Sorry I vanished again my wee cabbages (seriously, while I’m all for a healthy diet, how is it the French ended up with that as a term of endearment?!). Am torn between liking that there are so many of us on here now & being a wee bit sad that lots people are having a rough time of it. Did just wonder, briefly, what an online space with/for all 2.5 million(ish) of us would be like. Is it bad I’d want a Letters Or GTFO situation because of behaviour of Some People (not on here!) who’ve decided to self shield after blatant disappointment not to be on the list & General Dramatics about assorted things? (Obviously to include people shielding as families: GP surgeries can confirm extra people entitled to accounts on site/number accounts that can be linked to one NHS number. And in my imagination they’ve sorted out who’s actually shielding, yes. Please refrain from crushing my wee dream...) There will also be a strict moderation policy & a ban-hammer like Mjölnir for anyone who starts bleating about it being a choice/for our own good/how we should euthanise ourselves For The [Healthy] Children wonder when The Indoctrination Questions will be hitting textbooks/school resources 
I’ve still had no call from Super Important Vascular Surgeon. Think I’d probably better drop Lovely Admin a wee email just to see what’s going on there. Ech. Have had a call from Very Nice Lady from Council Shielding Hub to check I’m still coping; & now have the Hub number so I can contact them if anything does go sideways. She seemed a bit confused to find herself talking about being worried about her normal job part-way through the phonecall. I tend to have that effect on people though; & I really am glad to hear that they’re expecting to be able to restart Adult Education stuff (albeit in a limited capacity as well as with social distancing measures etc) in September. As the Very Nice Lady (also known as Therese) said, it’s a lifeline to a lot of the people who attend the classes.
My trip up to the hospital on Monday coincided with getting a response to my complaint to my local CCG. Which was Quite Something. And is going to generate another complaint - need to talk to my CNS about whether she wants to make her own complaint/what she wants me to say in my complaint about their misrepresentation of what she said. Quite how they thought I’d not check with her what her doing a complete volte face on the relative safety of me attending hospital vs a District Nurse coming out to me I don’t know... I got to see a different one of the Lovely IVAD Team who was also v excited & pleased about my having a port. Given I’d to have 10 vials of blood taken it’s lucky I’ve got it as there’s no way they could have got that much blood from me using butterflies 
(Not. Envy.)
@Goingcrazy55
Hope that your Union have got back to you & are helpful. As @Splitsunrise said, if your GP surgery keep refusing to provide a letter (which is ridiculous!) complain to the practice manager. They literally just need a receptionist to put in the name, print it out & get a GP to sign it (& probably put the practice stamp on it as well, didn’t check to see if mine has that). No excuse not to do that.
@SuncreamInTheWinter
Am sorry you were left feeling so vulnerable, & hopefully you’ll not have another exacerbation like that; but also hope if you do you’ll feel more confident about coping at home as done it successfully before. Am not sure where you are, but if your area didn’t previously have an admissions reduction plan for people with severe asthma, they’ll almost certainly have based it off a combination of existing ones. A pandemic is just a particularly scary/bad time to roll one out/make such a big change to people’s individual treatment plans really - though I suppose Covid-19 is pretty much the ultimate HIA to want to avoid atm. While I think of it, if you don’t usually have nebulised steroids, did they tell you they can wreak havoc on some nebulisers? If that’s the case you might want to check - I found out the hard way I needed a different mesh & to dilute with saline. As @AMileInMyShoes says though, your tipping point for calling an ambulance during an acute exacerbation shouldn’t be messed with - so your numbers for a SATs drop (& non-improvement)/cyanosis/inability to speak/using accessory muscles & all that stuff: really REALLY hope nobody was mucking around with those parameters.
@Skybluepink123
Do you think your DH will chose to go back even if shielding is extended? And if he does is there somewhere else he can stay?
@iVampire
Oh no! How frustrating about your foot. I suppose if you’re on crutches you can use them to ward people off if they’re failing to socially distance?
30/500 co-codamol is a controlled drug so they can give them to patients in A&E but they’re subject to tight prescribing & dispensing restrictions. Frustrating they were so slow with your TTOs though - they really can’t be having people hang about like that atm so seems like they need to review procedures.
Good luck with the marathon training. Sadly think October isn’t likely to go ahead. Maybe they’ll be able to hold it over to next year? As you say, a souvenir of the race unrun is kind of cool?
