The Daily Echo: Day 209

It had all been going so well. Sort of. I had been worried about John being a bit of a ‘Puffing Billy’ for the last few days, and I had asked him to get the nurses to check there was nothing untoward. Every day, they’d take his temperature, blood pressure and oxygen levels. Generally be surprised at how low his blood pressure was, but temperature and oxygen levels were in the ‘acceptable’ camp. Even this morning it seemed OK.

But, you know, the day goes on and the ol’ man does a bit of manual work and his body probably hasn’t got the capacity for it, what with having an infection an’ all. So it wasn’t really a surprise when I got back from Mum’s this afternoon to find he’d taken himself to bed, to get over having moved the trailer from one side of the drive to the other, and having had to do a fair bit of pushing and pulling.

“OK,” I said, “I’ll cook tea in a bit and let you know when it’s ready.” It was ready at seven o’clock and I went to wake/get John up. Only to find he was pretty delirious with a very high temperature – and he was wheezing well. Hmmm.

“I’ll phone the Triage nurse on Ward 19, but whatever, I’m taking you to hospital.” I declared, as I whizzed round the room grabbing all the bits and pieces to pack into the suitcase to take with him. John felt too ill to care. And I couldn’t get through to anyone on the Triage team so, having hung on for twenty-three minutes, I decided just to bundle him into the car and set off for Heartlands A&E.

I was a bit anxious as to whether I was doing the right thing. The last time John was struggling to breath, the Triage nurse had advised that I should call an ambulance. The problem with that, though, is they take him to either Walsgrave or Warwick, and neither hospital really knows his case well enough.

Anyway, we got to the hospital, and John stumbled in. They could see he wasn’t well, so took him immediately to the high-dependency emergency room. They let me explain the situation before they ordered me out. But not before they said that, given the symptoms, they would have to treat it as a possible COVID infection and would be moving him again to different unit. Oh, and I would have to self-isolate for fourteen days.

Great. Bang goes the holiday we had planned for next week in Devon with Michael and Danielle. And if I am self-isolating, how am I going to make sure John’s dressing gown and phone charger get to him now? Both of which I’d forgotten to pack in the rush. Slowly dawning on me that I can’t go out until further notice. Crumbs.

So, please excuse me if I don’t natter on about how the day went otherwise or exclaim about how the COVID infection and death rates are rising. (15,166 infections today, 81 deaths in community and 34 in hospitals on 8 & 9 October). My mind is full of the events from seven o’clock onwards and feeling bothered about the current state of play with John. More news tomorrow.

In the meantime, take care and God bless.

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