State of the Schafer: Back Under the Knife

This Wednesday I'll be having surgery again. Sadly, multiple surgeries aren't unusual for women diagnosed with pre-invasive breast cancer. Something like 25% of women having excision/lumpectomy surgery have to go back for a second time. Some ladies have to go back even more. Pre-invasive cancer is sneaky; it doesn't show up well on imagery, nor does the tissue look different to the naked eye. It takes a pathologist with a microscope to examine tissue at the cellular level and know if the margins are clean or not.  

My surgeon isn't happy with one of my margins. I too would like to minimize my chance of cancerous cells remaining and growing into something far more difficult to treat. So! Back into the operating room I go. I'm not thrilled about the prospect, but at least this time the surgeon only needs to take a little bit more, so it's a faster and less involved surgery. I'm hoping that means the healing will also be a bit faster, but on the other hand, the surgeon will be re-opening the original incision, which means re-injuring the half-healed tissue, so I'm not sure. 

I think the hardest part will be the wait for the new pathology report. It's possible that yet more DCIS (the pre-invasive cancer) could be found in the newly excised tissue, in which case, I might face yet another surgery, or even a mastectomy. I'm obviously hoping for the more happy outcome, in which the tissue is all clean and I'll be free to move on to the next phase of treatment, which involves decisions about radiation therapy. But until I get that pathology report, all the outcomes are still on the table, and that uncertainty is far harder than the actual surgery and recovery, at least for me. 

That said, the recovery is still kinda annoying. I was just starting to be able to hike and everything again! Oh well. I can still look at the pretty mountains, even if I have to wait a while longer to play in them. Some early snows have come to the high peaks, which always makes them extra beautiful (and makes me dream of skiing...fingers crossed I'll get some days in this winter.) 

Took these pics the other day while walking Comet. Winter is coming!

Anyway, once the surgery is done, I'm going to be looking for some great distractions to keep my mind off the waiting while I recover. Maybe I'll re-read Dunnett's Lymond series (my fav books of all time!), although those need a lot of concentration. Maybe I'll re-read some Diana Wynne Jones and Patricia McKillip. If anybody's got really fun absorbing books or shows to recommend, please get in touch. 

State of the Schafer: On the Mend

Welp, my excision surgery for my stage 0 breast cancer was on the 19th, and I'm healing well. As of today, my energy has returned, the soreness is minimal, and I'm even able to sleep on that side again. (A huge help to me, as I'm the sort of sleeper who turns from side to side during the night. Post-surgery, that led to a lot of waking up going "Ow!", despite attempts to brace myself with pillows.) I was definitely glad I took two weeks off work, so I didn't have to worry about trying to be productive. I've spent my recovery time snuggling with my dog and reading and catching up on TV shows that friends have been telling me to watch. 

Comet's been great about keeping me company during recovery

The highlights of my TV binging would include Ted Lasso--which, yes, is as heartwarming as everyone says. I resisted until now because I didn't want to pay for yet another streaming service (and Apple, to boot, I am not fond of Apple in general). But I'm kinda glad I waited, because it means now I've got 3 seasons of Lasso to enjoy, hooray! Another favorite distraction has been the new show Rabbit Hole, which is kind of like a cracked-out mash-up of 24 and Person of Interest. Kiefer Sutherland stars, and you know, I can happily watch Kiefer play spy characters all day. Although, what I like best is that the show has way more of a sense of humor than I expected, and never takes itself too seriously. Good times.

Speaking of kind people, my awesome co-workers sent me flowers, and a gift card to a shop that imports American foods and snacks. Jiffy corn muffin mix and Kraft mac-n-cheese, here I come.

