Hi Joan,

It took me quite a few days to watch the whole programme, i wanted to watch it in one sitting but i had to keep turning it off because it brought back so many of the dark moments i suffered during Aug/Sept/Oct last year.

In a way that is a good thing because it highlighted to me how much my health has actually improved since those dark days... It's so incredibly hard to gauge where my health should be when no-one in the medical profession understands nor knows how to treat Long Covid.

I have still got a way to go before getting my health back but i can see now how much it has improved... most of those in the TV programme were admitted to hospital (i was not) and now appear to be at the stage i was at seven months ago, it's not easy for me to watch anyone going through what i went through but it was incredibly encouraging to see that they all appear to be on a road to recovery.

Whilst i didn't find anything new in the programme, it did reinforce my belief that there is hope.

A quick follow up on how i'm getting on with the Covid Clinic that my local health authority recently set up (in the abscence of any official Scottish Govt clinics that are finally in the process of being rolled out, but not yet available).

I had my second call-back yesterday, the Occupational Health Therapist recommended that i do not try and leave my third floor apartment and go to street level in one step, instead i should try to go up and down one floor at a time and gauge how i felt after each attempt, placing emphasis on pacing and only one floor a day.
That's out the window now because come hell or high water on Thursday i'm going for my vaccine jab...

The last time i spoke to the OHT was two weeks ago and at that time i was having terrible problems with my sleep pattern (insomnia, amongst others) so she emailed me a "Daily Sleep Diary" to fill in, i couldn't fill it in because the boxes on the A4 doc weren't big enough to put all the data in, suffice that i kept a written log of my sleeping in a (paper) notepad and read it back to her when we spoke yesterday.... her words, not mine:

"My goodness, your sleep pattern has been all over the place, okay, um..."

At that point i noted that in the last three days my sleep pattern does appear to have settled down again, but this isn't the first time it's happened and although i hope it will be the last, it likely won't be.

At that point the conversation moved onto getting outdoors (see above)...

While not entirely convinced that an OHT is the best qualified person to be dealing with people like me i am eternally grateful that at least someone in a healthcare position is taking the time out to at least try and help.

Great news, Doddie!
I was also able to schedule vaccination appointments for both my wife and myself. We go Monday and it's also going to be a round trip of almost 40 miles. I had been signed up with both the state and the county, plus I was trying the various pharmacy sites all week long with no luck. Late Friday I received a text message from the county that appointments were available. Despite the fact that there's a location 2 towns away, our choices were limited to several rather distant locations. No matter -- we'll take the drive and are especially happy that we were able to secure appointments at the same time for both of us!

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

I go for my second vaccine shot next Friday, earlier than I expected, but after speaking to someone at the health board I was told that the second was given between 6 and 12 weeks after the first and I was within that time set.

I know when I got my first the nurse didn't give a date for the next one but told me it would be about 11 weeks so I was expecting it to be late April, I'm quite happy it's earlier though, the appointment came in the post last week and I go to the same place I went for the first.

The local Fire Brigade are taking me well actually there are a couple of the firemen volunteering to drive people to the appointments. The one taking me is a friend of my son-in-law who is a retained Fireman and a Coastguard.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

Excellent, Joan! It's lovely that the fireman are volunteering to help people!

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

That's what I thought Steve, my son-in-law is back working full-time again as a security guard at a Holiday resort which is why he can't take me this time. My daughter will meet me there and get a wheelchair ready for me.

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Joan Archer
http://crossstitcher.webs.com

Firefighters are truly exceptional people

If your daughter or your son-in-laws friend attaches blues and two's to the wheelchair i hope they shares the video somewhere!

A little more evidence that the Covid god's are conspiring against me!

My sister called me yesterday to say that her car has developed some sort of drive shaft or suspension issue and the local garage can't take her car in to inspect it until Wednesday at the earliest (short staffed due to staff self-isolating because of Covid) with no guarantee that she'd get it back the same day... obviously that would be a nighmare issue for me to get my vaccine on Thursday morning so she asked if she could use my car in the meantime.

My car hasn't moved since August (apart from when my sister took it for an MOT in October) so i was more than happy for her to run it as much as she wanted, but first we had to sort out insurance for her to drive it... she'd have been covered for the legal minimum in the UK, 3rd party liability from her own car insurance policy when driving other cars, but if she was in an accident she wouldn't be covered for damage (and other legal stuff) to my car so it was a bit of a no-brainer to try and add her to my policy this time.

It's probably been about 30 years since i tried to add anyone or another vehicle to an existing policy so i thought it would be expensive but i was a bit shocked at the cost...

