30+

[stayathomegardener]

@Babdoc @baroqueandblue @Casino218 @ChippedPotatoesLloyd @DandyPeguin @EMichel102 @JackJackIncredible @KatySun @kevintheorangecarrot @littleblackdress04 @Littleninja1*@longshot @Lovelesslily* @ofwarren @onlinelinda @Porcupineinwaiting @SchrodingersKitty @ScrimpshawTheSecond @Spacecadetagain @Tangledyarn @TheDrsWife46 @TheDrsWife46 @TheWooisStrong

Welcome to a group none of us want to be in.

Apologies to anyone missing or added that didn't want to be.

Please do add more, don't feel pre day 30 is a barrier.

@Tangledyarn sorry you’re feeling bad again, I know you had felt a little better of late.

@Casino218 well done on walk!! Great!

Small bit of positivity here, I’ve realised I came back to bed with a bra on and it’s not hurt me whilst I have lay here for an hour. This hasn’t been possible for weeks so maybe just maybe the antibiotics are helping my chest?!

I still feel terrible but I’m off to eat a high iron lunch followed by MoRE rest!

@Babdoc thanks for your updates, I find them reassuring.

@pinkoneblueone agree to get your DH checked as that sounds very concerning. I’m glad your DCs seem to be on the mend at least. Mine also both seem ok, DH too, he’s back running etc

babdoc your posts are amazing and so, so helpful. Thank you

Hello all. Day 22 here and certainly much better than a week ago bit nowhere near well.

Now off to try and nap. Getting such broken sleep at night feel I should try and top it up during the day.

@pinkoneblueone how old are your children and have they had to go into the unit alone? I think this is the fear for every parent in the country right now. Im so sorry that dh has had a seizure. Truly wishing you all the best wishes, please keep us updated.

@Babdoc your messages are so reassuring. I know as you get more and more well your need to come to the threads will wane but your knowledge and “bedside manner” is just so soothing to us all here. Thankyou. X

@Babdoc

@Porcupineinwaiting it’s a catch 22 isn’t it when you don’t have a good nights sleep? Do you rest in the day to “catch up” and rest or do you try to hold out a bit so you can hopefully sleep better the next night. I can never decide! Had the most awful night as well.

@Babdoc we’re lucky to have you in this special group! Very encouraging. Could I ask if anything came up in hospital relating to neurological side of the virus such as being shaky, jittery, on edge, and sensitivity to sound? A few of us seem to have this as well as the “normal” symptoms

@babdoc has anyone mentioned to you about effects on the liver. I have a real nagging feeling that my liver has been affected. God knows why. Probably not rational but it's all an unknown isn't it?

Babdoc I'm glad you have turned a corner. Your posts really are helpful.

Please can you tell me (if you know) whether a low temperature and chills instead of a high one is part of a pattern anywhere? I'm only asking if you happen to know anyway, obviously.

Hi thanks so much for setting it up and for the tag

How come it’s Day 30? I know you said on Thread 6 that it’s to do with a timeline of symptoms but I couldn’t see that on first glance. I’m on Day 22 and feel I shouldn’t be here until Day 30 ... and I hope I don’t have to be here on Day 30

Would it be ridiculous if I set up another thread for those of us in the Day 20-30 group?!

@Babdoc thank you that was very helpful. I’m so glad you’re getting better. I feel my version is definitely more low key but drawn out. I’ve had - have - the cough but never had a fever. I’m far from the only one who’s never had a fever I believe. Perhaps I have a hybrid of the Italian and Brit versions - Britalian?

Oh and @pinkoneblueone I hope your DH gets seen to soon and is Ok. Good news your children are out.

Thanks so much for starting this thread, @stayathomegardener. Hope you and Muriel feel like you're winning today!

@Babdoc another thank you, for your thoughtful reassurances and 'insider view' of life on a COVID ward! Your account takes a lot of the fear out of it for me, should I end up there. On the other hand, am I right in thinking you're in Scotland? I'm in south-east London and would either end up at Lewisham hospital or Queen Elizabeth in Woolwich. Lewisham has been one of the earliest and worst-affected boroughs here, and also has a lot of social deprivation (and hence a prolific spread of pre-existing and underlying serious conditions) so I have a feeling they might be more strained than you're describing. Nevertheless, I was very heartened by your description of the professionalism and care on display. We're incredibly fortunate to live among such generous-spirited and supportive nurses, doctors, auxiliary and ancillary staff.

I'll try and come back on again later, but today I've taken a bit of a turn for the worse. Day 25 (but I suspect technically longer than that, possibly by a week or more) and I'm in much more pain in my back and ribs than I have been for a few days and over the last 24 hours my breathing has been more difficult than it has been throughout the last 25 days. I only got about 4 hours sleep last night and have felt a little anxious this morning, wondering where on earth this is going. The difference with the pain today is that it feels much closer to the skin in places, like external bruising, and breathing in is triggering it at times. Last night I got a bit carried away doing some floor stretches for my spine and ribs, and I think that was a mistake. I ought to have been gentler.

