A.J. Walker

Multiple Sclerosis etc

A Late Entry to the Club

A Different LFT Surprise

I've been dodging Covid for the whole time it's been ravaging its way up, down and around the country. Clearly I've not been hiding from it; in so much as I've gone out to places like work and pubs & bars, but I have continued to avoid crowded indoor places, and wear a mask when I am on public transport and shopping in supermarkets and the like.

A couple of times last weekend though I went out unintentionally without a mask and travelled on a train (once) and bus (three times). This was because of the hot weather meaning I wasn't with my usual jacket and/or I was still in my shorts (whilst my masks remained at home in my jackets and jeans). It's either God's way of telling me not to wear shorts and to always stick with my go to leather jackets – or it could just be down to me remembering every time I get to the door to check for "
phone-keys-wallet… AND mask." The only time I was in a moderately busy room was the open mic on Thursday night in the Belvedere. The subsequent mics on Sunday and Monday were both very quiet and well ventilated. I tested positive for Covid with a Lateral Flow Test (LFT) on the following Thursday and my suspicion is that I've picked it up on one of my No.17 bus journeys, where you can't help but sit close to people for half an hour or so. It's a lot easier to find space and avoid people in town that it is on a bus. But who knows?

I've purposely avoided busy places in the main, with the odd exception for short periods – like the periodically busy/calm cycle whilst standing in the Grapes on a Friday night – and during the League Cup Final earlier in the year. The city's pubs have been much quieter than pre-pandemic for several reasons no doubt: eg the habits of people now used to sitting at home with some cans, the desire of people to avoid crowds, and the ever growing costs of life in general. So pubs have really not been a fearful place (at least my type of ale pubs) for meeting in over crowded atmospheres with challenging ventilation issues. And it's been easy to move on to quieter places within a hostelry or to another if I was concerned about it.

Whilst I've been carrying on with life I hardly know a soul who hasn't had the disease. And many have had it multiple times. I know I've been lucky not to have picked it up before.

A friend very recently managed to pass me a few boxes of LFTs which was much appreciated at the time – and even more so now. On Monday or Tuesday I began to feel a bit of a dry throat and then had two days of a very runny nose. I'm not usually one for getting colds, and although I sometimes (once ever three years or so) suffer a little from hay fever, I decided to test daily; as the sore throat in particular was unusual.


IMG_4187

It was negative for the first few days but as the test on Thursday emerged to taunt me with the strident line, stating I was not in fact invulnerable to this virus, I was more than disappointed but was not surprised. It's set me up for an uncertain week or so. First though, because of my MS, I was categorised as a high risk and had been provided with a PCR test to use and send off in the event of a positive LFT. So on Friday morning I duly took the test and found a Priority Postbox.

In the meantime I'd completed the NHS reporting of the LFT and texts started to come through from that. The way they were worded were typical of the confusion of ambiguous statements. They also kind of indicated that the PCR was a bit of a waste of time in so much as they already stated that the ball could well be rolling with respect to antivirals notwithstanding the PCR result. Not sure whether this is because of a change in stance since sending out the PCRs or not – things by necessity are understandably changing all the time. But I was glad I'd made the effort to get the test done and sent in any case as surely the more data they have the better.

In the afternoon I got a call from my own GP to say that they'd seen my LFT result and she checked a few things re dates and symptoms etc. I must say I was actually impressed that the national system had flagged up the result to the GP surgery and that they had been able to follow it up so quickly. You sometimes assume these things just get lost in a black hole. But credit given where credit is due.

She said that I may be entitled to get antivirals. I told her that I'd had a text saying as much too. She confirmed that she'd fill in a form from her side which may increase the chances as she wasn't sure how the weekends were being served by the people dealing with things at the moment. I agreed to her doing that. In addition she said they should be able to supply a finger oxygen meter, which I definitely welcomed.

Now it's a case of waiting for the PCR result to be texted (I'm assuming Monday) and to deal with any follow up phone calls from the NHS on antivirals and the oximeter.

Whilst I did the PCR on Friday, I didn't bother doing another LFT. It was still going to positive just one day after the first after all. So I did my second one this morning (Saturday). Again it was positive – and if anything a slightly darker band. I wasn't feeling any worse though. I'll just have to see how many days it'll be…

In general my Covid episode has been:

Bit of a
dry/sore throat - Monday on (first noticeable symptom)
Very
runny nose - Monday on
Phlegm on the chest - Tuesday onwards
Some
fever - Tuesday onwards
Stuffy head/slight headache - Tuesday on
Positive LFT - Thursday (30th Jun) - had negative LFTs Monday-Wednesday

Runny nose thankfully lasted only a couple of days
Phlegm has decreased each day and isn't that noticeable currently (Saturday)
Stuffy head and slight fever hasn't changed much, possibly slight dehydration affecting my head but am trying to keep on top of that.
In fact I think Tuesday/Wednesday morning was the worst of it.

I'm not intending to go out of the house much at all and when I do eg to a shop, I'll wear a mask and get in and out without hanging about. I've got enough food and drink for the weekend – if I do need anything in the next few days it'll probably only be a couple of pints of milk. Sadly there will be no social time. It's all a bit of a lottery when the tests may start to give favourable results. I've had mates okay after five days or so and others well over double that. I fear I am going to be so disappointed next Wednesday – I've got tickets for the brilliant
Felice Brothers at Leaf and I'm going to be gutted if I'm not negative by then (in all probability I'll end up having to pass my ticket on to someone else). That will be really disappointing.

Next Friday I was supposed to be going to Bishop's Castle for our annual Shropshire pilgrimage. It could be a close call too – but in any case I've heard a couple of dubious comments from others that our trip may be cancelled anyway! I'll be doubly gutted to miss out on a great gig and boss camping weekend in one week. But I guess the immediate concern is health; both mine and the '
not passing it on' thing.

WHPCov

Whilst I am isolating it is still okay to get out whilst avoiding people. The legalities and common sense permit it. This morning I popped out for half an hour on my bike. Boy I did find it hard work. I wasn't much slower than usual (anywhere between 9.5 and 10.5 mph is about standard for me) – and the park has those bloody gates which makes you get off your bike to get through them so timing is messed up. By the time I got back home I had a right sweat on. This should not really be the case. But I guess the body is trying to do its fighting the infection thing. I'm not entirely sure if exercising whilst fighting an infection is the right thing or the exact opposite of it. Perhaps I should use the doubt as an excuse to sit around and do nothing. I do wonder whether my O2 stats will be right or not, and I do hope I get given a meter this week to check that out.

In summary, (besides being a bugger to finally succumb to this damnable disease) I'm doing okay. The phlegm was horrible for a day or so, the runny nose too (but people with hay fever this year have had it much worse), and the heavy head is a bit of an annoyance. The main thing is the fever. It's not that high, but it doesn't take much to overheat me. I'll have to route around for where I've put my thermometer to see what my temperatures are trending at. I am quite tired too. But when you get a fever you get tired so hopefully it's just that. I really want to be better by Wednesday so that I can go to a gig. For that I am a hopeful loon, but not an expectant one. As for Bishop's Castle, that is apparently anyones guess.

Lastly, but I guess most importantly, is how this may affect my MS. The biggest fear from any change in circumstances is that it preludes a relapse. There is no reason to think it will, but it could also be argued that there is no reason to say that it won't. Both Covid and MS are such contrary unpredictable bastards. Of course the hope is that it makes not a jot of difference at this time. My fingers are crossed.
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