I went downtown to get a half-price Charlie card (fare card), which went pretty well and quickly even though I was a little distracted. I have a card with "TEMP" written on it in red, good for 30 days while I wait for the permanent card to arrive in the mail. I had a card that had expired last year, and one that stopped working one day. I brought both of those with me, and they transferred the value to my new card.

Next stop was the farmers market at Copley, where I was surprised to find tomatoes that looked and smelled worth buying. I picked out several, and didn't buy anything else, because I didn't want to risk squashing the tomatoes.

The final stop was a nearby CVS, where I got an RSV vaccine, and then bought some band-aids. When I had paid and was ready to leave, I realized I'd left my hoody on the chair where they vaccinated me, so I hurried back upstairs, found it, and assured the pharmacy clerk that yes I was OK, I'd just forgotten something. I would have gotten it sooner, but was waiting two weeks after the flu and covid boosters, at my doctor's recommendation. However, given the news, I am trying to figure out what if any other vaccines I can sensibly get before the anti-vaxers take over the Department of Health. Is five years and one month too soon for another tetanus and whooping cough booster? (In normal circumstances, I might be considering it seven years after the last dose.

On the way home I was feeling a bit worn out, mentally more than physically, but I remembered that I had achieved the primary goal of this outing, the half-price Charlie card, and both the secondary goals.
Update on Covid booster vaccines for this coming fall, in the US and probably Canada:

On Thursday, the FDA changed its recommendation to COVID vaccine manufacturers telling them to use KP.2 for the Fall 2024 vaccine formulas instead of JN.1 if possible. This makes a lot of sense since KP.2 [JN.1 + F456L + R346T mutations] is expected to protect better against all of the newer variants that contain F456L mutations. Basing the vaccines on an older variant (JN.1) would not be expected to protect against the newer variants as well. Moderna and Pfizer will be able to change their vaccine formula to use the KP.2 antigen because of the agility of mRNA vaccines.

Novavax will supply JN.1 protein-based vaccines because those take at least 6 months to make. Novavax put out a statement that they hope to have their JN.1 COVID vaccine available in pre-filled syringes for US distribution by mid-July. They also stated that in non-human primates, their JN.1 vaccine provided good protection against KP.2 and KP.3 in animals that had received the XBB.1.5 vaccine previously.

(Copied from Ruth Ann Crystal's Covid News and More newsletter)
redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)
( May. 2nd, 2024 09:08 am)
Misc. comments 66: terminology, the river Thames, recipes and ingredients, family trees, classifying fruit, covid precautions, learning math, subscription prices, reasons for blogging )
covid vaccination and masking )



[personal profile] minoanmiss was talking about kids at the place she works trying to get out of math class. [personal profile] amaebi talked about her son's math classes, and I wrote:

Reading this comment, I think part of why I came out of high school still liking math may be the teachers, and another part may be the slightly odd curriculum they were using. It was the "experimental" math track per my high school, and "unified" according to the university that promoted it; we got a lot of the standard material, up to calculus, but also propositional logic (in eighth grade), Cartesian geometry (instead of Euclidean), and combinatorics. The school also had a "regular" math sequence, and students who found experimental too difficult (or, I would guess, whose parents thought it was too weird) could move into those classes, which also led to calculus).




In response to [personal profile] brithistorian wondering about weird magazine prescription costs:

My guess, beyond late stage capitalism being weird, is that they're somehow still selling advertising to companies based on the number of people who are reading, or at least getting, the print edition.

If so, it benefits them to be sending out more paper copies, even to people who read the digital version and will throw the paper magazines away without opening them. It sounds like the prices of daily newspapers increased when they were selling fewer ads. What I paid at the newsstand in the morning was about enough to cover the paper and printing costs, and the reporters' and editors' salaries, the fees for syndicated comics and columnists, and any profits all were paid for by advertising.