The most curious thing has happened in the last hour or so. I've started with a dry cough for the first time, almost 3.5 weeks in I'm contemplating calling my GP later on and reporting the development of symptoms, since he asked me to cough down the phone 10 days ago and said it couldn't be COVID because my chest was fine. But I knew all the back and rib pain couldn't have just dropped out of the sky, so to speak, and at such a significant time too

Anyway, I'm safely tucked up in bed and will try to sleep this afternoon. Huge supportive wave to everyone here, I know we wouldn't choose to be part of this group but I'm so grateful we have it

@baroqueandblue those are my hospital options too which doesn't inspire confidence unfortunately. I've heard the Pru in Bromley might be less pressured. Hopefully we won't get to find out!

@baroqueandblue that sounds similar to my chest today, a bit like I’ve been kicked repeatedly all over my ribs and back.

I read something earlier that resonated, have kept off media but this was quite reassuring in terms of recovery time being long for many:

www.birminghammail.co.uk/news/midlands-news/coronavirus-patients-should-return-work-18061129

Ignore the title! It’s not saying we should all return to work. I was googling long recovery times and found it. I guess GPs are gaining a bit more knowledge now.

@Babdoc I was wondering about the ventilator pattern - is it always rapidly within a week of infection or can those of us sitting in the 4th week still be at risk of this? I am trying to keep myself calm by thinking that probably I am past the danger zone and just need to keep fighting on to recover.

Also would chest x-rays show lung damage if any or would we need CT scans for that?

Finally my heart rate is all over the place and really high at times. I read this often happens with a virus - were patients in the ward suffering from racy heart beats and raised heart rates? Do we need treatment for that and should i be speaking to my GP on this?

@DandyPeguin I think it would be amazing if you just set up a lungs 7 thread for continuation.

I'd definitely help support on there.

@Babdoc so glad you are home, your post is so informative too literally thread

Omg @Lightsabre we might be COVID neighbs

I've never even heard of the Pru, being on the Greenwich side of things. (I can see QE from my bedroom windows.) But I was at Lewisham for an outpatients appointment early last month and wouldn't be surprised if I caught it there. I know from having worked in that borough though that the hospital doesn't have a great reputation with many local people. Something along the lines of no-one would ever want to be taken in with anything serious because they'd probably only come out in a box! Not sure how much truth there is to that, but yeh - let's hope we don't have to find out

Forgot to mention earlier, also got chest pain for the first time today which feels muscular and again is probably coz I overdid the stretching last night. Just to give you some idea, I never stretch if I can possibly avoid it, and now I'm suddently acting like I can do competition-level yoga stretches!

Just posting this bmj article again

www.bmj.com/content/368/bmj.m1182

Thanks for new thread @stayathomegardener.

@Babdoc finding your posts really encouraging. I'm definitely a mild long drawn out case - day 41 here and to be honest reading others stories feel I've got off lightly as apart from a couple of short bad spells I have been able to get on with most things in midst of my symptoms. Just frustrating that I can't seem to shake it off completely but good news is feeling much better since on antibiotics and chest pains now virtually gone again. Body weirdly feeling 'normal' again - very strange sensation - but don't totally trust it given I had that before in D20s and then relapsed but hoping for the best! But will continue the rest as convinced I overdid it particularly with exercise and that contributed to reoccurance of symptoms in mid D30s.

Sending everyone the very best wishes. Keep fighting!

@baroqueandblue @Lightsabre we seems to be neighbours but my local hospital is King's or else St Thomas. Both big hospitals but I suspect heaving with cases as Southwark and Lambeth have they most cases. I know someone who was hospitalised two weeks ago and King's still had capacity then but it's probably a different story now. I keep telling myself that we are all well past the hospitalisation stage and so only reason to visit the hospital will be for a chest x-ray or bloods.

@longshot very useful link, thanks It's really making things fall into place for me though - I must have fought off the virus and it has left me with pneumonia, because as I've mentioned on previous threads, I wasn't well for at least a week with more typical viral symptoms before all the pain set in. Shit, no wonder I haven't been getting better. Is that how you've understood that article too?

And now I'm also thinking, with the cough and a bit of chest pain starting today too, maybe because I've been unknowingly nursing pneumonia without antibiotics, it has left me vulnerable to reinfection from the virus?

@baroqueandblue, it's the Princess Royal Hospital (Kings College Hospital Trust) in Bromley/Orpington. One of the neighbours down my road spent a couple of nights there last week and his wife was full of praise for the care he received.

I moved out of Greenwich to a neighbouring Borough last year after 30 years of living there. I miss the river and park but not the traffic! Wishing you all the best - I'm 'only' on Day 13...