On the reading front, I turned to some old favorites: Dorothy Sayers's Peter Wimsey mystery novels. It's always fun to read the whole series in order and see the build-up to the masterpiece of character work that is Gaudy Night. I also re-read Rachel Aaron's urban fantasy Heartstriker series, I think because watching Ted Lasso and his superpower of kindness made me want to read about similarly good-hearted characters--and Julius Heartstriker, Nice Dragon Extraordinaire, fits that mold quite well. I also re-read my own books, haha--in part because I wrote them for my own taste and so I thoroughly enjoy them, and also because I plan to do some work on the drafts of a Lena story and a Ruslan story., so it's good to immerse myself in the Shattered Sigil world again. I'd love to finish those drafts up while the Cara story, The White Serpent, is off with an editor. 

I'm returning to the day job tomorrow, which is good because I'll need some distraction. Today I heard from my surgeon about my pathology results (where a pathologist examined the tissue removed during the surgery). The good news: no higher stage invasive cancer found, phew! The bad news: more pre-invasive cancer was found than expected, so I may need to have a second surgery to take more tissue. Later this week, the surgeon is meeting with the pathologist and the "tumor board" (a group of doctors) to further discuss the results and make a decision about a second surgery.

As you might imagine, I am not thrilled about the possibility of going under the knife again. But as cancer goes, this is still pretty low-key. No invasive cancer found means no chemo needed, which is a huge relief, so I plan to focus on that. Or actually, just focus on work and writing and family fun, until I get further word from the surgeon. Onward...

Glorious autumn day in Queenstown

Get your screenings, friends

"Hey, did you hear back about your mammogram yet?" my husband asked me. It was mid-February, the height of New Zealand summer, and we were having a spaghetti date night at long-time Wanaka icon The Cow.  (You might think a restaurant named The Cow would be all about steaks, instead of featuring only spaghetti and pizza. But no, the name comes from the original Queenstown location being built in a stone barn. The menu may be limited, but the spaghetti is pretty darn tasty.) 

"Nah. They'll text me if the results are clear. Last time it took a week or two." Even as I spoke, a niggling thought popped up. Hadn't it already been two weeks since my mammogram? Was it a bad sign if I hadn't heard anything yet? Well, but I'd heard everywhere was short-staffed since the height of the pandemic. Probably the screening people were just backlogged. With that, I dismissed worry. Our conversation moved to other, more fun topics.

But a few days later, when I got a call from a kind-voiced woman explaining that she was a nurse calling from BreastScreen Otago, my stomach sank. 

"Your mammogram picked up a small area of concern," she said. "A cluster of tiny calcifications. The cause could be benign, but we'll need to call you back in for further imaging."

I'd been called back once before, on my very first mammogram, back when I was living in the US. "Your breast tissue is very dense," was what they had said back then. "That's common in younger women, but it makes it hard to identify problems. We need to do some more imaging."

That call had come right after I'd buckled my toddler into his car seat, after a fun morning at a museum in Denver playing with a bunch of cool hands-on science exhibits. When I hung up and slid into the driver's seat, I looked in the rear view mirror to see my son already tilted against the side of his car seat, fast asleep. At the sight of his small face, a pang of visceral terror hit me. A friend of mine had recently been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer off her very first mammogram. My own first mammogram was earlier than normal, because my mother had breast cancer in middle age.  She'd survived, but only after several painful and difficult rounds of chemo.

Please, no, was all I could think. Not while my son is so young. 

That time, I was fortunate. My further imaging came back clean. I continued to have yearly mammograms in the US, which then shifted to every other year after we moved to New Zealand, since that's the standard interval here for the free breast screening program. 

I'd never been called back again. Until now. And nobody had talked about calcifications before. I pored over the information sheet the nurse emailed to me. Calcifications are common, it said. Most aren't due to cancer. When breast cancer cells are detected because of micro-calcification, they tend to be either ductal carcinoma in situ (DCIS) – pre-invasive cancerous changes in the milk ducts of the breast – or small early breast cancers that have not yet spread.

Hanging up this time, I didn't feel terror. Only a kind of heavy resignation. My mother had been diagnosed when she was only a couple years older than I am now. But her cancer was not caught that early. Driving to Queenstown for my imaging appointment, I clung to the idea of "early" and "small." 

