My Covid-19 experience

[slimjim]

I was going to title this My Covid-19 Diary but I don't really know when it actually started but about 2 and a half weeks ago I began to feel ill. Initially it just felt like a dose of the flu - a bit of a fever; shivers plus aches & pains but after a few days it got worse and my energy levels dropped a lot and breathing got difficult. Then I started getting dizzy spells so I got in touch with my Doc. He wasn't happy with my condition - it turned out I had a high temperature; high blood pressure; a chest infection and my blood oxygen was low so I quickly found myself on oxygen in an ambulance on the way to hospital. Before you know it I am being wheeled into the treatment area and wired up to lots of equipment going "ping" surrounded by several docs/nurses all fully kitted out in the full body suits; aprons; masks; visors and gloves etc. They pumped me full of pills and injections and after a few hours things settled down. My blood oxygen was still low and breathing still laboured but the b/pressure was much better, I still had a fever but my temperature had come down a bit.

I was there the following day and they checked me over again before letting me go home. So now I am recuperating, I have seen my Doc twice to be checked over and my temperature is now nearer normal, the blood oxygen level much better and the chest infection seems to be reducing. Not sure how long it will take to fully shake it off and get back to my old self though.


So who else has suffered from this nasty virus?

 

[dargelos]

Anyone who thinks "it can't happen to me" better learn, it can happen to any of us.
Everyone reading this will be grateful that the doctors and nurses did what they are good at and let us have our slimjim back again.
There will be members who never get the chance to tell the tale, they go into hospital and never make it back out.
A few other members will ponder; ******* hasn't posted for ages, I wonder why? And that will be that.

 

[Mardo]

Take it easy SJ, you have been through a lot and deserve rest and relaxation.

 

[Mardo]

P.s. I haven't gotten it yet (far as I know), but a work colleague got it. She was shocked. Had been as careful as possible etc. Was working from home. So really anyone can get it. Main thing is to follow doc's advice. And rest.

 

[tonka]

You had a healthy body and good medical care. That's great you escaped the worst.

The wife of one of my coworkers had a cough and felt so so. She went to a clinic a week ago to get a covid test. They hospitalized her immediately. She died Tuesday.

 

[slimjim]

You had a healthy body and good medical care. That's great you escaped the worst.

The wife of one of my coworkers had a cough and felt so so. She went to a clinic a week ago to get a covid test. They hospitalized her immediately. She died Tuesday.

This is one of the scary things about it - no set pattern. Yes it tends to be worse for the elderly, especially if they have other medical problems but some frail people can be next to deaths door spending 6 weeks on a ventilator and survive but there are many cases of younger, fitter individuals who sucb quickly.

I am thankful for two things : 1) I went into hospital and walked out and 2) As I live in the UK my treatment was on the NHS, so no bill at the end.

 

[Mardo]

I wonder when will it all be over?

In a few months? Has to be.

But if people move out early, before a vaccine, they all they did by staying home was to delay the inevitable?

Also SJ should be immune now? If enough people get it then 'herd immunity' is the result?

 

[dargelos]

Lets do some back-of-a-cigarette-packet maths about herd immunity.
For a highly infectious disease, need an exposure rate of 90% to be sure of herd immunity.
There is no vaccine so all those exposures must be to the live virus.
UK pop 67M8, so need exposure of 61M persons.
Everyone has their own idea of a suitable deathrate, I am going with 1.4%.
61M X 0.014 = 854,000.
The death of one person is a tragedy, the death of 854,000 is a statistic.
That is the order of carnage that it will take to get herd immunity without a vaccine.
We need a vaccine, desperately.

 

[gorgik9]

This is one of the scary things about it - no set pattern. Yes it tends to be worse for the elderly, especially if they have other medical problems but some frail people can be next to deaths door spending 6 weeks on a ventilator and survive but there are many cases of younger, fitter individuals who sucb quickly.

