September 13, 2020: Just Give It to Me Straight -

Ray of sunshine Will Ahue, a meteorologist with the Portland office of the National Weather Service, wants us to know that if the rains come Monday or Tuesday, things may get much worse before they get better. He’s got a great illustration, not a metaphor, but an example in miniature: 

“You know when you put out a campfire and you dump a whole bunch of water on it and it produces more smoke than you were thinking?”

Well yes, dammit, Will, we do know. Thanks for that.

Actually, I appreciate the reality check and the honesty.  I fiercely hate it when people shine me on, or gaslight me, or tell me things are fine because they don’t want me to panic. Just tell me the truth, please. Even if the truth is dampening (ha), at least I’m being given the chance to grapple with reality, to Freak Out, Grumble, and then Adapt, which appears to be the drill for 2020.

There’s an actual physical assault on the bodies of many of us right now – either the fire or the smoke. Many locals appear to have hit a wall yesterday, where even those of us who are not in danger of the fire are fraying. People who make it a matter of policy not to complain are admitting how bad it is. My friends spent the day letting their hair down: My brain is smooth, I am so sad, I am stressed out, I have a headache that won’t go away, I haven’t slept in four nights, I wake up sobbing, my baby is hoarse, how are YOU?  

I have lost track of what I was reading this morning, but some medical type said that we don’t have much data on what this sort of air quality does to the body, but the little PM25 particles in the air can go straight through the lungs and enter the bloodstream, where they may cause vascular and cardiac problems and strokes.  Here’s a heat map of PM25 from the site windy.com, which is a treasure trove.

So thanks for that bleak news, too, medical type.

No, really, thanks. People, stay inside please, if you can. If, like me, you have spent the whole summer telling yourself that outside is safe, and now you have to think of outside as unsafe, it’s a wrench. But right now, if you have to go outside and you have an N95 mask, you want to wear it even if you are nowhere near other humans-who-may-have-COVID-19. There’s yet another airborne danger.

I have reached the point where COVID-19 news is a distraction and a relief from the fires.  Imagine my delight yesterday to spend an hour watching a video of Harvard Grand Rounds with Anthony Fauci! Listening to Dr. Fauci always makes me feel like the grownups are on the case. My pulse slows and my anxiety level goes down.

You can read a precis of “takeaways” from Fauci’s talk in six minutes, if you are in a hurry.

But if you have an hour (35 minutes for Fauci himself, 25 minutes for Q&A*), and you would like a “where are we now” that is mostly accessible to us lay medicine-buffs, and you just want to look at slides and soak in the recorded presence of smart people who are data-driven, willing to recommend humility, and concerned about health care inequities, here is your chance.

There’s even a place you can sign up to participate in vaccine trials, if that’s your jam.

I’m spending the day in my clean room, with a mediocre murder mystery. Cheers, friends.

*They get around to discussing Major League Baseball in minute 57.