It's not quite "if you aren't the customer, you're the product," but it's a little bit in that direction. At one point, my daily English-language newspaper options in New York included several that cost about 50 cents, plus two free papers given out at subway and railroad station entrances, and the Wall Street Journal and Women's Wear Daily.


[personal profile] finch was talking about "why do I blog anyway?" and I said:

Part of why I post here is for my own later reference, which includes both things I hope will be interesting to others, and minutiae of stuff like starting on new meds. I made a bunch of posts early in the pandemic because I could feel time just slipping away, then.

My posts here are also about talking to people, which is sometimes conversation and sometimes "here is information I think you might find useful.".

There's a pinned post at the top of my Dreamwidth account page, which says this is [partly] an online substitute for a paper journal, and also invites new readers to introduce themselves.
redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)
( Sep. 7th, 2023 02:11 pm)
There's a proposal to limit the new covid vaccine booster to people over age 75 and immune-compromised people. This is on very short notice and not getting a lot of attention, but the proposal is open for comments until tomorrow.

The comment link is https://www.regulations.gov/commenton/CDC-2023-0060-0001

My own comment, if anyone wants a model (please don't copy it exactly, distinct comments get more attention):

The up-to-date booster should be available to everyone, not just elderly and immune-compromised people.

Because I am immune-compromised, I need other people to also be boosted, for my own protection. Like most immune-compromised people, I live with other people, and they are not immune-compromised. For my health and safety, I need my housemates to also be immunized against covid and other serious diseases.

I also leave the house, including for medical appointments, other errands, and sometimes even to spend time with friends. All of those things would be more dangerous if younger people could not receive the booster. For example, my primary care doctor, my dental hygienist, and the doctor who treats me for my immune disorder are not immune-compromised. I wear a mask indoors, almost always--but the CDC acknowledges that masking alone is not sufficient to protect me from covid infection.
I saw my neurologist (Dr. AbdelRazek) today for my semi-annual checkup, and one of the things we discussed was vaccines. He thinks I should get most vaccines, because T cells exist, but doesn't think I should bother with the flu vaccine, because that one isn't very effective in people who aren't taking medication that knocks out their B cells. I didn't ask about the omicron booster specifically, because I didn't think of it: I was asking about a second dose of Evusheld, and whether there's an MS medication that is as effective as the one I'm on now, and doesn't interfere with vaccines. [There is one, Tysabri, which I have already taken as many doses of as I can safely have in my lifetime.]

I told him I'd been tested for anti-covid T cells, and the test found that I do have some, and he was surprised and interested, because he hadn't heard about that test. I used MyChart to send him a link to the faq page for that test, and he thanked me.

He is going to look into a second dose of Evusheld; as far as he knows, the FDA emergency use authorization for that is for only one dose per patient.

I asked the doctor to write a new gabapentin prescription, for the dose I'm actually taking; he did, and Capsule will be delivering it this evening. I told him that yes, at that dosage it works very well, meaning I only have leg spasms occasionally and they are much milder than at the lower dosage.

He says I am clinically stable, based partly on the low-tech neurology, things like moving pegs in and out of slots, walking 25 feet, and having a light shined in my eyes, and partly on my answers to his questions. He is putting in an order for an MRI, head only, no contrast; Mt. Auburn radiology will contact me to schedule that, and if I don't hear from him within a week after the MRI, that means it's good news. My next MRI will be head, cervical spine, and thoracic spine, probably with contrast.

He think my previous doctor's diagnosis of pseudo-bulbar affect was correct, even though I didn't respond to the drug that's commonly used for that (Nudexa). He said the mechanism of action of mirtazapine, the antidepressant Dr. Segal prescribed along with the bubropion, is similar to Nudexa's. This doesn't seem to have any clinical relevance--the treatment I'm on is working pretty well--but I'm noting it here anyway.

[as usual, this is partly for my later reference]
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redbird: closeup of me drinking tea, in a friend's kitchen (Default)
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