This is where i chuckled back at the Covid god's... it was only £50 (£25 of that was an admin fee) to add her as a named driver to my Fully Comprehensive policy until it expires in October!

That said, there was the small matter of when she tried to start it the battery had gone flat over the winter so she had to get one of her friends to stop by with jump leads to get it started, she reported that a quick 30 mile run around the City bypass and all is good.

Well, it may have been a bit bumpy getting there, but glad that it appears to be all sorted now!

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

Hopefully, my sister had better not kerb my alloy wheels! LOL

I got my first jab of AstraZeneca vaccine this morning, it's been 8 hours now and so far no reaction at all to the injection, not sure whether that's a good sign or not, nevertheless i'm...

I was very surprised by how seamless the whole process was, despite arriving 30 mins early for my allotted time i was accepted and pointed to follow a one way system of floor markings, i was in and out in less than 10 minutes and barely felt anything from the jab which was a surprise given how painful some of the intravenous jabs i've had over the years have been... in fact i'd probably have felt more if the innoculator had simply touched my arm with a feather!

I was surprised to see how many military personnel were administering the vaccine but given how close the vaccine centre is to an army barracks i probably shouldn't have been.

FYI, had i driven to the vaccine centre by myself i would have been held for a 15 minute observation period but because my sister was driving i was allowed to leave straight away.

I'm scheduled to get a Moderna shot in a week. Second shot will be four weeks later.

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Good to hear Jay

I should have been clearer with the above...

The vaccine jabs are NOT intravenous.
i.e. They are NOT injected into a vein, they ARE injected into muscle.

I was attempting to say, that compared to some intravenous injections i've had in the past the vaccine shot (into a muscle) was surprisingly painless.

Apologies if that caused any confusion.

Yep, the V.A. offered when I had my yearly checkup yesterday. Be nice if I could get everything done on one visit but not likely to happen. I'm also supposed to get a CT scan of my torso (routine) and a bone density scan due to my calcium being slightly low.

I just don't like going to medical places, I REALLY don't. Not like it's a big deal getting to the V.A. facility as it is a max of a 15 minute drive.

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I can't speak for your scans but the vaccine shot is nothing to worry about if my experience is anything to go by.

I actually had to ask the medic if he'd injected me because i thought he was feeling for the correct point to inject me, i was amazed when he said "yup, we're all done".

Shots don't bother me at all. I just don't like medical places. My blood pressure even goes high when I have to visit.

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Rather than edit my last post....

I'm not a fan of hospitals either so it probably helped that i was sent to a Community Centre that had been converted into a Vaccination Centre...

I could not fault the process, all doors and fire exits were open for ventillation, hand sanitiser was everywhere and i was told (not asked) to use it at least four times.
The medic in the 'pod' told me which seat to sit in, there were two, i put the paperwork down on the second chair and he told me off for doing that because he'd just wiped that chair down with sanitiser and it was still wet lol
The route to the Centre was signposted for at least 5 miles and the car park had stewards everywhere.
The entrance to the Centre was on one side of the building with the exit via a fire exit on the other side of the building... made finding the car in the car park a bit weird but a small price to pay as it maintained social distancing.

I was very impressed by the whole process and have no issues at all if my second shot means i have to travel another 42 mile round trip to the same place for my second shot.

I hear that, it seems to be a male thing

I suppose but it could also relate to my spending seven months in a Naval hospital. Add to that my grandfather was worth around .75 million $ when diagnosed with cancer. They always had something else to try until they bled him to being penniless then said there was nothing they could do. Then there was my friend in Florida that died of intestinal cancer after his doctor treated him for ulcers for a year and a half.

I just have a basic loss of confidence in relation to the medical field... I just find it hard to place faith and/or trust in relation to the practice.

LOL! This is tongue in cheek but why do they call it a medical practice? Personally I want someone that knows what they are doing with all the practice behind them.

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OMG do i hear that!!! LOL

Given the year i've just had with Covid-19 i'd settle for anything medical, whether practicing or not, i'd just like something!

