I've been coughing a lot, and running a low fever, so I got sent home from work and told to self-quarantine until I get better. I'm pretty confident it's a cold. My co-worker caught a cold from his kids a week or so ago, and he had the exact same symptoms. 

From what I understand COVID 19 is characterized by an unproductive cough, high fever, and difficulty breathing. I have phlegm up the wazoo, am coughing it up (so very productive cough) and a low fever (99ish). My entire body aches, especially my lungs. This feels very much like the colds I have had in the past, so I will treat it as such. However, it doesn't hurt to be careful so I'm staying at home and avoiding other people just in case. If things get worse I will definately contact a doctor, but at this point there is no reason to. I'm also considered immunocomprimised because of my other health problems, so I should just be extra careful. 

Here I come Sims 4, Minecraft, and Skyrim! 

Some of you may be thinking "Hey Beckye, what the heck do you even do at a furry convention?"

Well, I'm glad you've asked! Let me tell you allllllll about what I did at Furry Fiesta 2020!

At Furry Fiesta I:

• watched a live music performance
• watched a comedy show
• watched a magic show (last year, I missed it this year!)
• took HUNDREDS of pictures of some amazing suits!
• hung out with new and old friends!
• got drunk a few times
• threatened people with my cane
• ate some very good food
• went to some entertaining panels, such as "how to be a lady" from someone who went to finishing school!

Pictures say it even better than words, so here are a few of my favorite pictures

This is Tetris, Alex and I seem to have adopted him! He recently got a great job and a new apartment, and I am so proud of him!


At one point during the convention Tetris agreed to be
interviewed for some sort of documentary:



The sharks seemed to think this was a little sketch:


I also got to hang out with my bestie! and her absolutely hilarious boyfriend! (she's the one in purple, I'm the one in all black)



More pictures coming soon!

Just 3 days until we leave for furry fiesta! I am so excited!!!

My doctor suggested that using a cane might help me get around a little bit, so I used a cane today. He actually suggested a walker, but I would rather die. 

He was right, but it's just super embarrasing. It's probably in my head, but I feel like even old people are looking at me with pity. 

Also, my arm muscles are just not used to this. 

Today's been a long day- it was busy at work, I feel so self-concious when using my cane, and I overall just feel shitty. I kinda feel like I'm getting the flu. I'm running a small fever again too, but that's not too crazy.

So far this month I've had:

• Chest pain for 18/20 days (doctor said it is costocondritis)
• Moderate to severe joint pain 12/20 days
  • All the other days have been mild, except for 2/2 where I miraculously felt almost normal. 
• Moderate to severe fatigue 9/20 days
  • I count it moderate if I can't function for longer than 15 minutes without becoming too exausted to move, and severe if that limit is 5 minutes. 
• A fever 7/20 days
  • I'm couting everything over 98.6 as a fever, but I've noticed that when I'm feeling good my temperature is actually in the 97 range. If I count anything 98 and above I've had a fever 9/20 days. Most of the time my temp is apparently 97.5. 

I'm just going to ride my exercise bike for 20 minutes and then go to bed, even tough it's only 8pm. 

Do you guys know what a furry is? 

According to the internet, a furry is "a diverse community of fans, artists, writers, gamers, and role players. Most furries create for themselves an anthropomorphized animal character (fursona) with whom they identify and can function as an avatar within the community. Some furries wear elaborate costumes or paraphernalia such as animal ears or tails, or represent themselves as anthropomorphic animals in online communities such as Second Life."

So yeah, I'm a furry. For me, I like it for the same reason I enjoy cosplaying. It's a great creative outlet, and tbh the people at furry conventions are a lot easier to handle than the people at comic conventions (they are lot better with the whole "NO TOUCH" thing). 

I have a partial fursuit that I made (shown below), and I go to a convention every year, and various fun events around town! I really enjoy the activities, my fellow furries, and it's super fun to make these things!

Our yearly furry convention is coming up soon, and I will be sure to post lots and lots of pictures!

Does anyone have any questions about furries in general, or what I do in particular?

I don't know if I can ever forgive a goofy movie for giving me such unrealistic expectations for pizza. 

I still have yet to schedule with a Rheumatologist, but only because most of them are not accepting new patients. I appreciate that my doctor has my back and just keeps trying. 

