Day 12 - Two Steps Forward, One Back

I had a rough night again last night. Covid has decided to attack my chest again and I just didn’t sleep well. Then when I woke up this morning I had another round of diarreah. Consequently, I decided it was time to try out NHS 111 and see how helpful they could be.

I was pleasantly surprised. I used the app on my Ipad and by answering a number of questions, I scored a call-back from a doctor. My phone rang almost immediately, and I spoke to a very nice lady doctor who after hearing I was still having symptoms on day 12 of this beast and that I was diabetic decided I should probably be seen in person. She said someone for the East Berkshire NHS would call me to set up an appointment. Five minutes later my phone rang again.

I spoke to another lady who arranged an appointment for me in a couple of hour’s time. The only annoying thing was that I had to make my own way there. I’m the only driver in the household and the last thing I felt like doing was crawling into my car and driving somewhere, but after discussing it with the family, we decided we would all go. My husband and daughter would provide moral support and they could wait in the car once we got there.

When I got to my appointment, I saw that it was a local surgery that had been set up as a ‘Covid Response’ location – I presume on the weekends. I had to call their number and wait outside to be accompanied inside. I met with the nicest medic – he was a ‘Covid response medic’ or some such thing. My first words to him were, “Wow, you are brave!” and he replied he’d already had Covid back in March. I figure by this time most of these people on the front lines have had Covid.

I spent a solid 20 minutes with him going over all my symptoms and he listened to my chest, took my temperature, checked my O2. He listened carefully to all of my concerns. He said all signs looked good – my chest sounded clear, no temperature, O2 levels were good. He said the dairreah should pass in another day or two and he thinks I just need more time to recover. He said that I may develop a cough, but this should pass as well. He said if I start coughing up any green or yellow stuff, to get back in touch with 111 or my GP because this could be signs of a bacterial chest infection. But he was optimistic that I am on the slow road to recovery and that, being a diabetic, I just need a bit more time than usual.

I came out feeling a bit more confident that I’m actually doing OK. He must have seen some really bad cases – I can’t even imagine what life is like for these people at the moment. The whole morning really made me think about all of our hard-working people in the NHS and the sacrifices they are making for us. As a dual UK/US citizen who has lived under both health systems, I cannot tell you how profoundly thankful I am on a daily basis for the NHS. After the organised professional way my case was handled today, my heart is just breaking for the incredible catastrophe that is occurring in the US health system right now. It truly is unbelievable.

Anyway – on to day 13 – this really cannot end soon enough!