That proved true. After further imaging, a stereotactic biopsy, and an MRI, I've been diagnosed with DCIS, a.k.a. "stage 0" not-yet-invasive cancer. Baby cancer, the doctors tell me. Cancer on easy mode. 98% survival rate. No chemo needed, just excision surgery and perhaps a course of radiation. Assuming we don't identify any lurking invasive component when we analyze the tissue removed in your surgery. 

Assuming is a word that leaves a lot of room for worry. Uncertainty is always a challenge to handle, at least for an engineer like me. At least I won't have long to wait for answers. My excision surgery is tomorrow. If you're reading this, cross your fingers for me. 

And get your screenings. One of the reasons I decided to talk about this publicly was because it's helped me so much to know about friends who went through the same experience. 1 in 8 women will be diagnosed sometime during their life, the statistics say. In New Zealand alone, 9 women are diagnosed every day. And the ages are skewing younger. Both my doctor in the US and my doctor here in New Zealand mentioned that they're seeing far more breast cancer in 40s and even 30s, compared to when they began their practice. Perhaps due to better screening, perhaps due to something environmental, but the point is--don't put off that mammogram or ultrasound. If your mother or other female relatives had breast cancer, ask for screenings starting 10 years before their age of diagnosis, rather than waiting for the official age recommendation. The earlier an abnormality is found, the easier the treatment.  

State of the Schafer: Still Not Dead

 Right, well. It's been long enough this time that I've been getting the occasional email from a reader wondering if everything is okay, so I figured I'd better confirm that yes, I'm fine. Still very busy with my job at Narrative Muse (which I'm still loving), and still writing (very slowly), but if I'm honest, being busy isn't really why I haven't been posting or interacting much on social media in the last year. Not to get too heavy, but I feel like the COVID era has destroyed any hope I had in humanity. If people can't come together against an infectious disease that kills and disables, what chance does the world have against the far more difficult and insidious challenge of climate change? Far more likely that we will just keep right on accelerating toward a terrible future. 

I don't want to talk about big issues online when I have little that's hopeful or useful to contribute, and it's hard to talk about anything these days without veering into big issue territory (witness this post!). So mostly I just stay silent online--or avoid social media altogether and spend time outside. There's still beauty in the world, and it won't be here forever, and I'd like to appreciate it while I can. 

On a day to day level, though, all is good at Casa Schafer, which I know we're very fortunate in being able to say. For anyone interested in what we've been up to, I can catch you up in pictures, and maybe share a little beauty that way. Let's see, the last time I posted here was May 2022, so let's start in just afterward...

June 2022: This was a pretty quiet month, because the kiddo caught COVID from school and we were isolating with him. (My husband and I wore N95 masks while caring for him, and thankfully avoided getting sick.) The kiddo had a miserable few days and then took about two weeks to fully recover his energy. He was particularly annoyed that while he was ill, we had snow all the way down to lake level (rare in Hawea). What a bummer to miss out on playing in backyard snow with Comet! 

July 2022: With the kiddo recovered and NZ's borders fully open, we traveled to Sydney to see our Aussie family for the first time since the pandemic began. It was really lovely to be together again, and a bit of an eerie experience to see some of the changes wrought in the Sydney by the pandemic. (The international terminal, for example, was still something of a ghost town. Hardly anything was open past security, which was quite a difference from the plethora of shops and restaurants I recalled.) 

Our first view of Sydney in years

August 2022: Despite avoiding COVID on our Australia trip, my husband and I finally succumbed after he returned home from a work trip. He was 3 weeks past his 4th shot, at the absolute peak of protection the vaccine could provide him, which was a very good thing as he's in a higher risk category. He had mild symptoms but took a long time to feel 100% recovered. Happily he did finally get back to normal, unlike so many of our friends who ended up as long haulers. I was more like the kiddo--a few miserable days, then some lingering fatigue that cleared up after a week or two. Plus I too missed out on great snow--while I was ill, our local ski fields had some epic powder days. Alas!   

