Hospital Crunch - My Surgery + TP +

[studegary]

I have had surgery scheduled for March 25 for some time now (about one month). Today, I got a call that it will have to be rescheduled due to a lack of available Operating Rooms. I guess this is a result of the Coronavirus taking off in this area. I believe that Southeastern New York State now has more cases than anywhere else in the country.

On a less grand scale, I went to a different three stores looking for toilet paper (I did not hoard it). There were zero rolls available. This was in a different town than where I have been searching for some. I was down there for MRIs, so thought that I would try.

The one positive thing is that I got ribs to go from Boston Market (had to fast for the MRIs). They tasted good when I got home.

[62champ]

Best of luck to you.

Grocery clerk at the store today laughed and said "those people who bought ten gallons of milk over the weekend will probably throw half of it out when they realize it will not last any longer than normal and they are not drinking anymore than normal." Sad to think how much stuff will be thrown out with all the panic buying people has decided to do.

Without elective surgery, wife's podiatrist is only open one morning a week now and laid off his entire staff - going to be more economic fall out from this than anything else. Good luck.

[Bob Andrews]

These are challenging times for sure. It is far worse because the situation is unprecedented. The one thing we know for sure is that we ‘just don’t know‘. I am in a few Facebook groups for automotive industry professionals, and everybody is scared… Not of the situation, but not knowing how to respond. Some analysts say that as much as 35% of independent car dealers and repair shops will not survive this. The ones that are in trouble invariably are the ones with large amount of debt, in particular, those deep into floorplans, which are just this side of loan sharks. They don’t know how to proceed.

here in Central New York, everything has now been shut down. Our largest mall employs 5000 people, and the county executive ordered that completely closed. All restaurants have been closed. Some are trying to do curbside and delivery, But about 1/3 or so have just turned out the lights until this is over. Locally these restaurants are advertising “remember that bar/restaurant you came to to donate to your fundraiser? Well, we need your help now!“ No malls, no bars, no restaurants, no movie theaters, no gyms. It’s surreal.

As for stores, they have just started to make changes to slow the hoarding. They are cutting down hours to allow time for restocking. At our small local store the meat display cases are mostly empty. The butcher told me yesterday, nothing has changed with the supply chain, but people are buying ridiculous amounts. He told me to make sure to ask if I didn’t see what I wanted. He said they have the meat, but they cannot put it out fast enough.

Another thing the stores are doing is making the first hour of the day for senior citizens only. That should help them get the necessities from the mornings freshly stocked shelves… If they were able to get up and make it to the store by 6 AM.

in the end, we are all feeling our way along. Answers will come, but until then it is scary. As for me, I have been working on new offices for my car lot, and the contractors just put the finishing touches on mine. I have enough work to keep them going for sometime. I’m going to focus on getting all that the way I want. My original plan was to re-open with everything new about mid April, but I have simply shut all of that down. I have the advantage of not having any debt, everything I’m doing is paid for in cash on property I already own outright. In the used car world, nobody has any idea what the next 30 or 60 or 90 days are going to bring, and I have the luxury of just simply sitting out. My heart breaks for guys who over-leveraged themselves because the economy was so strong, but now are having the floor yanked out from under them.

It is my belief that the medical aspect of the situation will come and go in a relatively short period. But the financial ramifications are going to take years to recover. Thank God I don’t need my 401(k) for a few years.

[DEEPNHOCK]

I saw TP shortages in regular stores, and walked into a Home Depot where I saw a half dozen skids of TP.
They did have a "Limit Four" sign on each skid, but they were 24 packs of TP.

[6hk71400]

Gary,

I had some radioactive seeds implanted in my bladder to help with the ongoing battle I have had over the past year. That is why I determined not to run for Zone Coordinator again. They were implanted February 15 and are due to come out on July 15. I hope things are improved but I am not too worried as my MD implanted them in a clinical setting outpatient. I understand your concern and many others and I am hopeful for a good outcome soon for everyone with medical issues now.

Bob Miles
Tucson AZ

[rockne10]

...going to be more economic fall out from this than anything else. Good luck.

Other than the lives that will be saved of course.
Though I do thoroughly expect, if all of our extraneous measures result in the outbreak being quickly minimalized, there will be a lot of people who will complain about the trouble we went to for something that never managed to take its worst turn.
Just today we had our first confirmed case in my county in rural central Pennsylvania.

[studegary]

Gary,

I had some radioactive seeds implanted in my bladder to help with the ongoing battle I have had over the past year. That is why I determined not to run for Zone Coordinator again. They were implanted February 15 and are due to come out on July 15. I hope things are improved but I am not too worried as my MD implanted them in a clinical setting outpatient. I understand your concern and many others and I am hopeful for a good outcome soon for everyone with medical issues now.

Bob Miles
Tucson AZ

My best to you. Two decades ago, I had 107 radioactive pellets ("seeds") implanted in my prostate. That went fine and is still good. Each time that I go for a variety of procedures and they ask if I have anything implanted, I mention the Titanium pellets. Just this month, when I had an EKG, the young female tech asked me about implants and I responded about the Titanium. She said; "What is that?" I said that it is a metal like my watch (I had my Skagen Titanium watch on at the time). I know that others, like Cathy, have Titanium plates implanted relative to bone fractures.

[6hk71400]

Well maybe if they don't come out it is not such a bad thing. Best to you and your wife Gary. Today our count in Tucson for COVID 19 went from 20 to 60 in one day. As I am working in a hotel that went from 100 percent occupancy on March 7 to 30 percent occupancy one week later, who knows what will happen. I would think that if hospital beds fill up, our hotel could serve as a hosting place of some type. The problem I see is having enough medical staff to support the operation.

