:08:16Z
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@sarahtaber The Welsh branch of my family tells the story of the day a small cousin said to my great-aunt, "That milk won't be any good because you haven't blasted it" -- because she would usually forget the milk and then exclaim "Blast!" when it boiled over, and he thought that was a crucial part of the process.
(DIR) Post #AyhZaSo2AB63xh5i1g by eleanorrees@mas.to
2025-09-29T15:00:01Z
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@overholt You mean 'what the helly hell?'
(DIR) Post #AzNP7Ukr04lIhmT78y by eleanorrees@mas.to
2025-10-19T13:06:43Z
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Husband showed me how his new iphone has selected photos from when the kids were little and animated them to make fake videos.We agreed this needs to be killed with fire ASAP.
(DIR) Post #AzNP7aJmJefXxXqZm4 by eleanorrees@mas.to
2025-10-19T13:12:05Z
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The people who pushed this on us think I care so little about my children that I'm not bothered whether a video of them is real or fake.Those people are sick and they are sickening us.