Comforted by Comet in my time of COVID. (Though actually after the first day of me being sick, the pupster decided hanging out in bed was pretty boring.)

September 2022: Feeling very fortunate to have recovered, I returned to the ski slopes. Thanks to a nice deep base from all the early season snow, the skiing remained good into the spring. Getting in some time in the montains lifted my mood in a way nothing else does! 

Springtime view across the Matukituki Valley

October 2022: The pupster turned 2 years old--officially an adult! He still has enough energy to power a small country, though. Happily, as you can see from the photo, he does now sometimes chill out. (So long as I have provided him with a solid hour of rabbit hunting beforehand, that is!) 

November 2022: Hawea enjoyed a glorious start to spring. Rhododendrons aren't native to NZ, but lots of people grow them in their gardens, and the floral display seemed extra spectacular this year. 

December 2022: This month was meant to be all about family. First, our Aussie relatives came over to Hawea for a visit, and when they headed home, we headed off to North America to meet up with my family for a wintry Christmas. Or at least, that was the plan. Snowmageddon hit Vancouver, our flight was cancelled, we scrambled to piece together new flights and still managed to make it to our first intended destination of Victoria. My family got stranded while connecting through Toronto, and had to spend Christmas there. Due to minimal availability and maximal prices on any open seats, we weren't able to meet up at all, which I felt pretty sad about. Yet there remained lots to enjoy about our first ever trip to British Columbia and Washington's Cascades. The Christmas lights were epic, especially in Victoria's Butchart Gardens, and the town of Leavenworth, WA. Tree skiing is something we don't have in NZ, so we delighted in skiing glades at Stevens Pass in Washington and Whistler in Canada. Some of our Colorado friends were able to join us in Whistler, and it was wonderful to hang out with them again.

Lights at Victoria's Butchart Gardens

Leavenworth, WA

The kiddo and I enjoying powder in Stevens Pass trees. (And yes, the kiddo is taller than I am now.)

Dinner with friends at Whistler

January 2023: It's definitely an odd experience to return from the dead of winter into the heart of summer! The Auckland area of NZ has been hit very hard with flooding and heavy rain, but down south in Hawea, it's been hot and dry. A good excuse to head to the uncrowded beaches of NZ's southern coast...my quest to learn to surf continues, with plenty of wipeouts. 

Our fav surf spot, Colac Bay

Like most things on social media, this quickie recap leaves a whole lot out. What about writing, some of you might ask (assuming anyone's actually stopping by this blog, after all this time, ha!). After receiving comments from beta readers on The White Serpent (the Cara story), I did some more revision on it. I'm about to finish up this 2nd revision, at which point it'll go off for a paid edit pass. I'm still working on the Lena and Ruslan stories and The Dreaming Sea. The writing has to fit in and around the day job and household tasks, so my pace remains that of an arthritic snail, but I do keep inching along. 

In past years, I've agonized over how to write faster. For 2023, I've decided to chill out about it. I'd rather have fun with writing than turn it into a source of stress. I guess that's my theme for the year ahead. More chill, more mindfulness, more treasuring of small joys. We'll see what lies ahead.  

Summer colors

State of the Schafer: Breaking Silence (Again)

I've been pretty silent on the internet the last few months, not just here but on social media as well. That is mostly because I've been very busy! In March, I started a full-time remote job as the lead data scientist and algorithm designer for a New Zealand start-up called Narrative Muse. The company's mission is to help people discover books, movies, and TV shows by or about women and gender-diverse folks. They've developed a recommendation engine called "Matchmaker" which is based solely on the content of books and movies, not sales or rankings or number of reviews or anything else driven by the amount of money spent on publicity. 