I am thankful for two things : 1) I went into hospital and walked out and 2) As I live in the UK my treatment was on the NHS, so no bill at the end.

I'm just so happy that you're alive & feeling relatively well at the moment!!! And it's impressive that you keep up your dayly postings on GH - you're such a trooper & a very good friend!!! :big hug::big hug::big hug:

 

[garth33]

So I can't be around GH as much as I used to to so I pop in and send Jimmy a "so How's it going?" pm totally OBLIVIOUS to what happened to him. I don't only have egg on my face...I'm covered head to toe and feel like SUCH AN IDIOT.

SO GLAD to hear you're on the mend SJ Look on the bright side - now you have something in common with Boris BESIDE the hair!

(that's a joke buddy - love you!

PEACE!
g

 

[slimjim]

Also SJ should be immune now? If enough people get it then 'herd immunity' is the result?

Both very good questions. As far as I can tell no-one knows for sure if having had it gives immunity, and if it does if that immunity is lifelong or just for a limited period - years; months or weeks. Likewise herd immunity

 

[haiducii]

Both very good questions. As far as I can tell no-one knows for sure if having had it gives immunity, and if it does if that immunity is lifelong or just for a limited period - years; months or weeks. Likewise herd immunity

You're right! We are still in the dark about coronavirus. There is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from Covid-19 and have antibodies are protected from a second infection.

 

[Mardo]

Lets do some back-of-a-cigarette-packet maths about herd immunity.
For a highly infectious disease, need an exposure rate of 90% to be sure of herd immunity.
There is no vaccine so all those exposures must be to the live virus.
UK pop 67M8, so need exposure of 61M persons.
Everyone has their own idea of a suitable deathrate, I am going with 1.4%.
61M X 0.014 = 854,000.
The death of one person is a tragedy, the death of 854,000 is a statistic.
That is the order of carnage that it will take to get herd immunity without a vaccine.
We need a vaccine, desperately.

1.4% is quite high. And it is hard to be exact as you said yourself - we don't even know how many have had it, never mind a death rate expressed as a percentage of infections. For all we know millions have gotten it without even knowing it.

The rule of the day seems to be: err on the side of caution?

I do welcome the views of those who claim government policy is an overreaction. I don't necessarily agree (more of an err on the side of caution guy myself) but dissenting voices are necessary as a check on power. Governments need to feel the pressure of at at least some dissent, otherwise they come to believe they are perfect and develop the 'god complex'. And that can apply to any government, East West North and South of you.

The facts just aren't in yet - much as we eagerly await them.

 

[Shelter]

1.4% is quite high. And it is hard to be exact as you said yourself - we don't even know how many have had it, never mind a death rate expressed as a percentage of infections. For all we know millions have gotten it without even knowing it.

The rule of the day seems to be: err on the side of caution?

I do welcome the views of those who claim government policy is an overreaction. I don't necessarily agree (more of an err on the side of caution guy myself) but dissenting voices are necessary as a check on power. Governments need to feel the pressure of at at least some dissent, otherwise they come to believe they are perfect and develop the 'god complex'. And that can apply to any government, East West North and South of you.

The facts just aren't in yet - much as we eagerly await them.

Thumbs up - a very good post and I'm 100% with you. :thumbs up:

 

[dargelos]

Dissent is good, I am a big fan of dissent, depending upon what motivates it. Defence of freedom is a good motivation. Profiteering from stock market swings is not. Not when more innocent people may die.

 

[Mardo]

Dissent is good, I am a big fan of dissent, depending upon what motivates it. Defence of freedom is a good motivation. Profiteering from stock market swings is not. Not when more innocent people may die.

Cvid-19 is not the only killer. Poverty kills too. And a global depression, on foot of this pandemic, will take lives. Through suicide. Through domestic violence. Through fuel poverty. The list goes on.

Those who dissent have a long list of good reasons to question their governments. And the actions of a tiny minority of stock-marketeers, should not make us cynical about the 99% of dissenters who care about something beyond just themselves, which is why they stick their neck out, and end up being labeled all kinds of things they are not.

