From:  Bob Morecook

     Date:  May 25, 2020

Subject:  Covid-19

Geez Ken

Take care and get care.

We care.

Bob


    From:  Ken Kalish

     Date:  May 26, 2020

Subject:  Update
When one is on 160 acres of land and five miles from town, isolation takes on a new meaning.  I took my walking stick in hand and went outside for half an hour.  Touched noses with Lolo, and she said I definitely do not have Sars-Cov-19.  She said I have pneumonia, in no uncertain terms.  My chest was hurting a lot by that time, and I was getting dizzy, so I hobbled back into the house.  My temp was 100.3.  It was 88.4 this morning, but then Lila took the cover off the sensor and got a reading of 99.8.  I’m bringing up dark brown and red gunk, but that’s a both/and.  Still pretty weak.  Drinking lots of fluids.  Sleeping lots.  I need a cane to walk more than 20 feet.  Getting nasty headaches. 
I talked to Jean LeRoy this afternoon.  He got tested Friday and got his results back this afternoon - negative.  His hair is growing back after the chemo and he looks great.  He’s planning to send all of his friends food for his birthday.  84 this year.  Clarice and he went through Alzheimer’s with Clarice’s mom, so she knows what she has and why Jean has to do some of the things he does for her.  The went to the cemetery where her mom is buried, but the hill is too steep for them to walk so they just sat in the car and looked.  He sounds great. 
Also got an update on Joe C.  Bill says Joe is doing well.  Great news that we do not have to include him in our Memorial Day musings. 
Stay well, my friends. 
Ken Kalish

Carma Lama Rescue


    From:  Ken Guilder

     Date:  May 26, 2020

Subject:  Update

Good to hear.  Stay strong

​​​

    From:  Ken Guilder

     Date:  May 25, 2020

Subject:  Covid-19

Every now and then, I'd get to feeling like that when I was on active duty.  The aid station gave me a foul-tasting concoction called "Turpin Hydrate and Codeine Elixir."  It grew hair on bowling balls and tasted like week-old dishwater, mixed with gin.  47.5% alcohol (95 proof), and, as the name implied, it had codeine in it, 
But it worked. (At least for me, it did)  After a tablespoon of it, I wanted to get well real quick, so I didn't have to take a second tablespoon of it. 
For some reason, it's no longer available.... 
Ken G.


    From:  Tim Bodle

     Date:  May 25, 2020

Subject:  Covid-19

Please take care, Ken.

​Tim

​​

    From:  Marc Yablonka

     Date:  May 27, 2020

Subject:  Update

Ken, 
Really great news about your fever going down, sir!  You may want to check with your doc about getting some antibiotics for that pneumonia.  It took a week's worth of two very strong antibiotics to cure my case of the stuff! I still got swabbed for COVID and was glad I did. You may want to do the same just for peace of mind. 
Marc


    From: Ken Kalish

     Date:  May 28, 2020

Subject:  A little Friendly Advice

From the Been There, Done That, Got The Tee Shirt Division: 
Do not, under any circumstances, go to your friendly neighborhood hospital and veterinary service to get your Covid-19 test.  Even if you have a temperature of 110 and are carrying your right lung in your hands, do not visit any but the most reputable health establishment available within 300 miles. 
Let me demonstrate my logic. 
One of our own, the illustrious (does that mean shiny, or does it mean dull and in need of being shined?) Jean LeRoy visited the Minnesota State Certified Covid-19 Testing Facility at the Minnesota National Guard Armory in Duluth on Friday.  Got his results from Rochester Mayo on Monday. 
Then there’s me.  Visited the local hospital ER Saturday with all the right symptoms and had the Ma and Pa Kettle Covid-19 test.  The VA called me yesterday and went through all of my symptoms and my daily symptom reports and confirmed the disease, but that I should call back as soon as I got the results from the hospital.  I called the hospital ER today at 12:00.  The ER had no record of my having been there, so they called the lab.  The lab said yes, I had been there, but the mail didn’t go out until the next day which would have been Sunday but mail doesn’t go out on Sunday so it would have been Monday but Monday was a holiday so it went out on Tuesday so they should hear back on Friday and they’ll send me a letter telling me what the results were, but the sample may be too old to read by that time so they may have to do it again. 
I’m thinking of taking a swab from my dog, the neighbor’s cattle, a friend’s horse, a stray cat, and a roadkill skunk and sending that in. 
Ken Kalish

Carma Lama Rescue


    From:  Ron Hesketh

     Date:  May 25, 2020

Subject:  Covid-19 Update
That doesn't sound good, Ken. Our prayers are with you. Keepaus informed. 
Ron


AFVN Group Conversations

    From:  Bob Morecook

     Date:  May 27, 2020

Subject:  Update

Hi Ken
Hang in there.  My brother got it and his temp came and went for 5 weeks. Three times it went to normal, then back to 100.3 again.
Rest, rest, rest.  
Take fluids and eat as you are able
Respects
Bob