Best to everyone.

Bob Miles
Tucson AZ

[JoeHall]

There are many problems related to the pandemic, but an eminent problem facing the medical community is lack of PPE for medical staff. CDC has altered guidelines, based on the fact that PPE is extremely limited, i.e. change masks only once per day, instead of between patients. This not only exposes them to more danger, but also more danger of cross contamination between patients. Many medical profs are making their own masks and using creativity: motorcycle goggles, paint face shields, etc..

I have to stop and realize there's NOTHING I can do about any of the above, so must step back and focus on what I can do: nourish an attitude of gratitude, stay active, have a plan (to include CV-19 prevention and contingency plan if it enters my household), keep a routine, eat well and get adequate rest.

Good news: effective meds are beginning to surface. Not from years of research and a lengthy approval process by the FDA, but from field expedience and discovering what works on the, "front lines". Necessity is the mother of invention, and several meds already approved by the FDA for other purposes are being tried, "off label" on the front lines. Off label prescribing has been done for decades, i.e. Wellbutrin for smokers. It was originally approved for depression and anxiety, then many of those patients began reducing tobacco. Eventually began to be prescribed off label for tobacco cessation; many years later when Chantix was R&D and finally by FDA approved to help tobacco cessation, and its main active ingredient was same as that in Wellbutrin. There are countless examples of off label meds, so much so, many times a med's original purpose becomes nearly forgotten. What I am saying is, better times are coming, but we just gotta hunker down and weather the storm for now!

For more info on the good news, go on youtube and look up, "Ingraham: A dose Of Reality"

[Packard53]

Joel Hall: According to Honest Reputable Medical Experts the are no effective meds beginning to surface concerning CV-19. It will take 18 to 24 months before a vaccine is developed.

John S.

[6hk71400]

Well, I just had my own Dose of Reality. This morning as I was finishing up audit work, my GM came in and informed me that I was laid off. At this time the hotel will be run by just 5 people (housekeeping, maintenance, reservations, audit, checking in and checking out) over the next several months. There is behind all this the hotel may close anyway. I do have another source of income but there are several that was the only source of income. One employee got married last weekend and does not know she won't have a job when she gets back. Others are single parents in that situation.

I guess for the first time since 1975 after I was discharged from the Air Force that I will file for unemployment online on Monday. I also will be looking for another job. My GM said he would love to keep me and would hope I come back if and when things get better. I will stay healthy and I figure we are in a time that my parents went through with the Great Depression and WWII. They made it with all the uncertainty and I know I will too. I hope the best for all the young people with families at this time.

Bob Miles
Tucson AZ

[Flashback]

Well, I am a unhealthy senior citizen (75)and even though I can go in the grocery store first in the morning I am working at home til further notice, and have been asked to stay at home. So there goes that. I spent the first 4 hours Friday at my home desk and then I had to be able to be reached by phone the rest of the day. My Studebaker is in the garage in my back yard and my phone works good out there, soo guess where i spent the next 6 hours. I don't like my wife having to run all the errands, but she is healthy and a lot younger than me. I wish she could stay home also. This has changed our lives just like everyone else. I am pastor of a local church, and haven't missed a Sunday preaching in 4 years. We had to cancel services starting tomorrow. . I have a little time extra to work on my car and (Thank the Lord) I have some parts purchased already so I can use this time to catch up a little.
I am not making light of this serious problem, but I am attempting to go on as normal with my life as possible. Regretfully, our forum restricts religion being discussed. However I will say This "MAY GOD BLESS NOT ONLY EACH OF MY FRIENDS HERE AND THEIR FAMILIES, BUT THE UNITED STATES AND THE REST OF THE WORLD"

[8E45E]

Another thing the stores are doing is making the first hour of the day for senior citizens only. That should help them get the necessities from the mornings freshly stocked shelves.

As for me, I have been working on new offices for my car lot, and the contractors just put the finishing touches on mine.

Most retailers have been giving seniors a head start on 'door-crasher' specials and for quite some time, although the issue this time is with necessities, which has now turned into that.

Got any photos to share of your new offices?

Craig

[studegary]

Most retailers have been giving seniors a head start on 'door-crasher' specials and for quite some time, although the issue this time is with necessities, which has now turned into that.

Got any photos to share of your new offices?

Craig

I am not a morning person. Last Tuesday, the morning after Hannaford gets deliveries, I got up in the dark, didn't take the time for breakfast, shave, etc. and headed to Hannaford's (two miles away). They did not have one roll of TP available. I am going to try again tomorrow.

[Bob Andrews]

I am not a morning person. Last Tuesday, the morning after Hannaford gets deliveries, I got up in the dark, didn't take the time for breakfast, shave, etc. and headed to Hannaford's (two miles away). They did not have one roll of TP available. I am going to try again tomorrow.

Ouch, that’s what’s happening here.

conventional wisdom around here is that the shortages should be coming to an end. There is nothing wrong with the supply chain, and even the hoarders will get their fill, and then this stuff will be available. hopefully that is correct.

We have always bought our paper goods in bulk mostly because it’s hard to remember to get it; so we have enough to last at least another two or three weeks. After that we still have several boxes of facial tissue; after that we have a bunch of coffee filters :-)

Seriously though- if you do come to a serious shortage, check your local drugstore, and convenience store. Even convenience stores usually have at least a four pack of toilet paper.