This is hugely exciting to me, because I've long been aware of how many excellent books slip through the cracks and never reach the readers who'll love them. I've written posts over on r/Fantasy about the hidden biases and echo chambers of publishing, and I've tried to draw attention where and when I could to books that deserve more love. But that felt like building sandcastles constantly washed away by the tide.  

Maybe the trick is to build from rocks, not sand. 

I'd been thinking for a while that a better way to address the root issues would be to develop content-based recommendation systems--and lo and behold, Narrative Muse has built one! And I get to upgrade and expand their algorithm and apply all my technical engineering skills toward helping people find new authors to love (and movies, and TV shows)! Woo hoo! I love my job, y'all. My co-workers are likewise passionate about the company mission, and fun to work with, and it's just a really neat environment. 

(If what Narrative Muse is doing sounds cool to you, then come join the fun! The algorithm depends (for now) on human curation of book and movie content, and we're seeking more folks to join the curator community. We're also seeking someone with full stack developer experience for a Head of Technology position, so software engineering friends, go check out the job description.)

If you want to see what recs the Matchmaker will give you, go sign up and check out the platform--it's free to use. And let me know your thoughts! Over the next months, I'll be working on a big update of the "taste" questions and the algorithm, so I'm all ears for more feedback on what needs improving.  

It's definitely been an adjustment to work full time again. Fitting work and parenting and dog-exercising and chores into a day is a challenge in and of itself, let alone trying to squeeze in writing and skating and other hobbies. 

If the pupster gets a full hour of off-lead exercise, then he snoozes while I work. For a while. Then we repeat the process again. 

Yet the scant free time isn't all bad. Weirdly, I find I'm more productive now with writing than I was before. I guess when I know I have very little time, I am more motivated to make the most of it. At the same time as I started my job, I also started a Wednesday night "write club" for SpecFicNZ members, where we get together on Wed night via Zoom and chat, then write for an hour, and chat again. That helps make sure I get some writing time in the thick of the work week. 

So, more good news: I've completed the draft of The White Serpent, a.k.a. the Cara novella, which, um, is no longer a novella but a short novel at 60,000 words. (Yikes! Longest "short story" ever.) I'm tweaking a few things about the ending and then it'll go off to beta readers while I work on the Lena and Ruslan stories that I hope will accompany it. Then it'll be back to The Dreaming Sea, which I hope will be better for the time spent percolating in my subconscious. 

I want to keep up my writing momentum, plus it's skating season and will soon be ski season, so I expect I'll remain pretty quiet online. I'd like to keep sharing all my New Zealand scenery pics somewhere where friends can see them, though. Twitter no longer seems like a good place for that, so I'm thinking I'll fire up my long-neglected Instagram account and see how that goes. If you want to de-stress with mountain and puppy pics, I'm happy to provide. 

Autumn brings calm, clear days

State of the Schafer: Summer Adventures

I was going to write a proper "2021 in review" post, but I kept putting it off because I am so, SO close to finally completing the revised draft of The White Serpent. This is the Cara novella, except right now it's more like a short novel at 52,000 words, yikes. Maybe since Cara never got a POV in the Shattered Sigil trilogy, my subconscious wanted to be sure she got a solid chance to shine! 

I haven't been neglecting brand new novel The Dreaming Sea, either; I'm chugging along at 500 words per day on that draft, even as I fix up the last few scenes of The White Serpent. Yet as time is flying and it's nearly the end of January, I figured I'd better stop waiting to catch up on the blog. 

I have to say, the end of 2021 didn't go like I thought it would. When I last posted in October, the Delta variant of COVID had finally popped up in the South Island, and I was braced for it to spread.

Yet it didn't. Amazing what high vaccination rates can do! Many areas in NZ reached over 95% double-vaxxed for the 12+ population, and that seemed to stop Delta cold. Our local area hasn't seen a single case. (Our last recorded case of COVID was way back in April 2020.) Even in Auckland, the heart of the outbreak, cases never really took off. Numbers plateaued around 100 a day, and then slowly decreased to teens and even single-digits. People began to wonder if we'd accidentally eliminate COVID again, though everyone knew such a fortunate state wouldn't last, given the planned reopening of the borders.

