Just before Christmas! Lucky for me, it was a very mild case. After 3 days breathing oxygen and doping myself with antibiotics and anticoagulants, I was released to spend Christmas at home. Those three days though, I am not going to forget any time soon.
I shared a room with 4 other people. One of more less my age, two in their 70s and one in her early 80s. The latter has been in the hospital for 2 weeks already and has been discharged the next day after my arrival. One of the "70s", the one right next to me, was moved to palliative care after some time, and she was the only one receiving visitors; not that she even knew that they are around. Very sad and very distressing.
The other lady in her 70s was opposite, across the room from me. She made a lot of noise at night and seemed to settle in the daytime. We didn't get much sleep because of her, but hey, we were not exactly in the hotel. Each of us was doing something annoying, and we just had to take it.
The last lady was about my age and we became quite friendly. She was going through Covid quite badly. Arrived before me and discharged a few days after me. I learned later that her partner passed away from Covid, at home (he refused to be taken to the hospital).
So what about Covid itself? Well, firstly - I have no idea which variant I had (I did ask and the doctors literally told me "we don't know", which I thought was weird, but they were pretty busy, and I didn't want to nag much). Judging from the way I was going through it, and comparing it to how other patients behaved, I tend to believe that I was the victim of Omicron, which is apparently milder than other variants.
I discussed my symptoms with the others. The common factors were: very high fever, cold sweats, muscle twitches, general weakness (preventing you from getting off of the bed). There was another thing, which all the people in my room experienced, but I didn't ask the patients in other rooms, so I can't really say that it's a common symptom - while experiencing a high fever, we had some nightmarish hallucinations. They were different from one patient to another, but equally scary, or worrying.
Personally, I saw weird people around me, and things that I knew that cannot be present in the hospital. I didn't mention that I had a fever like that and tested positive for a week before I was taken to the hospital by ambulance. I could not get hold of a doctor on the phone. My surgery was impossible to reach. I called 111 and I was trying to speak to a doctor for a few days. The first callback I got after 48 hours. It was a "health advisor". The next was "healthcare professional" (whoever that is). Another caller was a nurse. They were all repeating themselves offering paracetamol, and I was getting worse. Finally, I was taken seriously after I developed respiratory difficulties and chest pains. That was the moment when I was offered an ambulance. Shocking, I know. We can't blame NHS though. We can blame those who set rules and regulations in this country. Brainless and pompous politicians. I won't be ranting about though - I might get locked up. My blood is boiling though.
I have experienced weird dreams. The dreams seemed to reflect my health status as it progressed. I was in some weird world and trapped. As I was getting better, I've experienced the same world, but it was becoming easier every day to break through, and deal with obstacles. The dreams completely vanished after I managed to escape from that world. Afterwards, I truly had a feeling that there is so much more to life and death... It made me reflect on and research the subject in dept. This research is very much active right now. It's like you experienced out of body experience on the operating table and now you want to know more. Yet my experience didn't invoke any religious reflections. My longing is towards the science and knowledge. It makes me think that surreal world of imagination is closer to reality than we think. There is a subtle connection between the two, and only some of the people are blessed with experiencing something so fragile. I am not, in any capacity, promoting getting ill, in order to experience this feeling. This could be a one way ticket. What I am saying is, we cannot dismiss stories, just because we cannot prove them.
Anyway, we strayed away from the main subject. Vaccinations - no, I didn't have any because I was talked out of it by stupid people. I am happily booked for my first vaccination in a few day and I will advise EVERYONE to do the same. I was lucky, you might not be; and believe me, if the "mild" symptoms are what I experienced, you really don't want to experience it in ANY capacity. No side effects will put you through what COVID can do. I think, I was just "gently" reminded about it and feel obliged to spread the word.
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