… CONTINUED FROM DIARY No 9 …
(Image by Tumisu, via Pixabay)
SUNDAY 26th APRIL
UK hospital deaths in last 24 hours 413 – Total deaths in hospital 20,732
I thought if you got coronavirus you were supposed to self-isolate (which means you don’t get included in any statistics) for 7 days because that was how long it lasted and it peaked on the 4th or 5th day. But my friend who lives in Central London and who – pretty certainly – had the virus a few weeks ago tells me:
I think there is a difference between being symptomatic, being infectious and being post-viral but still feeling ill. I don’t know for how long people are infectious. I am just saying that some people, including me, feel ill for several weeks. That is different from NHS guidelines about isolation and work.
One friend has had fever for over 2 weeks. Another couldn’t get out of bed for 3 weeks. Another – an obstetrician – couldn’t stand up for 10 days and is still signed off work, A fourth was in bed for a week and, in week 3, still can’t push a Hoover round a room.
As for loss of taste and smell… Does having no sense of smell mean the virus is still active in me or is it just a post-viral leftover? I don’t know.
With me, the fever stopped over 2 weeks ago. I am now mildly able to taste my casserole. I would say I’ve got 25% back. Can get very strong tastes. A spoonful of mustard just about gets through!! Have to hold things against my nose to smell them. I would say this week has been the first proper better week. Energy back. Still got a cough but it is abating.
The rules state that you should self isolate for 7 days or longer if you still have symptoms. But one friend’s partner who’s a nurse got symptoms and was told to report for work 7 days later. I know a lot of people who have been pretty ill. But ill at home.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to return to work tomorrow. The Financial Times had quoted May 7th as a likely return date but an expert (currently, it seems, the world is full of experts) told The Times that he would need one week’s rest for each day spent in the Intensive Care Unit. He was in the ICU for three days and is, indeed, roughly coming back after three weeks’ recuperation.
My friend in Central London (as detailed in previous Diary Blogs) has a friend seriously ill with coronavirus in an ICU since 4th April.
MONDAY 27th APRIL
A rare collection of items, not seen by me locally for four days
I bought some eggs today… they have been unseen for the last four days…
My friend in Central London, whose friend is in an ICU with coronavirus, messaged me:
I am exhausted.
My friend had a tracheostomy today.
I may stay in bed tomorrow with my phone on silent.
Running on empty.
Me. Not the iPhone.
Prime Minister Boris Johnson is, indeed, back.
UK hospital deaths in the last 24 hours were 360.
Total deaths in hospital now stand at 21,092.
“The procedure went well…” (Photo by Cottonbro via Pexels)
TUESDAY 28th APRIL
My friend in Central London messaged me:
Don’t feel brilliant today. My friend had the tracheostomy yesterday. The procedure went well. Is stable.
Hospital deaths in the last 24 hours: 586.
Total UK deaths in hospital: 21,678.
WEDNESDAY 29th APRIL
I went to donate blood today. They test your blood for coronavirus antibodies, but not for the coronavirus itself. You used to get tea or coffee and biscuits after donating blood. The last time I went, in February, you could not have hot tea or coffee – only cold drinks… something to do with the caffeine.
“You used to get tea or coffee with biscuits…”
This time there was a different reason given for not drinking tea or coffee after donating – Because of social distancing. They don’t want people to linger too long at the biscuit table afterwards. Apparently, people linger less long if the drinks are cold instead of hot.
Instead of having nine people on nine beds donating blood at the same time, today they had six people donating blood in plastic recliner chairs which were wiped-down after each person.
In the queue going in, I got talking to another donor (keeping the regulation two metres apart). I normally clench and unclench my fist to help the blood flow out faster. He said the medical advice was also to clench and unclench your buttocks. It has the same effect.
I am not sure this comes naturally to me in practice; only symbolically.
Latest from my friend in Central London on her friend who is in hospital:
Yesterday was a good day but it is very up and down.
His slight rally is due to our wonderful NHS. They are so compassionate. I feel they are really taking care of him. Today his nurse decided that my friend’s bed was too near the door so might be interfering with his rest – he feels moving him somewhere quieter today in ICU might help him rally more. Details, but they are fighting his corner every moment.
On the other hand, the call from the consultant is always more sobering. He said they still don’t give my friend more than a 15-20% chance because of multiple organ failure (his liver function is now also impaired). However, they are not giving up on him. They have brought him this far (since 4th April).
If only his daughter and I could go and talk to him and hold his hand.
What people are not realising, I think, is that it’s not just old and infirm people dying. And it’s not just Oh we’ll pop somebody on a ventilator for 3 days and then they’re fine.
The consultant told me that 80% of ventilated patients who are in a similar position to my friend don’t make it. Those with a chance – like my friend – who are under 60 and have no pre-existing medical problems, are often on ventilators for weeks. Over 50% in my friend’s ICU are aged 45-65. He is 58.
He has settled well with the tracheostomy. This morning I spoke to his consultant and his ICU nurse. The tracheostomy means they can easily take him off the ventilator and back on again. He did well off the ventilator for a few hours yesterday, with just a supplemental oxygen mask. They put him back on the ventilator overnight because, even though he is now managing to breathe on his own, his breathing muscles are weak and easily tired. They will try him off the ventilator again today.
