From The Chief Editor's Desk...

'Tis the season, I guess.

Everyone in our house has been sick and on antibiotics over the past month.

Except me.

It all started with Ryan being diagnosed with left lower lobe pneumonia. By the time he had finished up his first round of antibiotics, we had to go back to the urgent care clinic for more, because he definitely wasn't over it. They prescribed him another, more powerful antibiotic, which finally kicked the pneumonia to the curb.

At Ryan's second urgent care visit, Lexi also got seen because of a persistent cough and scratchy, irritated throat. The nurse practitioner said she had some rhinitis, and to treat it with antihistamines and decongestants. Two days later, we ended up right back at the urgent care clinic, because the rhinitis had precipitated a left ear infection. So, she ended up on a round of antibiotics as well to treat that.

Then, on the day that I returned from my deer hunting trip during the early antlerless firearm deer season, my wife went to the urgent care clinic. She was diagnosed with a right lower lobe pneumonia. They prescribed her an antibiotic, but when she was a few days into that round of antibiotics, it was evident that it wasn't the correct antibiotic. Fortunately, she ran into one of her favorite doctors while working at the hospital, who phoned a new prescription for a more appropriate antibiotic to our neighborhood pharmacy. Once that course of antibiotics was done, she still wasn't better, so off she went to the urgent care clinic, yet again. There, they “upgraded” her diagnosis to a persistent right lower lobe pneumonia, and ordered her on a third round of antibiotics. Finally, she is improving. Even as I write this, she is off for a followup visit at the urgent care clinic.

The physician she saw at her second urgent care clinic visit mentioned that the CDC has issued an advisory that atypical pneumonia diagnoses were on the rise across the country. Here's an article from the CDC that explains what has been going on, if you'd like to read more about it.

When we attended our kids' parent-teacher conferences, they mentioned that they had a lot of kids out with pneumonia. So, that is how things have been in our home and area lately.

To be perfectly honest, I have NO idea how I've escaped this onslaught unscathed. I've been surrounded by sickness, but have somehow evaded its grasp. How I've managed that feat, I don't know … but I'm thankful.

So, be careful out there. Covid isn't our only pathogen/illness to worry about. This year's trivalent influenza vaccine has missed the mark on the prevalent strains going around (although it **will** convey some protection to you, and make the symptoms much milder should you be unfortunate enough to get an influenza infection … so PLEASE go ahead and get your annual flu shot!). Now we also have to worry about this new atypical pneumonia going around.

Mother Nature must really have a burr in her knickers. Or, she really does hate us. I think the jury is still deliberating.

This month's cover was created by the Image Creator in Bing, powered by DALL-E-3 AI. It celebrates the International Space Station, which first “opened for business” on November 2, 2000. Linux users will be pleased to know that our favorite operating system occupies a key role in the day-to-day operations of the ISS. If you're curious about the computers used aboard the ISS, you can “read more about it” from this post on Quora, by Robert Frost, Instructor and Flight Controller at NASA.

Until next month, I bid you peace, happiness, serenity, prosperity, and continued good health!