I'm so very sorry to hear about you family history and that of your friend, no healthcare system is perfect but we have to live with what we've got, there's a reason the British public are so defensive about the NHS but i suspect this isn't the place to get into that subject

My wife and I had our first doses of the Pfizer vaccine on Monday at one of the sites for our county. The major site has National Guard assisting, but the site we went to was run by the healthcare corporation that owns and operates most of the major hospitals in our area. It was very well run, with the same one way floor markings and very friendly personnel throughout. After the jab, we were required to sit in an observation room for 15 minutes. There was an EMT on duty in that room. Seats were over 6 feet apart and there were plexiglass partitions between rows.
My wife felt nothing when she got the jab, other than the expected pinch of the needle. I, on the other hand, experienced a mild burning pain as the injection went in. My upper arm was pretty sore for about a day and half afterwards and I was just a touch tired the first day after. My wife had no arm pain at all, but she developed a runny nose and felt really knocked out for the whole day on Tuesday, much better on Wednesday (we got our jabs Monday).

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stephen boots
Microsoft MVP 2004 - 2020
"Life's always an adventure with computers!"

I might be starting to feel side effects, i got up to go to the kitchen for a drink of water 10 minutes ago and the front of the muscles in both of my legs and arms felt like i'd over-exerted... what that means only time will tell.... part of me is like, please let me crash tomorrow so i know i'll recover... another is like, never put me through this again.

It's so hard for me to understand what to expect next.

I probably won't know what anything means for a week or two, it's like i've entered a whole new twilight zone, which given where i've come from can only be a good thing.

I haven't worked out if the muscle pain is because today was the first time i'd been outside for over 6 months or not, i'm kind of hoping it's my body reacting to the vaccine because if i get no reaction at all then i'll be very concerned.

Fwiw, i got down the stairs from my flat today okay, stumbled a bit at first but quickly adapted... getting back up the stairs was another story but not the end of the world.

All in all, today has been a real eye-opener and an exceptional day.

I'm going to leave it there for today, aside from the muscle pain, i'm beginning to feel the horrible wave of fatigue that i've become accustomed to taking over again.

I really hate this virus and mentally have put a lot of eggs in the vaccine basket, only time will tell what happens next.

Another update.

For two reasons i'm hoping that what i'm about to share is good news:

1. Yesterday (the morning after having had the vaccine) when i woke up i felt truly awful.

2. I had dizziness, stomach pain, muscle aches in all the muscles in my legs and arms, and an overall feeling of tiredness.

Re 1. I was expecting this and would have been more surprised and disappointed if it hadn't happened.

Re 2. What surprised me about this was that none of the post vaccine symptoms "felt" the same as those i've lived with so far.

For example:
(a) This dizziness was not Brain Fog, nor was it Vertigo like.. it was akin to a short lived dizzy spell that i think we can all relate with, only it lasted all day.
(b) The stomach pain was like having an upset stomach after maybe eating something that doesn't agree, far removed from the GI pain that was always accompanied by an overwhelming feeling of nausea with occasional periods of vomitting that i've lived with for over 6 months.
(c) The tiredness was like a general feeling of being run down after a bad bout of the common cold or Flu, again far removed from the fatigue and exhaustion i've been suffering with.

When i woke up today i still felt tired because i kept waking up during the night last night so didn't have a good nights sleep, this was also nothing like the insomnia i've been suffering from for months... it feels like the general tiredness we can all suffer from from time to time after a restless nights sleep.

In summary, yesterday was another bad day but it was expected and if i was to have any hope at all that the vaccine might clear the virus from my body it needed to happen.
I am not a medic and i don't pretend to be, all i can do is listen to my body and speculate what might be happening, i strongly suspect that the stomach pain along with dizziness and muscle pain could well be the vaccine clearing the virus out of the parts of my body where it's remained hidden from my immune system.
I.e. My brain, muscles, and gut.
There has been medical speculation that the virus is remaining hidden in parts of the body where viruses are not normally found.

All i know for certain today is that other than from feeling a little tired due to a restless nights sleep last night i am for the first time symptom free... even my heart rate has for the first time in over 6 months returned to normal, down from a consistent 90-110bpm while resting to 60-70bpm while resting.

It'll be a few weeks before i can say for certain what this means for me and my first port of call will be to discuss this with my GP on Monday... in the meantime i feel like i might finally be on the cusp of being rid of this living nightmare.

Stay safe and be careful.

Today has been another good day, i am actually beginning to truly believe that my first vaccine shot has rid my body of this terrible virus.

My heart rate is still at normal levels and i still don't have any of the symptoms that have plagued me for so long.

Last night was another restless night in bed so i still feel tired, maybe that is to be expected?

As a metaphor, the following encapsulates everything that ComputerHaven and my wife have meant to me for more months than i care to remember.

Peter Gabriel & Kate Bush - Don't Give Up (with lyrics)
https://youtu.be/n-oRIpXs03E

It's still early days but for the first time i'm really beginning to think (and believe) i've turned a corner.