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6 hours ago, daveb said:

2 of my sisters said they are going to talk to their doctors on Monday to see about getting shingles vaccines to hopefully avoid what happened with my brother. I guess that's sensible to get vaccinated if you can. I'll have to wait until later next year when I become eligible for medicare. :mellow: 

Smart.  Shingles is a horrible thing to get.  I have a friend who got them inside her body.  I would not wish that on anybody.

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I’m not sure whether this is still the case, but last I read and heard, the shingles vaccine has been in high demand but short supply, so it may involve a wait to get it (I haven’t tried though).

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8 hours ago, daveb said:

2 of my sisters said they are going to talk to their doctors on Monday to see about getting shingles vaccines to hopefully avoid what happened with my brother. I guess that's sensible to get vaccinated if you can. I'll have to wait until later next year when I become eligible for medicare. :mellow: 

I had a shingles vaccine but I'm hearing one is not enough. I think I'm supposed to get another one now.

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7 hours ago, 123383 said:

Should that also be the meningococcal, pneumococcal, mumps and Hib vaccines?

I have no idea. I'm not in the medical profession. Just repeating what my sisters said they were going to do. I haven't looked into it myself since I don't have insurance. ^_^

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12 hours ago, daveb said:

I guess the way I'd take it is it's good to know people who are not part of those categories are supporters. Like everyone should support LGBT+ rights; just as everyone should support civil rights regardless of the group and whether they belong to it or not. Sometimes it can seem like the only people who support some group's rights are members of said group. Us together is better than us against them. :) 

Yes, that's how I would have taken the comment too - in the sense of pointing out that they didnt have a vested interest  but were just into diversity and equality, though I can see that , as @teatree felt,   it's a shame, in some ways, that ' not ' being a thing  is stated.

I'm glad to hear of your brother's improvement @daveb

I was thinking of @Deja Vu 's question about meets. I've been on a few meets, all  local ones. For me, they're an opportunity to go out for the afternoon, have a meal, a walk, a visit to a place of interest and, yes, I could do that with e.g brown haired people, but I know that, in at least one respect, I'm going to feel at ease: everyone will either be ace or ally. I was very apprehensive the first time I went to one. I thought everyone else might be so much younger than me, but @CaroDee , who has organised all the meets I have attended so far, is so welcoming that it hasn't been a problem - even though some of the people I have met have been younger than my grandchildren. All the meets I've been to have been small which ,I think, has also helped. It's meant that everyone has talked to everyone else at least for some of the time. 

( there are several posts between this and Teatree's. Sorry I must have skipped a page)

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11 hours ago, 123383 said:

meningococcal, pneumococcal, mumps and Hib vaccines?

In the US the pneumococcal vaccine is usually only given to healthy people (under 2 years old, or) over 65.  Most US people in Dave’s age range had mumps as children and do not need to be vaccinated (although those of us who work in healthcare typically were at some point anyway since it’s part of a mandatory multi-disease vaccine).  Meningococcal vaccine isn’t given to healthy adults unless they are at unusual risk of contracting meningitis B (e.g., they work in a college dorm), and adults are only given Hib vaccine in very specific circumstances where they are severely immunocompromised (like, during bone marrow transplant prep).

 

So, yeah, those are common childhood vaccines now but they won’t apply to Dave.

 

The shingles vaccine has pros and cons... definitely one where you have to weigh out the risks and make an individual decision, and it has minimal effect on herd immunity so it really *is* a personal decision.

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In Britain pneumococcal vaccination is now every 20 years 

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15 minutes ago, Skycaptain said:

In Britain pneumococcal vaccination is now every 20 years 

They readminister it here at that point (for the 65+ people) as well if you live long enough.  Some places even allow at at 10 years.

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20 minutes ago, 123383 said:

 

@ryn2The point I was trying to make is that meningitis has many causes and the shingles vaccine alone won't be protect against them

 

Agreed, it will only prevent exactly what has happened to their brother.  My point was that they - and Dave - won’t be able to get the other vaccines (with the exception of pneumococcal, if they are over 65) in the US whether they ask for them or not.

