Covid 19 and me (& the Beatles)

Today marks a red letter day in the Robertson household, as the NHS Covid 19 app informs both my wife and I that?we were 'released from isolation' at midnight last night. It is 10 days since we've left the house, with most of that time having been spent in bed, dosed up to the eyeballs on whatever cocktail of painkillers and flu tablets was getting us through the day. Little did I know when a routine lateral flow test came back positive at the beginning of last week, what a rollercoaster the next 10 days would become.?

This has prompted me to share some thoughts from my experience of living with Covid over these last couple of weeks, partly for posterity's sake and partly in case my reflections help anyone unfortunate enough?to suffer as we have here...

- Don't trust the tests; initially my lateral flow test came back positive and my wife's was negative. This happened twice. We both exhibited similar symptoms and our initial reactions were both that we have Covid, the tests were inconclusive though. We then had PCR tests which both came back positive. In parallel, both of my children (11 and 13) had negative lateral flow tests followed by a positive?PCR for the youngest and a negative PCR for the eldest. The net net is that you need to get a PCR if you are in any doubt - it is simple, takes only a few minutes and you'll be protecting others by doing so...don't bury your heads!

- It's really, really nasty; everyone seems to experience the disease in slightly?different ways and there appears to be little rhyme or reason as to who gets it or how it manifests itself. My youngest son has had it and suffered mild?symptoms for the first few days, but my eldest - who would have had no more or less exposure to us over recent weeks - somehow remained negative throughout. My wife was knocked out for the first week and then felt mild flu symptoms for the next few days. I've been completely wiped out for 10 days, barely able to get out of bed; as someone who is proudly "never ill" I totally underestimated quite?how much I'd be impacted. I'm still feeling short of breath now, which reminds me to mention that...

- You need to rest properly; I'm not the kind of person who finds it easy to switch off from work and the temptation to respond to emails, Slack messages and texts was overwhelming. Initially I was speaking daily to my manager and team, figuring out what I could and couldn't delegate each day. After a few days however, my manager told me that I needed to switch off completely?(he was 100% right!). Even if I could find the energy to dial in to the occasional call or respond to messages, dipping in and out meant that I was still constantly thinking, stressing and worrying about work. This meant that I was never properly resting and my sleep patterns became badly broken. I would normally need at least a few hours' sleep each afternoon, but then I'd log back on in the evening and not then be able to rest properly that night. Switch off and rest! The world won't stop turning without you, and it is much better to take a couple of week's of proper rest than to find yourself residually suffering for months.?

- Kids are incredibly resilient; I'm super-proud of both my kids anyway, but I was totally amazed at how resilient they both have been. My youngest suffered from flu-like symptoms for the first few days after his positive test and will only be officially 'released from isolation' tomorrow, however he managed to keep in touch with friends and successfully kept up with all his school work. In fact he remained in such high spirits that we had to field a call from his form-teacher this week, who informed us that he'd been telling his classmates on Teams that he'd be cycling round the park that morning (he hadn't, obvs). My eldest managed to get himself to and from school each day and co-ordinated lifts to his extra-curricular football training and weekend matches. They both fended for themselves regularly for lunch and dinner and never needed our encouragement to get homework done in the evenings and on weekends. They've lived through such a strange couple of years these kids and I feel strongly?that their social development can't help but have been affected, but I've been buoyed to see how they've respectively dealt with the adversity of these last 2 weeks...it gives me great hope for the future.??

- We live in an incredible time; comparisons to the Spanish Flu pandemic and even the Blitz were regularly bandied about during the various lockdowns, and I can't pretend that there haven't been scary moments, especially when I've found myself struggling to breathe during the last 2 weeks and seen my family suffering. However, our ancestors didn't?have Netflix, Amazon Prime next day ordering, supermarket home delivery, Just Eat, BBC iPlayer, Podcasts, Sky+ etc etc. Whilst we haven't been able to leave the house?for a fortnight, we've not wanted for anything and have also been regularly cheered by goodwill?WhatsApp messages from friends and family and even care packages left on our doorstep. If the overriding?memories of these last 2 weeks are the cold sweats at 3am every morning and a constant, hacking cough, third will be the joy of watching the new 'Get Back' Beatles documentary on Disney+ when I couldn't sleep...every cloud!?

Whatever happens from here - with new Covid variants and even another Xmas lockdown both very real threats as I type - I will forever be grateful to have been able to come through this punishing disease largely (hopefully) unscathed. Please do the right things yourselves and;

- stay safe, wear a facemask where appropriate, use sanitiser and get tested if you feel rotten

- make sure to properly rest and self isolate if you test positive; remember, it is a dangerous and unpleasant disease...there is no substitute for sleep

- check in on people who are suffering, and offer help and support; it really makes a big difference