Tuesday, March 24, 2020, Day 9, Week 2, of Self Isolation.

Global Cases 422,522
Global Deaths 18,890
UK Cases 8077
UK Deaths 422

I had my first decent nights sleep in days. I’ve been waking at 2am, head swirling, unable to sleep. Then, been exhausted all day and barely awake by 8 or 9pm. Asleep by 9 then awake at 2 again!

Last night managed to stay up until 10. Woke at 4 but managed to drop off again around 5 and slept till 8.30.

In the morning M phoned the Respiratory Nurse Team at the hospital. We’ve (correction, I’ve) been worrying about a few things:

Q: Is he on “the list” or not and does it matter? The government has put together a list of very high risk people who need to be “shielded” from the virus for their protection. Severe Bronchiectasis may be on the list but Mike was told he had moderate to severe disease. They will be sent a letter this week outlining what they should do (which amounts to 12 weeks isolation) and giving them a link to a hub where that can get support with this such as food and medicine deliveries. If M is on the list should I stop going out at all or should we be sleeping in separate rooms and using different bathrooms. He’s not had a letter yet.

A: They have no idea how the list is being complied or who will be on it and why. Basically, don’t put to much store on it, whether we get a letter or not, and carry on doing what we are doing.

Q: M has just finished his course of tobramycin and submitted all required sputum specimens to see if it has worked and eradicated the pseudomonas. But, his appointment with the consultant which should have been on the 3rd of March had been cancelled due to the virus. Previously, he has developed another chest infection within three weeks of finishing a course of antibiotics. We don’t want him t get another infection before he can start his long-term prophylactic antibiotics. I have also been concerned that his chest seems a little worse since the tobramycin. His chest is “noisy” when he breathes out and he seems to be coughing more but doesn’t seem to have an infection. Could be that his asthma was aggravated by the tobramycin, that his disease is progressing or an early infection.

A: They will look out for the sample results next week and email the consultant to arrange a telephone consultation. If all is well, she will arrange to start the long-term treatment remotely through the GP.

Q: The long-awaited immunology appointment has come through for May when we will still be officially in isolation. Should M attend or not?

A: Hang fire and see wat happens. It may be cancelled by them anyway. If not, we can cancel ourselves if necessary. Best to discuss with consultant on the telephone consultation.

All in all, a very reassuring conversation. The Respiratory Nurses and the Consultant, Gemma Hawthorne, have been FANTASTIC throughout!

It was a beautiful day today. Warm with clear blue sunny skies. I spent most of the day at my desk writing up my crazy long summary of the story of COVID-19 so far. A bit obsessive of me I know but I just wanted to get it all down for completeness and feed my need for completeness. Now, I can relax and focus on my daily diary entries.

I put the bins out today – usually M’s job. It’s amazing what some people will do to get out of their chores! Get a long-term lung condition and start a global pandemic.

I also did some housework. I hate housework. Always have. Always will. It’s so BORING! The irony about that is that I like to have a really clean and tidy house. For that reason, I have always had a cleaner. Well, that and because I am fundamentally to lazy to do my own housework and resent spending any of my precious time on it. There are so many other interesting and pleasurable things to do in a day. I’m awful. I know.

Anyway, my cleaner wont be coming during our 12 weeks isolation and I’m going to have to do it myself! Horror of horrors! Life can be so tough sometimes. Sob!

Well today I cleaned the ground floor including washing all the bins.

Today we both got the government text telling us to stay inside. We’ve got the message and so have the majority but there are still some idiots out there who think they are above it all. The term being used to describe them on social media is #COVIDIOTS.

A group of 20 people of all age groups in Coventry had a BBQ broken up by the police! People are crowding onto tubes in London. Even here in DH people are complaining that people are crowding the aisles in our local Tesco Express, makin it impossible to keep 2 metres apart. We walked round to the doctors and on the way back a couple of women and their kids crossed the road to our side for no reason at all!

In the car park behind the apartment next door a couple got out their deck chairs and sat and enjoyed a bottle of wine in the sunshine. A couple of neighbours joined them but stayed on the other side of the car. They chatted out there for ages without breaking any of the rules (I think).

We went out for a bike ride for our permitted exercise session. It was glorious!

The government briefing was all about recruiting volunteers for the NHS. They are converting the EXEL centre in London to a 2000 bed hospital and need people to help run it, along with other task like deliveries food and medicines to people in isolation.

The Olympic in Tokyo have been postponed until 2021.

Death rates in Italy are horrific still but new cases seem to be declining.

New York has seen a massive surge in new cases. Trump wants it all over by Easter!