Then came Omicron. After watching supply chains struggle and hospitals get swamped overseas, even in highly vaccinated areas like New South Wales in Australia, it seems certain that NZ has a rough few weeks in store. Yes, Omicron is milder than Delta, and vaccinated people have a very small risk of hospitalization and death. But when everyone gets sick at once, NZ is too small of a country to easily absorb huge disruptions to staffing and supply chains. 

On a personal level, our family has done what we can to prepare. My husband and I both got our booster shots, our son is double-vaxxed, and we've got the food and supplies we need if we're all sick and needing to isolate, or if the supermarkets struggle. It helps to know NZ's government has a plan, and they'll continue acting on the best scientific advice. 

Yet I'm sure I'm not the only one feeling a little nervous, as the wave begins to break. I am deeply grateful, however, that NZ held out as long it has. 2021 finished off for my son and husband and I with a glorious summer. We savored gorgeous days at the lake and on the trails; if the pandemic has taught us anything, it's never to take adventures for granted. Seize the day while you can. 

So that's what we did. I finally climbed Corner Peak, monarch of Lake Hawea, whose majesty I had been eyeing ever since we moved here in 2017. I mean, just look at it:

Corner Peak looming over Lake Hawea on a calm winter's day

The climb is hella steep, 1,683m in only 7.75km--that's 5,521ft in 4.8 miles, for any Americans. Locals had told me it's best to do the peak with someone who's climbed it before, as finding the right route is important, and even the right route has some "sketchy bits." 

The Department of Conservation has helpfully placed a warning sign at the beginning of the route.

Given the Kiwi talent for understatement, I wasn't sure just what "sketchy" might mean. I had visions of peak routes I've seen in the Sierra that are deceptively labeled "third class" (meaning no rope or technical climbing gear is required), when in truth, as a gobsmacked friend once announced, "That isn't third class, that's DEATH CLASS."

So, I dutifully waited until I could join some experienced trampers on a trip up the mountain. Routefinding is indeed key, but turns out the sketchy bits are brief and not bad at all. Nowhere near death class, thank goodness. More the sort of thing where you mutter either a little prayer or a curse under your breath as you negotiate a tricky step. ("Please, please, no earthquakes right now.") 

I'll have to do a proper trip report some day to show off all the awesome scenery from the climb, but for now, I'll just say the views from the summit were absolutely worth the effort.

Looking up the Hunter Valley from Corner Peak's summit

The next adventure was a family trip on the Milford Track, on which we enjoyed a very rare blessing: clear skies and sunshine for the entire 4-day trek. Fiordland is known for mist and rain; I'd heard of people doing the Milford multiple times before ever getting a clear view of the stunning peaks surrounding Mackinnon Pass. I'm so glad we lucked into great weather, because just look at these:

The waterfalls were also incredible, but again, I'd best save more pics for a proper trip report (lest this post grow to be even longer than The White Serpent!). Okay, but I have to show one sneak peak:

Cooling off at Sutherland Falls

We didn't just stick to adventures in the mountains, though. NZ's beaches are also beautiful, so just before Christmas, we took a road trip up the South Island's wild West Coast, soaking in plenty of ocean scenery along the way.

Shipwreck Beach, near Haast

Beach near Punakaiki

Sea stacks at Motukiekie

The adventures continued in January, when we headed down to Riverton on NZ's southern coast, and I tried surfing for the first time. I had done plenty of boogie boarding and general playing in the waves in my younger years, but never real stand-up surfing. Oh goodness, it's so much fun. Hello, new hobby! 

Surfing at Monkey Island beach. Small waves and soft sand made it perfect for beginners like us.

Granted, the closest beach is a 3 hour drive away from where we live, so I don't know if I'll ever get good enough to ride serious waves. That's okay, I'll have fun trying, whenever we next head to the coast. In the meantime, at least we can cool off from summer heat in Hawea's lake. 