@LockdownLucie
I have severe asthma but still have to wear a mask when I go to the hospital & have been instructed to wear one if/when I leave the house in future. I wore a surgical-type mask the first time I went & a cloth one on Monday. I’ve got a (non-valved, as it’s meant to be easier to breathe through) N-95 filter one as well (the company are planning to make N99 filters for it too but I’ve not tried it out yet. I’m not sure what ID you’d carry, but tbh I think the biggest issue is likely to be people hoiking their judgey-pants; & they won’t be interested in ID. Because people are the worst.
@Egghead68
Good. Grief. That’s an awful lot of people for that hour. Given they almost all socially distanced I wonder if they’re also shielding or at least vulnerable?
Sorry your colleague was such an utter arse.
@Alakazam8
Can you contact the person you’re shielding’s consultant if the GP is so intractable? Or the GP & practice manager to point out that they do not meet the criteria. Am a wee bit concerned about you as from what you write it sounds as if you could be being forced to do this as part of a controlling relationship - people don’t usually hesitate to say if it’s the case that someone, for example, wouldn’t cope with [feeling they were] “breaking the rules”. Of course I might be completely wrong & I very much don’t wish to offend - & I certainly won’t push the matter. Just please know that if that is the case there’s help out there.
@10brokengreenbottles
Am so sorry about your DS3 - hope his foot heals up well & quickly.
@OneNightTimeMenaceStrikesBack
What a cute wee dog. Is your housemate/their mummy able to do the walking? He’s too wee to go out with even an 11yo labrador yet isn't he?
@OceanPotion
Am sorry you’ve had to go to that point. And that your work are being so unsupportive. Really hope things fall out in your favour.
Oooh, just read your update! Hurrah for being head-hunted! Good luck with your interview, will hold my thumbs for you. Am really pleased to hear you’ve had so many positives lately. And ferrets are adorbs, if a wee bit smelly.
@TitsalinaBumSquash
Am glad your counsellor is being so supportive. Hope that you [start to] feel better as you focus on the things you can be in charge of.
@FuckThisWind
Sorry you’d to deal with that. Does seem to be a bit of a Festival Of Ableism & Ageism going on as a result of this; & an impressive number of people only too ready to parade their ignorance. Even more people ready to try to excuse people being wildly ableist too - I don’t care if people are scared, frankly, that doesn’t suddenly legitimise thinking people with disabilities &/or health issues are essentially subhuman. Ugh.
@Redcherries
Hope your husband is having a good birthday.
@DoingMyOwnThing - I’ve had similar advice to @rugbymummy. It’s the immunosuppressant effect of prednisolone they’re concerned with: some people with other conditions are shielding because they’re on continuous low-dose prednisolone. Did your consultant mention a study or was that pure anecdata? I know asthma UK & the BLF are constantly updating, but I’ve not seen an impact study from either yet. Was told on Monday that I’m not yet to leave the house other than for hospital appointments, so it’s a really big contrast in advice.
@Madhairday
Hello 
Sorry you’ve been so upset by the ableism & general eejittery about shielding. Come. Join us. We have cookies. Not woke ones...
@kirstinm
Glad you got to see your Daddy & your friend. Also yay pizza!
@Pebble21uk
At least in Devon it won’t involve too much travel for that MP to Get. In. The. Sea. 
@outnumberedwoman
Am so sorry you’ve another infection - really REALLY hope it clears up. My dentist is starting to open for Actual Appointments from the middle of the month - when yours opens if you’re still having such trouble I don’t know if you could go if you were given the first appointment of the day? Really hope that these antibiotics finally sort things for you.
That’s so incredibly poor about you supposedly not being on the list. Would your GP surgery ring your local supermarket for you? Ridiculous HSCNI can’t get it together on this. (Am still pleasantly surprised the Sinners didn’t throw a wobbly about bilingual letters, mind you...)
@MyEyesightIsBadLetsGoForADrive
History has everything one needs to know folded up in it. Yes. Art, English, Geography, RE, MFLs, Classics, Maths (though, er, maybe this is not the context for Nazi maths questions about “how much can we save by bumping off the disabled?”), politics, philosophy, economics, PSHE... am sure you could even sift some PE out of it...
Cats are awesome & splendid. Do wish I could convince mine they are obligate carnivores though. Possibly there were tears over the theft (& shameless gromphling) of vegan croissants last week. On the plus side, it’s my brother they harass at ridiculous o’clock for breakfast...