Thanks ... and a progress report

First, a big 'Thank You' to everyone who sent me messages whilst I had COVID-19. Usually I try to respond to each comment made on my blog, but in the early stages of my infection I really was not well enough to reply.

I began to feel unwell overnight on Friday 18th/Saturday 19th February, and by the time I got up on Saturday morning, I felt as if I had the worst 'flu/cold I had had in years. I was shivering, coughing repeatedly, sneezing regularly, had a runny nose and a bad headache, had little sense of taste or smell, my eyes were itching, my vision was blurry, my throat was dry and felt sore, and I could hardly concentrate on anything that I tried to do. I took a Lateral Flow Test (LFT) ... and the result was positive for COVID.

I was supposed to be fighting an online wargame on Saturday morning with Gary Sheffield, so I contacted him to cancel it. I also registered the result of my LFT with the NHS 'Track and Trace' service ... which took me nearly thirty minutes as I just could not concentrate hard enough on what I was doing to answer the questions that they asked. In reply I was told to self-isolate until 1st March, although it I had two consecutive negative LFT results from 24th February onwards, I would no longer need to self-isolate.

I have very little memory of what happened on the rest of Saturday or Sunday other than I ate very little, drank a lot of fluids, and slept fitfully for about sixteen hours on each day. One thing that does stand out was the firework show that seemed to take place in my head every time that I closed my eyes to sleep!

By Monday 21st February I was beginning to feel slightly better. I felt tired all the time and was still sleeping or dozing on and off for much of the day, but I was able to concentrate for long enough to sort out one or two problems that needed urgent attention. Foremost amongst these was the need to cancel an appointment with my GP about a problem that may have arisen as a result of my stoma and to cancel my annual NHS Health Check. I also had to arrange for a stand-in for a talk I was due to give to a Masonic Lodge on Friday 25th February. These three simple tasks took me hours to complete, thanks to my fatigue and inability to concentrate properly.

Ironically, I did see the Prime Minister announce the end of the need for people who were fully vaccinated to self-isolate if the had a positive LFT result ... and was amazed when the NHS 'Track and Trace' service sent me a reminder two minutes after he began his statement that as I had become ill before the announcement, I was still bound by the legal requirement to self-isolate until 1st March!

As the week progressed, I began to feel slightly better. By Thursday 24th February I still had the runny nose and general feeling of lethargy and was dozing off regularly whilst sitting in my chair in front of the TV. I was also finding it difficult to do anything that required a physical effort or serious concentration. For example, climbing the stairs required me to sit down for a couple of minutes to recover each time I went up, although coming back down again was less tiring. I did try to do some modelling and some writing, but after about ten minutes on each, I gave up. This was great pity as I had plenty of time to kill as a result of my self-isolation.

Thursday was also the first day I could take a LFT to see if I was no longer infectious ... but the test gave a positive result. This was also the first day when Sue's daily LFT showed that she was testing positive for COVID, which meant that she was going to have to join me in self-imposed purdah.

The news on Thursday was dominated by reports about the Russian invasion of the Ukraine. We followed events as best we could using the numerous online news channels that we can access (BBC News, Sky News, Al Jazeera, and RT) and the different slants put on events by these news outlets was, to say the least, interesting.

Sue and I slept quite badly on Thursday night, and when we awoke neither of us was feeling any better than we had done on the previous day. I was so concerned about events in the Ukraine that almost as soon as I had a drink and my morning shower, I wrote a somewhat rambling blog post in which I outlined my thoughts. It received quite a number of comments over the following two days, and I was just about able to concentrate for long enough to reply to them.

On both Friday (25th February) and Saturday (26th February) my LTFs indicated that I was still testing positive for COVID, and that my period in isolation would have to continue. I did manage to have an online consultation with my GP about the problem that may be linked to my colostomy, and he arranged for me to have an ultrasound scan of my lower abdomen once I was clear of the virus. Other than that, I managed to do very little over those two days other than watch TV and to put together some ideas for the forthcoming PORTABLE WARGAME COMPENDIUM.

I was expecting that the LTF I took on Sunday would indicate that I was finally free from COVID-19 ... but it didn't, although the line indicating that I was still infected was much thinner than it had been on the previous day. I now felt as if I just had a very heavy cold and although I still felt very tired every time that I tried to do anything that involved physical effort, my concentration span was longer, and I actually managed to spend an hour working on the COMPENDIUM!

Monday's LFT was negative ... which meant that if Tuesday's was also negative, I would officially be free of COVID-19! Unfortunately, I was not free of the symptoms of a heavy cold, but my concentration was much improved, and I did some more work on the COMPENDIUM. Sue is still testing positive, and we are going to continue to remain isolated until she is clear, but with a bit of luck, ours will be a COVID-free house by later this week.

I will be taking today's LFT in about an hour ... and I have my fingers crossed that the result will be negative. If it is, I can al least walk to the local post box and post the latest issue of THE NUGGET!