The fatigue is still insane. The joint pain is awful. However, now that I have some ideas of what to google (rheumatoid arhtritis), I'm able to find some coping things that help.

• I've been wearing these gloves designed for people with RA, and it reduces the pain and enables me to type.
• I also discovered that if I take several advil upon waking, and then wait until my hips and knees don't hurt quite as much, I can usually do some stretches I found online and work the worst of the hip and leg joint pain out within 3-5 hours of waking. That means that as long as there isn't any crazy weather, I spend only 3-5 hours of my day in significant pain from my hips and knees. 
• I also read that with severe fatigue, it's best to not take naps, and to try to be as physically active as you reasonably can. So I still sleep over 12 hours a night (rip), but that is a distinct improvement over 14-18 hours a day!
• As part of the physically active thing to avoid fatigue, and also some obvious logic to reduce the hip and knee pain (losing weight would put less strain on those joints) I have begun using an exercise bike every day! It's a low-impact exercise, and I think I've finally got the bike adjusted correctly so it doesn't strain my knees as much. 
• I have also modified my diet to be a bit healthier. I'm steering clear of greasy food (which I was doing already, and have done since I had my galbladder removed), I've reduced the amount of bread and potatoes I eat, and increased the amount of veggies, beans, and meat. I'm hoping that the increase in protein will help with the energy issues.  

As a result I am able to work normally about 60% of the time, and in the last week i have lost 10lbs! 
Awkwardly, not all that weight loss is from my modified diet and exercise routiene. Somehow I was losing weight sleeping 18 hours a day and eating whatever I felt like stuffing down my through (pizza and mtn dew, I'm looking at you). But I'm going to take the gems where I can find them! 

I got my test results back. Negative on ANA, and negative on RF, but a very high CRP. 

My primary care doctor said that regardless of the ANA and RF results, he wants me to see the Rheumatologist. Partially because the CRP is alarmingly high, and partially becuase based on the symptoms he is still very concerned about an autoimmune disorder. He also pointed out that not all lupus and rheumatoid arthritis patients will have a positive result. (I googled it, and 5% of lupus patients have a negative ANA result, and about 38% of Rheumatoid Arthritis patients have a negative RF. So... way more likely with Rheumatoid Arthritis).

At this point, including naps, I'm sleeping 14-18 hours a day. I just slept from midnight until 3pm, which gave me exactly enough energy to eat and put one load of laundry in to wash... and now I'm completely exhausted. 

Roux was trying to get me to play with her earlier, and I just couldn't. I didn't even have the energy to push her off. Leela figured out what was going on and distracted Roux for me. She's such a good girl. 

Muffins (my cat), who is pretty standoffish unless you are sick, is always laying on me now. She's even taken to sitting outside the door when I'm in the bathroom. 

Alex is worried enough about this that he's having trouble sleeping. I don't like stressing him out, so although he knows a general idea of what's up I haven't really discussed the severity of everything with him. 

I'm kinda scared. I can't stay awake at work, or when I'm on my computer. I'm afraid I will fall asleep while driving. I'm too exausted to do the dishes, or take out the trash, or any basic things.

Have you guys been watching the news on that virus in China? It's terrifying. 

China has quarantined an entire province that is roughly the size of Spain, shut down schools, cancelled new years celebrations, and shut down almost all government offices. They have also dramatically restricted travel throughout the country. 

Based on China's history of under-reporting numbers, some stastics that I don't understand (god I hate statistics), and some very alarming reports from hospital staff and residents of Wuhan it's very likely that China is dramatically under-reporting what's going on. There are also some scary videos and alleged eyewitness reports that it is WAY worse than China is reporting (there was one I read where they were storing dead bodies in hallways, and a nurse was having a complete breakdown because no one would come get the bodies).

However, what they are reporting is pretty scary. Those infected with the virus don't show symptoms for 10-14 days, and during that time they can spread the virus to other humans. That means all the fancy temperature checkers they have at the travel hubs are completely useless. 

As of this evening, the total official confirmed cases are 2,744. Of those confirmed cases 461 are in serious condition, and are 80 dead. There are also "nearly 6,000 suspected cases and more than 30,000 people under medical observation".