Nothing like glacial lakewater on a hot summer day

The pupster's accomplishment for the summer is that he's finally learned to chill out a lot more in between daily walks and playtime, which sure makes it easier for me to work and write!

Don't worry, he still gets plenty of cuddles:

My son heads back to school next week, which always feels like summer's end, even if there's still another month of hot weather. 2022 looks to have plenty of challenges in store, but at least I can face them knowing I've had a good start. I'm lucky in that, I know. For everyone who's not starting the year off well, my heart goes out to you. My main goal for 2022 is to find ways I can help make the world a little better, whether on a personal or professional level. Maybe that sounds facile, especially in the face of the sheer scope and size of the problems looming over us all. Yet I cling to the belief that every act of kindness matters, especially in difficult times. I don't know if humanity can reach a brighter future, but I still want to strive for one.

Wishing for the dawn of a better year for everyone.

State of the Schafer: Milestones

It's spring in NZ, and boy is it a gorgeous one. Usually in spring, Hawea is ferociously windy, but this October we've enjoyed a lot of calm sunny days. Perfect for walking the pup and enjoying other outdoor fun.

Hiking with the kiddo

Spring skiing

Perfectly still day at the lake

Blue-green waters of the Clutha River

Family walk

Bluebells by the trail

Speaking of the pupster, he's officially passed his first birthday. 

One year old! Hard to believe.

We're still dealing with various adolescent behaviors, particularly a surge of alert barking. ("What's this? The neighbors are working in their garden? I must warn everyone! BORK BORK BORK!") But oh goodness, it's so much easier than the crocodile landshark teething puppy stage. Spoodles are seriously high energy dogs, so he still needs two long walks per day, but after each walk, he's happy to chill for a few hours. I'm finally making real progress in writing again, woo! 

Writing while the puppy naps

(Mini writing update: four more scenes to go in my revision of The White Serpent, the Cara novella. They are tricky scenes though…the end of a story often takes the longest for me to write, because it’s so important to get the character arc and sense of resolution to feel right.) 

On the same day the pupster turned 1, we achieved another family milestone: my son got his 2nd Pfizer dose, which means all of us (the humans, anyway!) are now fully vaccinated against COVID. I’m deeply relieved, as the virus has begun leaking out of Auckland. Lockdowns only work if people obey the rules, and unfortunately the virus managed to spread into segments of the community (drug dealers, gangs) who don’t care about rules. But Auckland’s long weeks in L4 and L3 lockdown haven’t been in vain; it’s given everyone in NZ more time to get vaccinated. That’s especially important for those like my kiddo who were only recently eligible. 

Today, the South Island reported its first case, up in Blenheim. This is the first community case of COVID on the South Island in well over a year, but we all know it won’t be the last. I am so glad that NZ will now be facing Delta with decent vaccination rates. In our local district, I believe we’re currently at 95% of people over 12 with their first dose, and 78% with their second (with that number rising fast). 

I suppose now NZ’s South Island will be a living laboratory: one of the few places in the world where Delta will hit a population with no prior exposure to COVID and therefore no native immunity at all, only vaccine-generated immunity. As I understand it, the Pfizer vaccine is not tremendously effective against symptomatic infection with Delta, especially after a few months, but it does remain extremely effective at preventing hospitalization and death. So, case numbers here may skyrocket, but hospital numbers should remain low, which is vital given that the South Island (and NZ in general) doesn’t have much hospital capacity. 

NZ has only had 28 deaths so far from COVID since the start of the pandemic. Boy do I hope that number stays low. The government is pushing hard for a target of 90+% of all eligible people in all areas of NZ to be fully vaxxed, offering the carrot of no more lockdowns and (eventually) border reopening. I hope we can reach 90% everywhere; I hope it’s enough. Nothing to do now but wait and see. 

Wish I could be as relaxed about the future as the pupster