The A Word: Gotcha!

I want to start this weeks blog by saying a big thank you. My last blog, FFS, was the 2^nd top read on 8^th October.  Now I appreciate that’s only 1 day in the whole month of October but I’ll take that anyway 😊.

I know I’m a bit late again this month and where have I been you may well ask. Well, absolutely bloody nowhere to be honest; we’re in a COVID induced isolation and our normal daily lifestyle is called “quarantine”. I’ve read the 31 things to do at home in self-quarantine and arrived at the conclusion that other than eating, drinking and Netflix, it’s a bit dull.

Now let me tell you about what happens when you get the Covid “Gotcha” prize as its been an interesting process to go through.  Jaimie tested positive during our weekly antigen test and then me.  We’ve always taken a test every Monday, mainly because we live a normal life and we feel it’s the right thing to do in line with Government guidelines.  There’s only been one Monday that I didn’t want to take a test and that was just before we were leaving for our summer holiday to the South of France. Imagine it, the day before you’re about to leave and you get the Covid Gotcha prize. Anyway, I forced myself to do the right thing and fortunately it was negative just like every other Monday until now.

It’s a bit weird when both lines come up on the antigen test, it’s like “bloody hell I’ve got Covid”.  Having tested positive on the home kit, we booked our PCR tests and it’s at that point that the Covid “process” kicks in.  You receive your skull and cross bone text message informing you you’re result is positive followed by a barrage of other text messages from doctors, test and trace and loads of other helpful advice. Now, whilst it’s a bit overwhelming, this is a good thing, I’ve never felt so loved by so many people 😊.

BUT, and here’s the thing, test and trace are really on the ball. They send you a link so you can fill in all the places you’ve visited, which in our case was very long. We’d had our grandchildren to stay, visited other family and had family visit us, been to football, been out for dinner in Wimbledon, went to crazy golf and ordinary golf, shopped at Sainsbury’s, had our eyes tested at the opticians, spent Friday night in the pub and went out for a Sunday Roast.  It took a lot of filling in I can tell you.

So where did we catch it, impossible to tell. If you want to live a normal life like Jamie and I do, it seems to me that you will get the Covid Gotcha prize at some point. We’re both double vaccinated, one of us had the AZ and the other Pfizer and my booster was booked but had to be cancelled and I now can’t have it within 30 days.

Test and trace also call you,  8.30am on a Sunday morning to be precise.  Where did they think we’d be, on our way back from the local Saturday night rave! In fairness, they’re only doing their job and the Sunday morning wake-up call wasn’t their only call either. They like to check in regularly for a natter.  Your Covid vaccination passport also gets confiscated! Now I thought that was a bit harsh.  I’m not that stupid that I would travel, but I guess some people are, that’s why they do it. I’m supposed to get it back in 14 days so watch this space and I’ll keep you informed.  I did download mine after Jamie’s was confiscated as I knew what to expect although why I did this, I don’t know 😊.

Did we feel ill, well yes, certainly for the first few days.  Headache, night fevers, shivers, sore throat; it felt like flu.  More worrying are the neurological symptoms, Jamie has lost his sense of smell and I’m so hoping it comes back. I’ve read that on average it takes about 28 days to return but in about 10% of people never comes back which is concerning. I wouldn’t have wanted Covid before my vaccination and whilst I would never lecture anyone on what they should or shouldn’t do, it seems a tad selfish to me not to have the vaccine.

I’m the world’s worst at not wanting weird  foreign stuff in my body (with the exception of Sauvignon Blanc of course) and when I was diagnosed with AS , the worst part of the diagnosis was the thought of taking medication for the rest of my life, I hated it and it took a long time to accept. So, I do have some understanding of the argument against the vaccine, but it’s got to be done.  We’re doing it for other people more than ourselves. I’ve learnt that you shed much less virus if you’ve been vaccinated therefore doing your bit to keep it at bay.

Because I also write my blog to raise awareness of autoimmune disease a lot of the symptoms I have are similar to my bad days with AS. Now I appreciate my Covid symptoms are less severe because I’d had the vaccine, but it really brought it home to me how bad autoimmune disease is and how much we all have to put up with on a daily basis.

Hope you don’t get the Covid Gotcha prize, its rubbish and remember dinosaurs didn’t wash hands and they’re extinct.

Until next time xxxxx

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