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(on that point, anyone getting vaccinated should also understand there are a number of causes of meningitis and encephalitis that cannot be prevented via vaccination... similar to how the “pneumonia vaccine” just addresses one particularly lethal cause of pneumonia among many)

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Thanks, @ryn2, for the info and the good thoughts! :) 

 

Yeah, the point wasn't to be protected against all forms of meningitis. Seems like the shingles vaccine could be worthwhile just to help protect against shingles by itself, let alone that specific form of viral meningitis. But like I said, I'm not in the medical field, nor in any position to get vaccines so I haven't studied it at this time.

 

I have also been concerned for my mom if things got worse with my brother. But the latest news is they have taken him off of sedation and he has been awake and seems to be doing fairly well, albeit weak at this point (understandably).

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14 minutes ago, daveb said:

the latest news is they have taken him off of sedation and he has been awake and seems to be doing fairly well, albeit weak at this point (understandably).

Oh, that’s great news!

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@daveb glad your brother is recovering.

 

I visited my brother Bob (who has a Traumatic Brain Injury) on Saturday.   He is about the same as last time I visited.   He did have another seizure last week but his wife, Anne, said he has recovered a little quicker this time from it than from the last seizure.    We went to a traumatic brain injury facility where I attended the caregiver support group with Anne while Bob and his daughter went to the TBI art class.   I wish I had gone to the art class with Bob in retrospect just to get more time to spend with him.  After the the art/support was over, the four of us went for a walk next to a SF Bay inlet in Larkspur and then we drove to a Jamba Juice for smoothies.  Pictures at https://photos.app.goo.gl/WUHrXBy7v6NxJCZEA    One picture is of a book that was recommended for caregivers who were struggling with sleep issues.  I took a picture of it because I might want to get it out of the library and read it and see if it can help my Mother who has sleep issues.   Another picture is of the art work my brother completed in his class.

 

Yesterday I went on my usual weekend hike.  This was at a park called Redwood Regional Preserve which is very close to Oakland, California.  There were 23 people and 5 dogs on this hike.   The hike leader asked for a volunteer to sweep so I volunteered.  A sweep stays behind everyone at the end of the group to help make sure we do not lose people.  It is helpful on hikes with lots of people.  The hike was supposed to be limited to 3 dogs and 20 people but some showed up without having reserved a spot on the hike through meetup.com.     They were told not to do it again but were allowed to come on the hike.    Pictures: https://photos.app.goo.gl/6QCZZJcdKS1bvEme8

After the fog burned off it was a sunny warm day.   We really need rain though.  We have had 0.0 inches of rain in February in the San Francisco bay area so far!

 

Cathy

 

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@cdrdash, great pics. If the recovery time from seizures is falling, hopefully that's a sign of continuing improvement.

 

I think we've had roughly 25% of our average annual rainfall so far in February, 

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Any thoughts on why some people look at things as being 'a glass half full' while others feel that everything is a 'glass half empty'?

 

My sister in law and her family fall into the latter. I'm almost at the point where I won't say anything around her because she always has a negative outlook/viewpoint about anything I mention.

 

My family has always tried to be positive even in the worst situations.

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49 minutes ago, will123 said:

Any thoughts on why some people look at things as being 'a glass half full' while others feel that everything is a 'glass half empty'?

My guess is "it's complicated", and probably a combination of factors (innate, external, life experience, etc.).

 

There is the saying "sh*t happens", which to me always sounded pessimistic. I always preferred "stuff happens", as more neutral/all encompassing. Yeah, sometimes bad stuff happens, but sometimes good stuff happens, and sometimes neutral stuff happens.

 

I've always been more of an optimist, and often get told that pessimism is more realistic and/or that pessimists can handle things better when bad stuff happens. I disagree.

 

I do empathize with this:

54 minutes ago, will123 said:

I'm almost at the point where I won't say anything around her because she always has a negative outlook/viewpoint about anything I mention.

It does make you want to stop talking about anything good with such people.

 

I'm thinking about taking the light rail into town one of these days. The trouble I am having is figuring out how and where to access it. Seems like they don't provide parking near some (most?) of the stations; none of which are really close enough to walk to from where I live. I thought it would be easier to find parking near a station than to find parking downtown. :P 

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11 minutes ago, daveb said:

My guess is "it's complicated", and probably a combination of factors (innate, external, life experience, etc.).

