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Testing
I am way behind on posts and now can’t recall things I wanted to post about. So I will start with recent stuff and work backwards, if I can remember.
On Sunday I started getting a croaky voice and a bit of a cough. This just continued over the next couple of days. I suspected it might be allergy related but wasn’t sure. I was at an event on Friday and two others there were also sick on Tuesday so I worried there might be a connection. Anyway, the public health notices say to get a covid-19 test if you have fever or cough or flu like symptoms. Yesterday I was still coughing a lot so I went down to the hospital clinic and got tested. The process was pretty quick overall. My only complaint was there was nobody at the table next to the entry when I got there. I had walked well into the area before I was noticed. I assume this is not the norm for the clinic. The guy who greeted me gave me a mask to wear (the first I’ve worn!) and then another person came up and asked questions before leading me into the waiting area. There were only a couple people there when I arrived. I waited for ten or fifteen minutes after filling out a questionnaire and then was seen by one of the staff. Soon afterwards I had the dreaded swabs of which the nostrils were really uncomfortable. The throat swab didn’t bother me at all. I was given instructions to go straight home and self isolate.
And that’s what I did. I ended up missing work and a luncheon I was supposed to attend but I didn’t want to take risks. I was pretty sure this is allergy and/or reflux-related so I had major doubts about being contagious. Self isolating from the rest of the family went okay, I guess. I still did a few things in the house but mostly stayed in the bedroom the rest of the day and night. This morning I got a text from the health department saying I tested negative. Phew! I was almost totally sure this wasn’t covid-19 but now I have proof. It was a relief getting my results less than a day later. But it’s a shame I had to change my mammogram appointment that was today. There’s no way I could have been sure to have my results so soon though. My mammogram is now on November 17th.
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Strange times
This isn’t the first time I’ve thought this but it is a weird time for us.
As of midday yesterday, the pool and library closed along with all dine-in establishments being forced to do take away or close. I had to go out for a short time yesterday to get something from the markets and I noticed that some people were “dining in”. I’m not sure how all this works in the food court areas and this was sort of in that category. Not a lot of people but there were people.
I had scheduled an appointment with my doctor for last Friday a few weeks ago and then later got an SMS suggesting I could have telephone consults if I needed since I am considered high risk due to my diabetes. Last week I called up and asked for that appointment to be changed to a telephone consult. The lady I spoke to assured me it had been changed after going away a couple of times. So I was waiting on Friday for that call to come through and it didn’t. I normally don’t have to wait long to get in so this seemed unusual. But due to current events I thought maybe things were really behind schedule for some reason. After an hour and a half I finally phoned them to find out what was happening. The first person I spoke to said I didn’t have a telephone consult listed there. She kept putting me on hold and coming back and eventually another staff person got on the phone and abruptly said I had a did not attend on my record for that day’s appointment. I don’t know what she new beforehand but I went on to explain and she practically growled at me to ask who I spoke to and that never got resolved because I didn’t know for sure. Eventually I had to reschedule for today and I asked her to take the notation off my record but it didn’t happen. Today my doctor called me even ahead of time and we got everything sorted out quickly enough. I mentioned this issue to her and she apologised which didn’t happen before. I had to go later to pick up a blood test form and some prescriptions and stopped at the mail box to find a letter from them admonishing me for not attending…even though I spoke to someone soon afterwards. I made a point of having this removed from my record. I was told I wasn’t charged for it but the point was I didn’t want my record to show anything of the sort when I did nothing wrong. I can just hope it finally got done this time.
I ended up going to the pharmacy to get my prescription filled. I accidentally gave more of them to fill than was needed but I guess it doesn’t hurt to get them a bit early. I had to get a higher dose of Nexium as I’ve been having a nighttime cough for a few months now. It sometimes wakes me up so it’s become rather troublesome, especially since it also wakes up the Scientist. I also left my prescriptions at the pharmacy and plan to call ahead the next time so I can avoid having to hang out there for too long in the near future.
It was quite a warm day, maybe even hot at times. But I decided to try to get a bike ride in during the afternoon and that sort of worked out well. I decided on the cycle path along the new highway since it is nice and wide and has a good turning around point when it crosses one of the local roads. It gives me about an hour of riding and that’s exactly what I needed. I started out and all was going well. I had a good speed going and wasn’t struggling too much getting up hills. But when I got close to my turn around point something in the air started messing with my head, literally. I don’t tend to have too much trouble with seasonal allergies in autumn but something was really getting to me and I got that creepy, crawly feeling on my head that I get when I’m affected. I did make it to my turn-around point and took a scheduled break for water and to recover slightly. I still wasn’t feeling too terrible. The ride back went less well. I was okay for a while but by the halfway point I found my heart rate had gotten to 183 without a lot of effort. I took another break, which I planned to drink water but stayed a bit longer so my heart rate would go down a bit. My last stop also lasted a bit long but it was planned to rehydrate again. I was feeling kind of bad by the time I got home. It wasn’t the worst ride but it wasn’t nice either. Anyway, now I’ve got to be wary of pollen going out now. I did take an anti-histamine which seems to have cleared my head for now.
When I got home, the Scientist and I did our tai chi sword and fan routines before doing a tai chi set a the times we’d normally be at our class. The Scientist had organised with our instructor and other classmates to do it together but apart at the same time. It went fairly well aside from the glaring sun when we started. :)
Tomorrow I have to go out again for my job as a carer. I get to take my client to the doctor as he needs a referral letter. I’m hoping that’s sorted out quickly and easily. I’m not sure what I’ll do with him after that but we will work it out later.
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Allergy attack, for sure
My vertigo isn’t gone yet but it seems to have taken a step back the past day or so as my allergy attack has become more obvious. I’ve not often had the most typical of allergy symptoms and this time is no exception. Most of my symptoms run along the lines of massive itchiness, fuzzy head/dizziness/vertigo, tiredness, tingly and sometimes numb head,  lips and mouth, etc. It reached the point yesterday where it was worth risking massive dryness from Sjögren’s syndrome to take an anti-histamine. It didn’t exactly do a whole lot for my symptoms yesterday but it also didn’t cause as much dryness. Possibly it’s going to take a couple days to get much effect.  Funnily enough, I now have a more typical runny nose…I might even start sneezing next. :)
I obviously did not go to work yesterday although the Scientist had offered to drive me there and pick me up. I decided I wasn’t likely to be that productive and I think I made the right decision. I’m hoping tomorrow will bring considerable improvement and will see if I can work a few hours if that is the case. It won’t cover all my hours but would be better than none this week. We are in for more rain this week so it might just wash the nasty airborne pollen away for a while….meanwhile creating a blooming environment for even more pollen to be created in the next few weeks.