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It all started when I thought I had come into contact with someone who was infected - during one of my Santa visits (although most of them were FaceTime visits or Zoom). I play Santa every year for a firm called “More Than Just A Princess”. She is a very talented performer and accompanies me as either Elsa or The Chief Elf.
That was on 23rd December, and I started self-isolating then. I didn't have any symptoms but took a test on 4 January which proved positive. I was a little surprised as I still had none of the associated symptoms - cough, breathlessness and a temperature - but nevertheless obeyed the Government's advice, or rather statutory legal mandate, to isolate for 10 days. I got the result on 6 January and had already been isolating for 14 days by then.
I began to get a bit worried as I thought that having tested positive, then the symptoms would now develop and show themselves. With an underlying illness, diabetes, I thought that if I was to be taken to hospital then there would be no coming home. As it happened the symptom, I did develop were nausea and lack of appetite, which the WHO now recognise as symptoms. I sat and waited for the other symptoms to arrive - but thankfully, they never did.
However, I was in the spare room with only a DAB radio for company. My daughter did fetch the daily paper which I have on order from the local Newsagent, and between the two I kept myself entertained; but honestly, I never want to hear the bloody Shipping Forecast again!! In their defence Radio 4 and Radio 4Extra have some cracking dramas on in an afternoon, and I had SkyGo on my iPad with which to watch the footy, something I only discovered late on in January.
What really surprised me was that my mental health was worsening as I retarded emotionally. I was having really bad dreams, not quite nightmares, but they contained hellish scenarios, and my waking thoughts became so dark as a result. There was a time when I contemplated easing my burden by death. This was so unlike me as I have always been a glass half-full person.
My wife was making me three meals a day and leaving them outside my door, but I was creaking under the mental weight of wondering whether this was going to worsen and how long I was going to be isolated. My wife also has an underlying illness in that she suffers from COPD, and I was frightened of giving it to her as I know she would struggle with her breathing. Or perhaps not if she had mild symptoms like me, but I couldn't take that chance.
I took another test on 11th January which came back positive again. This deepened my depression and also worried my wife. Another 10 days of isolation were on the cards, and emotionally I was close to the edge.
I took another test on 18th January which came back positive on Wednesday 20th January. I was now at my wits end. And to put the final nail in the coffin the test I took on 25th January came back positive on Wednesday 27th January.
In between the second and third test, a guy who has recently joined a Committee I sit on, e-mailed me to say his wife was the lead Nurse at a large local hospital and the Doctor there had heard what was happening to me (I presumed she had mentioned it) and he told her to tell me not to take another test and seek advice from my GP.
He said that when members of Healthcare staff contract the disease, they isolate for 10 days and then come back to work. They know that if they took another test it would be positive, but the virus is not as transmissible after 10 days of isolation. This was music to my ears. So when on Wednesday I got notice of the positive test, I rang my G.P. at my surgery. They were very good and said that the on-call Doctor would phone me back. They did and I spoke to Dr. Perkins, a Doctor I have seen previously in the surgery and put my case to her.
She agreed that I no longer needed to isolate as I didn't have any symptoms (the nausea and loss of appetite as well as a bit of bowel trouble - not much obviously as I wasn't eating - had disappeared by 11 January). She said that I still needed to be careful around my wife (wear a mask) but I could go for a walk and exercise but stay out of shops etc.
Well, I can't tell you what that did for my morale. I said to my wife I would stay in the room for that night, as well as till after she has had her vaccination, but that I would be up and about the next day. I cooked my own boiled eggs that morning and went for a walk about midday. My back and hips were sore, and I raced a snail and lost, but I wasn't worried; I was out in the fresh air. Boy did it feel good. I listened to the bird calls and stopped every now and then to take it all in.
Life is precious, and mine has been given back to me.
I showered again every morning and have just got back from my walk. Still sore hips and that snail keeps following me about, but I cannot tell you how much my mood has been lifted. Friends have phoned me and on one occasion, whilst I can't tell you exactly what I said, it was something along the lines of a canine and two appendages.
It is now nearly the end of April, and I am fully recovered. But I often think about all those people who were not as fortunate as I was and lost their battle. God Bless every one of them.
I reproduce a poem “When Just The Tide Went Out” written by that genius Welsh Comedian Max Boyce. It sums up for me the trials and tribulations we have been through and I find I cannot read it without bursting into tears.
Last night as I lay sleeping, when dreams came fast to me,
I dreamt I saw JERUSALEM beside a tide less sea.
And one dream I’ll remember as the stars began to fall,
Was Banksy painting Alun Wyn on my neighbour’s garage wall.
And dreams like that sustain me ’til these darkest times have passed
And chase away the shadows no caring night should cast.
But times like this can shine a light as hardship often can,
To see the best in people and the good there is in man.
And I remember Swansea with nobody about
The shops were closed like Sunday and just the tide went out.
And I remember Mumbles with the harbour in its keep,
And the fishing boats at anchor that trawl the waters deep.
And I heard the seabirds calling as the gulls all wheeled about ,
But all the town was sleeping now and just the tide went out.
And when these days are over and memories remain,
When children painted Rainbows and the sun shone through the rain
And the doctors and the nurses who stretchered all the pain
And I hope the carers never see a time like this again.
And I prayed last week for Boris, who knocked on Heaven’s door
And I thought of voting Tory, which I’ve never done before.
And though the sun is shining I’ve no immediate plans
So I’ll write a book on ‘Staying In’ and ‘Ways To Wash Your Hands’ .
And now more days of lockdown, 3 weeks of staying in
I’m running out of vodka and I’ve started on the gin .
And my neighbours are complaining, I’ve heard them scream and shout
With the sound the bins are making when I take the empties out.
And when all this is over, and our fragile world survives,
I hope that God is caring now for the ones who gave their lives.
And I pray we’ll find an answer, for my faith is cast in doubt
And God draws back the heavens and all the stars come out.
And I’ll remember mornings with nobody about
When the shops were closed like Sunday, and just the tide went out.
DAVID TAYLOR
A CORONAVIRUS DIARY
Issue No. 85 Autumn 2021
David Taylor