Agreed.


As much as it doesn’t seem like it, a lot of pessimism is really “preparing for the worst but hoping for the best.”

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2 minutes ago, ryn2 said:

As much as it doesn’t seem like it, a lot of pessimism is really “preparing for the worst but hoping for the best.”

Yeah, but when all you hear is negativity, even when you have good stuff going on, it can be tiresome.

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1 hour ago, will123 said:

Any thoughts on why some people look at things as being 'a glass half full' while others feel that everything is a 'glass half empty'?

 

My sister in law and her family fall into the latter. I'm almost at the point where I won't say anything around her because she always has a negative outlook/viewpoint about anything I mention.

 

My family has always tried to be positive even in the worst situations.

I'm trained to look for problems as part of being an analyst, and also assessing risk (which means you look for what can go wrong). It's NOT part of my basic personality, so I have to combat it on a regular basis. I believe it's partly why my job is so exhausting. I've been working from home the past several weeks, and am sort of out of the work loop - and it feels GOOD.

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7 minutes ago, daveb said:

Yeah, but when all you hear is negativity, even when you have good stuff going on, it can be tiresome.

Oh, I’m sure.  I just grew up in a doom-and-gloom family so I’m used to it.

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8 minutes ago, Deja Vu said:

I'm trained to look for problems as part of being an analyst, and also assessing risk (which means you look for what can go wrong). It's NOT part of my basic personality, so I have to combat it on a regular basis.

It comes totally naturally to me, which leaves my colleagues both grateful (because I see all sides easily) and annoyed (“can’t you keep from picking something apart just this once??”).  XD

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In my family it feels like the good stuff is often downplayed or ignored and the bad stuff gets all the attention.

 

Like some of you, it was also part of my old job to look for problems, issues, bugs. I would feel bad about always being negative, so I would also look for good things to say when possible. I mean actual good things; not making stuff up.

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This is so interesting!  Because seeing every possible pitfall and flaw comes naturally to me, I never realized it could be not just a learning curve - I do get that it doesn’t come naturally to everyone and a lot of people have to work hard to learn it - but also emotionally draining.

 

Now that you say it, it makes sense.  It just never dawned on me.

 

~

 

I do want to distinguish this from being a “workplace cancer,” though, and spreading endless negativity about colleagues, bosses, the organization and its future, etc.  I 100% see that as damaging and work hard to model the opposite.  It’s just the work I poke full of holes.  :)

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46 minutes ago, ryn2 said:

Oh, I’m sure.  I just grew up in a doom-and-gloom family so I’m used to it.

My family was never like that even when older members passed away. My grandmother was in her late 80s had cancer. So yes it was sad, but not unexpected. No sense going on with a cloud over you head.

 

My S-I-L will say that the weather will suck and it'll be raining where I live. Watching the forecast and yes it will be raining in Toronto. Where I live two hours north of there we have quite a temperature drop and it's usually snow...

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43 minutes ago, daveb said:

In my family it feels like the good stuff is often downplayed or ignored and the bad stuff gets all the attention.

That's my brother's in laws to a T!

 

They weren't happy unless someone was dying or in bad health.

 

Spoiler

For fuck sakes!

 

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Talking of pessimists, the guy who gave the recent talk on bats to my bird group ended up telling us to advise our children and grandchildren not to have babies, and that there would be no humans around in 100 years because of climate change etc.  That is pessimism on a grand scale, at least he isn't doing it by halves. :)

 

 

 

 

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1 minute ago, will123 said:

No sense going on with a cloud over you head.

I think it’s more than a conscious choice.  It’s to some degree how you’re wired, or not.  To what degree that “wiring” is nature v. nurture I don’t know, but I’ve seen one person “stick out” in a family with the opposite collective mindset a few times so there’s likely at least some nature involved.

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1 minute ago, Mz Terry said:

That is pessimism on a grand scale, at least he isn't doing it by halves. :)

Could be optimism if you are a plant or a critter.  :)

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