Both the consultant and the nurse said he’s “a bit more awake” – sometimes opening his eyes when they say his name. He doesn’t yet respond to any other commands like squeezing a hand or sticking out his tongue. The nurse thinks my friend’s eyes maybe look like they are actually looking back at him for a second, but he can’t be sure yet.
The consultant said they are still giving kidney filtration and, as he is young, they hope his kidneys can eventually recover much of their function.
He is a bit jaundiced at the moment and they know his liver isn’t working 100% but the consultant said this is common in ICU patients.
So some hopeful signs.
Meanwhile, UK hospital deaths in the last 24 hours rose by 765. That means total coronavirus deaths in hospitals has reached 21,857. Total all-in deaths (including hospitals, care homes and in ‘the general community’) have now reached 26.097.
THURSDAY 30th APRIL
Boris Johnson and his girlfriend Carrie Symonds had a son yesterday.
Inspirational war veteran Captain Tom Moore has been appointed an honorary colonel of the Army Foundation College in Harrogate, North Yorkshire, to mark his 100th birthday. He has now raised over £31 million for the NHS.
He has also been awarded a Defence Medal, “after experts realised he was owed one decades ago”. It will be added to the 1939-1945 Star, Burma Star and War Medal he wore on his walk, which also earned him a Pride of Britain Award. The newspapers report he will also be made an honorary England cricketer by former captain Michael Vaughan. I have no idea how that works.
Latest news from my friend in Central London is:
I have just had an update from the ICU. My friend needed a lot of kidney filtration today, as well as a unit of blood and blood pressure support. With all that going on, his oxygen requirements went up again so they’re leaving him on the ventilator at the moment. His oxygen saturation (SATs) is good though. So it’s a bit up and down today.
He is still responding to pain stimuli. When they suctioned the chest secretions earlier, they thought he was trying to bite the tube – so this could be a further little sign of improvement in awareness, although he still hasn’t come round from sedation, which was discontinued 2 weeks ago.
They invited me to ring the ICU mobile today and they held the phone to his ear so I could talk to him. I told him how his family and friends are constantly sending messages of support and love. He will be overwhelmed at all the good wishes coming his way. I also told him about what’s happening in his beloved garden and I didn’t forget to add that many of us are missing his cooking – especially the curries!
“Increased ventilation overnight… increased support…”
FRIDAY 1st MAY
My friend in Central London tells me:
News just in from the consultant. The trend is downwards.
Increased ventilation overnight, increased BP and cardiovascular support, inflammatory markers up, kidney support up.
He said the longer they support multiple organs the slimmer the chances are becoming and he said it’s not looking great at the moment.
UK coronavirus deaths up 739 in the last 24 hours to an overall total of 27,510.
Carrie Symonds with son Wilfred on Twitter
SATURDAY 2nd MAY
Boris Johnson and Carrie Symonds named their son Wilfred Lawrie Nicholas Johnson. The Nicholas bit is in tribute to Dr Nick Price and Dr Nick Hart, whom Boris credits with saving his life when he was in hospital with coronavirus.
Wilfred was Boris’ grandfather and Lawrie was Carrie’s grandfather.
I myself was named after my grandfathers – the rather unfortunately named John and Thomas.
I also heard from my friend in Central London:
I had a call from the consultant today.
My friend’s inflammatory markers have come down a little bit – The lab found no new infections yesterday, so they’re continuing with the antibiotics as before. They will also try to lower his blood pressure support by a small amount.
Other than this, the news is much the same as yesterday. He confirmed that my friend’s breathing has lost some ground since a week ago.
It is some 6 weeks since he first became ill, so the medical opinion is that they are no longer dealing with the virus itself but rather the very considerable and widespread damage that it has done to his body/vital organs. They think that, at this point, ICU patients are no longer infected (or infective) with coronavirus, so they are now no longer treating the virus but instead supporting my friend’s body to heal, which includes treating any infections that crop up and supporting his lungs, kidneys and cardiovascular system.
This is disappointing to hear, of course, but the hope is that new treatments will soon be able to help newly infected people.
I also found out that someone else I know was taken into hospital with coronavirus earlier in the week. He has always seemed to be strong, sturdy and healthy. He came out of hospital yesterday and is now resting, alone, at home. He tells me:
What an experience going into those COVID-19 ‘hot wards’ as they call them. You can really see how stretched the NHS really is. I only found one sanitiser dispenser that had any in it in the two different wards I was on and the porter was telling me that, when there’s a delivery, it’s a bit of a free-for-all to try to grab gloves and masks to last until the next lot arrive.
Strange experience being in a locked-down hospital with security on every door, I had to have an argument with a security man to let me out after I’d been discharged even though my son’s van was about 15 feet away waiting to take me home. I threatened the security man with a cough and he let me through in the end. LOL.
… CONTINUED HERE …
SO IT GOES - John Fleming's blog 
Of course nobody really knows. However I was reliably told that being on a ventilator is very bad news for many reasons. It sounds obvious but I think I had it at the beginning. I had menthol oxygen ( totally by accident because I always get breathless at the gym) and used it along with deep inhale of olbas oil. I’m not saying this is an answer but it’s worth trying…. and most of the time
Thank you. I enjoy reading your blog and hope you feel better soon.