Kenna Morton's Journal, 13 Apr 20

that is a motivator not to be one with an underlying condition stay healthy and strong  

Tim Vail— you are so correct—vaping, smoking, heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes of all types, pulmonary disease and for us AMERICANS, OUR OBESITY issue is one of our major obstacles and plays a huge role in why our death rate is so high. Does this sound familiar? The co— morbidities to almost every disease or chronic medical problem. So why are people so freaked out of dying of the virus than they are of dying of anyone of the aforementioned conditions? Sorry for the rant. My sister is currently fighting Covid19 and she has several of the co-morbidities. Frustration speaking here. 

Well said Kenna.  

When I first heard diabetes was also a problem with Covid19, I was thinking how great some of the people on this site have done with reversing their type 2, and how happy they should be with their decision and commitment to a healthier life. 👍 

As far as I have seen there has been no numbers on obesity leading to death. Most facts that I have read says other factors like hypertension, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and respiratory system disease. I think we can be healthy even if we put on a few pounds here. Eat healthy ad stay active... I think 

I have seen reports of what Kenna is talking about. Also, ICU's in some places have been doing a lot of prone positioning of patients, even conscious patients, to try to alleviate some of the pressure on the lungs from a patient's abdominal weight/size. There are also reports that 80+% of patients in some hospitals' ICU's are obese. How much obesity is an independent risk factor apart from hypertension and other related conditions (diagnosed or undiagnosed) is at this time unknown, especially as these conditions often go hand in hand and the disease is new. Kenna's point is well taken. We don't need to wait for retroactive numbers to come out, once the crisis has eased and more studies can be done, to heed Kenna's obesity caution now. Thanks for the reminder, Kenna! It's inspiring how you think about all of us and our well-being, even as your own sister is fighting this disease. We're rooting for her here.  

Kpwcalories— back in ancient history proning patients was included in STANDARD PULMONARY CARE. Even patients on ventilators were PRONED and back percussion done. Your lungs are huge and in the back they extend down to almost your waistline. They have been doing Proning on my sister— 2 hours on each side and then supposed to have 2 hours on her stomach with percussion. She could only tolerate 30 minutes on her stomach because of the previously mentioned obesity issue. She was so excited to tell me all about this new thing that was being done— the proning— I had to chuckle. 

Love it. Wish they had done that on my late husband. Thanks so much for the update! 

Thanks for the information. What is proning? Does it mean lying on your stomach? 

Valid point 

I feel like I might not have any control over lots of things right now but I do still have control over what I put in my mouth. We're still able to get healthy choices of food where I live, so the largest % of what we're eating is still healthy. I admit I've made the choice to eat some things that aren't in my everyday WOE but, I still watch portion sizes. One of the reasons I wanted to lose weight was so that I no longer registered in the "overweight" range. I also wanted to feel better. Worked hard to achieve that...don't want to blow it now.  

Proning is laying flat on your stomach.  

I have one. Plan a trip. Going on another Viking cruise to Europe in August. I'm looking forward to that. Also, Spring gardening time!!! 

I lay flat on my back now. I couldnt do that for years because of ciggarettes, medication and obesity. Feels nice to wake up and sit up in my bed and just do that.  

Speak it, Kenna! 

And I love your historical context on this.  

Kenna - I've been thinking a lot about just what you posted. I really have no "underlying" conditions. Maybe my age is getting there (almost 65). But no diabetes, high blood pressure. I have bad allergies, but I've been tested twice for asthma in the past few years and am not that bad. But being overweight, on the border between obese and overweight is my biggest risk factor. This should be a good time to really work on losing the weight.  

Obesity is nota risk factor interms of getting the disease, the risk factor is if you get the disease and you are one of those that develope respiratory distress it is much more difficlt to ventilate an obese person vs. one who is not. I’m not talking someone who is 10-15 lb overweight. Think 50 lb. overweight and more. 

Kenna - I know my obesity and my allergies don't increase the odds of getting the disease but could make it more likely that if I get it, it would not necessarily be a mild case. I'm about 40-50 pounds from where I need to be.