ISRRT_COVID-19_book

“at work, my colleagues had worked throughout the first wave and I felt isolated and alone.
Many things had changed whilst I had been away and I felt lost.
Then suddenly one Sunday lunchtime 1st November 2020 following a busy, stressful week, I
felt dreadful, shivering, aching and an awful headache, my temperature was 39 degrees. I
took to my bed and my daughter booked a drive through PCR test online for later that evening
for my husband and myself.
The text with results arrived the following morning, my test was negative and my
asymptomatic husband’s test was positive. Convinced this was a mistake I ordered a postal
test but again tested negative. By now, I was becoming increasingly poorly, very short of
breath, a strange scald like rash and very severe chest pain, which became so bad I could not
move or breathe without feeling extreme agony. After waiting eight hours for my GP to call
me back I could not speak to him the pain was so severe, and at this point, he called a
paramedic crew who immediately transferred me to A&E at the Cardio Thoracic hospital.
I begged with the ambulance crew not to take me to hospital, firstly because of the high
volume of patients admitted and the fact that my family would not be allowed to visit, this
was a very lonely and frightening time, but the pain was the worst I had ever experienced,
there was no option but to go.
Blood tests revealed a very high D Dimer, very high CRP, raised white cell count, Chest X-ray
appeared normal. Suspecting a Pulmonary Embolism associated with COVID 19 I was
admitted to the “COVID-19 Ward”, commenced anti coagulation therapy and sent for a CT
scan, this was a very surreal experience being on the patient side of the scanner. Former
colleagues whose worried faces increased my anxiety scanned me. This revealed pneumonia
in all lobes, bilateral pleural effusions, atelectasis in both lung bases but no sign of P.E.
I was given IV antibiotics, fluids, anti-inflammatory drugs nebulizers and strong analgesia and
remained in isolation for ten days, until my blood results improved sufficiently for me to be
discharged. I was so relieved to be home and see my family again, they were convinced they
would not see me again as so many families had experienced during the pandemic, our only
contact had been phone calls.
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