Middling

Wednesday – the middle of the week. I was a bit confused this morning, however, when one of my Twitter acquaintances claimed it was Thursday. I know I am tired but that’s ridiculous! To have lost a day? Fortunately, it was she who was muddled and not me.

I slept well and didn’t feel quite so tired this morning but was more and more tired as the day wore on. A bit middling today, but cracked on as best I could. I pottered about doing a few jobs first thing, and then realised I hadn’t heard from John, so was just about to phone him when he phoned me. And it was big news! The brain scan revealed that he has a brain after all….. tee-hee. Nothing untoward reported, his brain looks just like you’d expect as ‘part of the aging process’. Oh, I see.

The medics are waiting now for the reports to come back from the various cultures they are growing in the lab from the samples taken from John’s lungs. It seems to be fast coming to the conclusion that the vertigo is related to the infections. Well, that’s good news, because it means that if they can sort the infections out, he won’t be so wobbly, perhaps. We’ll see.

John has been directed to a YouTube video of lung exercises. He said he’d have a look at them. I wonder if they are expecting him to do them?

After I’d chatted to John for a while, I pottered some more and then thought I’d pop out for a walk. Just before I got my coat on though, the doorbell rang, and it was dear Chris standing on the doorstep, just to say ‘hello’. Gosh, she was a sight for sore eyes. I haven’t seen her for ages, so it was lovely to have a doorstep chat for a few minutes. She was soon on her way, though, as it began to rain. Oh, bother! Just when I was about to go out for a walk.

Despite the rain, I decided that I would go out anyway. Just then, Michael rang and I told him what I was planning to do. “Good idea,” he said, “there is no such thing as bad weather, is there? Just the wrong clothes.” So I put my waterproof on and set off.

Had a lovely walk. Wildlife galore, so I was happy. Newts in the pond, flowers on the trees, birds in the bushes. Glorious. And the rain held off the whole time I was out.

On my way back, I called into the Co-op to gather some supplies to take over to John this afternoon. I picked up the essentials he’d asked for, but I was mindful that he really doesn’t get any treats, so I bought one or two nice things, too, in the hope of cheering him up.

When I arrived at the hospital, there was no faffing about this time with the reception/volunteers desk/security guard, and I sailed through to the lifts. Floated up to the 6th floor, only to look at my phone at that point and see that John had asked me to go into Costa to get him a coffee. Oh. Right. So I pressed the button and sank to the bottom again. Had to explain to the security guard why I was back and that I’d be repeating the journey again shortly.

Coffee in hand, I was once more into the breach and ready for some waiting outside the ward. But what’s this? I pressed the buzzer and someone answered. “I’ll be there in a minute.” Well, you could have knocked me down with a feather. The transaction of clean clothes and dirty washing was soon exchanged and I was quickly drifting down to the ground floor again – only to see that John had sent another text: ‘And chocolate cake.’ Oh, crumbs. I didn’t think I ought to go the through the whole rigmarole with security again, so I told him he’d have to make do with the chocolate chip cookies I’d bought. And, actually, he was very happy with that. He was wolfing them down.

The journey home was a bit tortuous. Lots of traffic and I spent some time waiting in queues of cars trying to escape from Birmingham. On a WhatsApp conversation, Danielle said ‘I thought we were still in lockdown?’ So did I, but half of Birmingham was definitely out and about.

This evening I had another chat to John and he had thoroughly enjoyed his coffee. Savoured every drop. He had also enjoyed his cookies, so I was pleased that the treats had cheered him up a bit. And, let’s face it, if the results to the tests come back tomorrow, they might have had enough of him in hospital and want to send him home soon. Let’s hope so anyway. It’s his turn to do the washing, cleaning the bathrooms, changing the sheets and doing the cooking – because I’m still a bit tired. Middling, in fact. Perhaps I’ll feel better tomorrow.

COVID news remains stable, I see, so that’s hopeful.

• 5,605 people tested positive for the virus today
• 98 people died in the community with the virus in the last 24 hours
• 30 people die in hospitals with the virus on 21 & 22 March
• And it’s Day 77 for Lockdown 3; Day 366 since Lockdown 1; Day 373 since our self-imposed Lockdown 1

Take care everyone. God bless.