 

[Shelter]

Cvid-19 is not the only killer. Poverty kills too. And a global depression, on foot of this pandemic, will take lives. Through suicide. Through domestic violence. Through fuel poverty. The list goes on.

Those who dissent have a long list of good reasons to question their governments. And the actions of a tiny minority of stock-marketeers, should not make us cynical about the 99% of dissenters who care about something beyond just themselves, which is why they stick their neck out, and end up being labeled all kinds of things they are not.

And again I'm totally with you!
And it is my opinion that many ordered rules are fully exaggerated. And I will say it once more: 2 scientists = 3 opinions! And in the meantime (in Germany) every week are great demonstrations against these rules! In the beginning you could read in the press and hear in TV and radio, that all these demonstrators are idiots, right wings and/or left wings and so called conspiracy theorists. But the demonstrations are growing from week to week and they start to begin dangerous. Some moderate politicians warn in the meantime to speak with these people. They (and most of all of us) don't understand most of these rules because of lack of logic.

Only to a better uinderstanding: Berlin has just now 3,8 millions of inhabitants. From these people 6424 have been infected by the virus - but 5787 people in the meantime are fit again. Just in the moment we have here in Berlin 456 people who are infected by Corona. From this group are 259 persons are treated in Hospitals and 93 persons from this group with intensive care. All others are in home quarantine. 181 persons died.

So for every person who is infected it is surely a horror - but (and I mean it for Berlin only) does all this justify this total lockdown?!

And all these scientists! As I said before: 2 scientists = 3 opinions! They told us in the beginning of March that we will get many, many 100.000 deaths. Well until now in Germany 8001 deaths (surely 8001 too much!). But why this scaremongering?

 

[haiducii]

And again I'm totally with you!
And it is my opinion that many ordered rules are fully exaggerated. And I will say it once more: 2 scientists = 3 opinions! And in the meantime (in Germany) every week are great demonstrations against these rules! In the beginning you could read in the press and hear in TV and radio, that all these demonstrators are idiots, right wings and/or left wings and so called conspiracy theorists. But the demonstrations are growing from week to week and they start to begin dangerous. Some moderate politicians warn in the meantime to speak with these people. They (and most of all of us) don't understand most of these rules because of lack of logic.

Only to a better uinderstanding: Berlin has just now 3,8 millions of inhabitants. From these people 6424 have been infected by the virus - but 5787 people in the meantime are fit again. Just in the moment we have here in Berlin 456 people who are infected by Corona. From this group are 259 persons are treated in Hospitals and 93 persons from this group with intensive care. All others are in home quarantine. 181 persons died.

So for every person who is infected it is surely a horror - but (and I mean it for Berlin only) does all this justify this total lockdown?!

And all these scientists! As I said before: 2 scientists = 3 opinions! They told us in the beginning of March that we will get many, many 100.000 deaths. Well until now in Germany 8001 deaths (surely 8001 too much!). But why this scaremongering?

Drei Professoren Stadt verloren.

Approximate translation: "Three professors got lost in the city."

 

[larryisreal]

And again I'm totally with you!
And it is my opinion that many ordered rules are fully exaggerated. And I will say it once more: 2 scientists = 3 opinions! And in the meantime (in Germany) every week are great demonstrations against these rules! In the beginning you could read in the press and hear in TV and radio, that all these demonstrators are idiots, right wings and/or left wings and so called conspiracy theorists. But the demonstrations are growing from week to week and they start to begin dangerous. Some moderate politicians warn in the meantime to speak with these people. They (and most of all of us) don't understand most of these rules because of lack of logic.

As long as 66% of the participants (of the representative poll ZDF released yesterday) say that they can not understand the protesters and support the measures taken, I'm confident that these protests will be solved by the second wave that's coming. And it will come. We're opening up again way to fast.

 

[SWAGGA]

im glad you are back my friend.