Just One More Thing

As if further proof were needed of either the universe’s ability to throw shit at me to deal with, or my ability to deal with whatever shit the universe decides to throw at me, I have acquired COVID-19. This is while being non-weight bearing on my right foot.

Not so serious, thankfully ¶

So I’ve been petrified of catching this thing ever since I heard about it. My various medical conditions make me particularly susceptible to major complications, but so far I seem to be having fairly mild symptoms.

On the afternoon of Tuesday, January 24th I was shivering despite being in the dialysis ward (frequently held at an extremely high temperature), and being covered in 3 blankets. I didn’t actually feel cold, just had uncontrollable shivering. Add in a persistent cough and a piercing headache and you get COVID-19.

I took a lateral flow test on the day before when the cough started but it was negative. On Tuesdays and Saturdays they do a PCR test at dialysis, and on Thursday evening I got a call to say it had been positive.

After getting home on Tuesday the shivering had stopped and I was left with a cough and a headavhe. I decided I’d picked up a bug at the first social event I’d attended in 3 years, which would have been par for my course. I can’t say that’s for sure where I got it as I’ve got district nurses coming in every Monday to change dressings and every 3 days to give me IV antibiotics, so I’m interacting with a lot more strangers at the moment than I have for a while.

I resigned myself to getting it at some point a while ago so I’m quite surprised it’s taken this long to find me. The It’s now Friday, January 27th, and the symptoms have reduced to a mild headache and the occasional coughing fit. In the grand scheme of potential symptoms I’ve been very lucky. I’m fully vaccinated, including the winter booster, so that’s definitely helped. I guess it’s another thing ticked off the reluctant category in my todo list.

Isolating, for the health of the nation ¶

Unfortunately the district nurses need to continue to visit as it would be dangerous to stop the IV antibiotics, or for me to attempt to change the dressings on my PIC line and foot myself, but I’m sure they know how to handle a positive patient.

Dialysis must also continue, but they have part of the ward isolated from the rest for people like me, so I’ll be dialysed there for the next 10 days.

I’ve had to cancel a couple of hospital appointments, including a review of my foot so the next step of that process will be delayed until my symptoms clear up. I’m also due a stress echo to stay on the transplant list, but I’m waiting for the reminder to come through for that before I make a decision on whether to cancel it. I’m pretty sure it was later in February and I should be clear by then.

Onward ¶

This too shall pass.