Before heading into dreamland last night, which did not come easy, I decided to concentrate on writing a few posts concerning Chess, as I have two book reviews to complete, one of which was begun, then stopped because it has been difficult focusing on Chess these daze…Checking my inbox this morning found this from the Mulfish, a very religious man whom I know will be mentioning Irina in his prayers. If you believe in that sort of thing, now is the time for prayer:
American GM Irina Krush
isn’t particularly old – she turned 36 last December – but she not only contracted the novel coronavirus but started experiencing serious, atypical symptoms. From her Facebook page:
“Last Wed night, March 11th, I started to feel a little bit under the weather. On Thursday I had an unpleasant temperature, 37.6, spent some extra time sleeping, but it got better after that. My temperature never went up again as high, it actually fluctuated between 36.7 and 37. I should also mention, by Friday night, but definitely by Saturday I lost my sense of smell completely. I could not smell the cup of coffee right in front of my nose. I could not taste what I was eating. That was a depressing symptom…happy to say that my sense of smell/taste is coming back to me now! On Sunday I felt well enough to take an hour walk on the boardwalk. But on Monday evening, I felt a shortness of breath, a symptom I’ve never experienced before. I just had to take deeper breaths to get the air in. It was definitely worrying, especially given I had absolutely no other symptoms like fever or coughing. On Tuesday morning, I had an internet lesson just like I’d had on Monday morning. That was when I knew it wasn’t “anxiety” or me dreaming something up: I just couldn’t talk without taking extra pauses to breathe. I went to CityMD right after my lesson. When they saw I had no temperature, that my chest X ray was clear and there were no signs of pneumonia, the doctor visibly relaxed (since it didn’t look like I had coronavirus). She had no explanation for the shortness of breath, though, and suggested a CT scan at the ER to check for blood clots. So I went to the ER (not the most pleasant experience, there were people around with a cough so severe I was really concerned I could catch the virus there). Anyway, the CT scan showed “early coronavirus” and pneumonia in both lungs. I was also given the actual test, which only came back today (positive). I spent a couple days in the hospital, I guess mostly under observation as there wasn’t much that needed to be done for me…they did test my blood for oxygenation and found it was fine. So now I am home…taking the hydroxychloroquine tablets. I still have no other symptoms other than the shortness of breath, which I guess I can describe as “moderate”. Going up the stairs you do feel totally out of breath, but even sitting in place you can feel it. I am very happy I can breathe on my own. Anyway, I thought I’d share this as I know the trajectory of my illness was not completely typical, and it can help some of you get tested/treated/go into quarantine earlier. And it absolutely made me see the importance of staying home and doing your part to slow the spread of this. Wish you all to stay healthy!”
Thank God she is doing better, and it’s very good news that positive, if still anecdotal, results for hydroxycloroquine keep coming in. Let’s hope that if there have to be more stories about the virus in the chess world, they will be no worse than this.
http://www.thechessmind.net/blog/2020/3/21/irina-krush-diagnosed-with-covid-19.html
Armchair Warrior 