    From:  Ken Kalish

     Date:  May 23, 2020

Subject:  Covid-19

Well, I woke up this morning with no way to hold my head that didn’t hurt. Cold as hell with a temp of 104.5.  Sore muscles, weak, trouble breathing, and pain in the upper right lobe of my lungs.  Trouble walking from the bathroom to the bed.  Talked to the VA.  They want me to go to an ER. 
More news when there is news. 
Ken Kalish
Carma Lama Rescue


​NOTE:  It is somewhat ironic that only a few weeks earlier, Ken had suggested everyone check-in due to the virus.  Jim W


    From:  Ken Kalish

     Date:  April 25, 2020

Subject:  Covid-19 Update

Lungs are cloudy, particularly in the upper right lobe.  Temp flopping around like a wounded duck.  Still weak as a kitten.  Tough breathing.  I’m in quarantine for four days, until the results come back from the lab.  They asked if I wanted to stay in the hospital.  I said No thanks.  The sheet the hospital gave me said the test is not CDC approved because it gives both false positives and false negatives.  Boy does that instill confidence.  I’ve slept for five hours so far today.  Bad dry cough. Mouth as dry as a popcorn fart.  Sore everywhere.  I’d go out and ask Comanche for a diagnosis, but I can’t walk that far.  Granddaughter and Great-Granddaughter came over this afternoon to give me a hug and kiss through the living room window.  Granddaughter is making me a copper tree inside of the rim of an old wooden wagon wheel.  It’s 30” in diameter, and the biggest one she’s ever made is 5”.


    From: Bob Morecook

     Date:  May 27, 2020

Subject:  Covid 19

Ken,

You have won a prize from me worth $1000.  But to claim it I do need you to send me a gift card from Target worth $80 to cover the cost of the state sales tax in your state. Then I can mail your prize to you. 

Get well soon. 

Bob


    From:  Marc Yablonka

     Date:  May 25, 2020

Subject:  Note to Ken
Ken, 
It sounds like the test they gave you was the antibodies test. You should demand to get your nose swabbed asap! About a month ago, I had similar symptoms--especially very difficult to breathe. I went to Urgent Care at one of the hospitals here in L.A. and was diagnosed with pneumonia. The next day I got my nose swabbed. Three days later, the swab test for COVID came back negative. Meanwhile, two simultaneous prescripts for strong antibiotics--Zithromax and Ceftin--later and the pneumonia was gone. Thinking good thoughts for you from Cali, Ken! 
Marc

    From:  Ken Guilder

     Date:  May 25, 2020

Subject:  Covid-19

Every now and then, I'd get to feeling like that when I was on active duty.  The aid station gave me a foul-tasting concoction called "Turpin Hydrate and Codeine Elixir."  It grew hair on bowling balls and tasted like week-old dishwater, mixed with gin.  47.5% alcohol (95 proof), and, as the name implied, it had codeine in it, 
But it worked. (At least for me, it did)  After a tablespoon of it, I wanted to get well real quick, so I didn't have to take a second tablespoon of it. 
For some reason, it's no longer available.... 
Ken G.

​​​

    From:  Robert Tucker

     Date:  May 25, 2020

Subject:  Covid-19

Hang in there and good luck.  

​Robe


    From:  jim White

     Date:  May 25, 2020

Subject:  Covid-19 Update

Ken, 
Sounds like the real thing.  The sheet from the hospital appears to have been written by a politician who refuses to accept responsibility for anything.   Glad you see your Granddaughter and Great Granddaughter through the window.   A lot of people aren't even able to do that.  I think you were smart in avoiding the hospital stay but I feel sorry for Lila who most likely is your primary caregiver.  Hope that she stays well. 
zAgain, m prayers, 
Jim W


Covid-19 - Ken Kalish's Experience

April 2020

    From: Ken Kalish

     Date:  May 27, 2020

Subject:  Covid 19

They call it SARS-COV-19.  Got a call from the VA this morning. I've been sending them daily updates.  Once again I went through the list of my first symptoms, then my daily reports. I  told the nurse about the test and the"maybe " nature of it.  She said the VA's position is that they don't care what the test says, I have it.  So, at least ten more days of feeling like crazy. The nurse said pneumonia is secondary and common.  So, now we can stop wondering.  I fully expect a prize of some sort for being first.


    From:  Jim White

     Date:  May 26, 2020

Subject:  Update
Ken, 
I know of a lot of doctors who are probably less able to diagnose for a disease than your lamas, so I'll go with the pneumonia diagnosis.   Congratulations to Lila for knowing one should take the cover off a thermometer--it sounds a little like "It'll work better if you plug it in."  I have a problem with Sachiko taking her temperature.   She was a nurses' assistant back in the days of "Is this a one-minute thermometer or a three-minute thermometer?"    Today I think most of them are 15-second  thermometers.   So, by the time she feels it is time to check the reading, the thermometer has decided that she really didn't want to check her temperature and has gone back to sleep. Get a lot of 88.88C (191+F) readings that way. 
Thanks for the updates on Jean LeRoy and Joe Ciokon. 
Jim W


    From:  Bob Curry

     Date:  May 25, 2020

Subject:  Covid-19 Update
I have just now given a prayer for your recovery and good health! May God bless you and heal you.