COVID over Christmas 😷

Well that was a Christmas & New year that I know we'll never forget but for all the wrong reasons 😢

I am always trying to make sure that I plan for every eventuality but I certainly didn't plan for what happened to us just before Christmas. We went to visit family in Bournemouth and we had a really lovely day. Martin was able to visit his Mum, who sadly has Alzheimer's. While he went to see her, I stayed with one of Martin's sisters and a few other family members and it was lovely to spend a couple of hours catching up with them all. 

What I hadn't planned for, or thought about, was how long I would be sitting down and not moving. I was sat on a sofa that I'm not used to but I managed to get up out of it okay, with a little help! I struggled to walk to the front door, my legs were feeling really weak and I had no energy or power in them. Suddenly, I fell to the floor, my legs gave out and I couldn't get up, I literally couldn't use my legs or arms to push me up. I crawled to the doorstep and Martin was able to move the car to right outside the door but I still couldn't find any strength within me to get up. 

We had no idea how I was going to move from there. A friend of his sister's arrived, who was a Healthcare assistant, and she was trying to encourage me but it wasn't that I didn't want to get up, it was that I physically couldn't do it. They called an ambulance for me but we knew that would take time, so in the end about four people managed to pick me up and carry me to the car so that we could get home. 

Martin drove us home, which took a little over two hours, and when we got there he brought my electric wheelchair out to the car. Unfortunately I still had no strength or power in my body, which was so frustrating for me and for Martin. He was desperate to help me but there really wasn't much he could do. I couldn't have coped without his love, patience and support though. To be in a situation where you are asking your body to do something simple and it just can't do it was incredibly scary for me. But I'm stubborn and determined and eventually, with Martin's support and help, I got into the house and to bed. In the past if I have struggled with my legs, I know that having a sleep and giving my legs rest on the bed, usually restores some strength back in them and it happened this time too. I was still struggling when I woke up but not like the day before. 

I didn't realise how much I was struggling though or how scared I was, I know I panic and go straight to thinking the worst. What if this doesn't get any better?

I put it all down to having a cold and I also remembered that I had done a physio session the day before, so I thought that the lack of strength in my legs was all because of the work I had done the day before. I chastised myself for trying to do too much. I wouldn't normally have tried to do as much in such a short space of time, but it was Christmas so of course we were going to be busy! 

The trouble is, my body and the MS doesn't care what time of year it is. If you overdo it you will pay the price......and I did. 

I'm sure some rest would make me feel better wouldn't it?! 🤔

  

The next day I did rest although I was aware there were still lots of things I needed to do for Christmas. I was struggling with a cold and feeling quite worn out so I needed to take it easy and be kind to myself, something that I'm not very good at and find very hard to do!

I struggled through the next day, I still wasn't doing very much and went to bed quite early, but later that evening Martin woke me up with a surprise for me, unfortunately he had tested positive for COVID so he tested me and unsurprisingly I was positive too. This was the Friday night before Christmas day! We had both been feeling unwell for a couple of days but just thought that we had come down with a bad cold. My nose wouldn't stop running, I kept on sneezing and we both developed a hacking cough. 

It was all very unexpected and totally threw our Christmas plans out of the window.

Of course, having MS put me in the vulnerable category and Martin was very quick to get me on the phone to 111. I have to say that, as always, the NHS were fantastic and got a prescription organised for a course of anti viral medication. I haven't been able to have my flu or covid vaccinations yet because of the MS treatment, Ocrevus, I had in October. This means that I can't have my vaccines until the middle of January, so I needed to have something to try and prevent me getting very poorly as I have no protection and my immune system is very vulnerable. 

Unfortunately Martin couldn't have the anti virals and, as my carer, I believe that he should have been eligible for it. He really struggled and was in bed for about three or four days, right over Christmas, he had zero energy and just had to sleep, it hit us both quite hard. 

My symptoms included a hacking cough and my head felt totally congested. My nose wouldn't stop running for a few days and I was sneezing so much 🤧 We both had a bad cough that wouldn't clear and just felt totally wiped out. Martin had a severe sore throat, a cough and he kept getting chills too.

It has now been about ten days since we tested positive and we have now both tested negative! I have to say that we both still feel pretty rubbish, I'm still sneezing and my nose goes through stages of feeling congested, then it won't stop running! It's definitely more than just a normal winter cold and has wiped us both out quite severely. We're hoping that it doesn't hang around for too much longer but we're aware that it's going to take a few weeks for us both to get back to any sense of 'normality'! 

We haven't managed to have a Christmas dinner yet but that will come at some point but we have to thank our friend, Katy, who picked up the medication from the hospital for me. She was definitely our Christmas angel! 😇