the isolation diaries - week two

A strange week this one.

I was due to have my myeloma check-up on Tuesday, but two weeks ago it was cancelled.  But then on Tuesday afternoon the cancer team rang me to conduct a telephone consultation.  No warning, just a phone call.

Magnificent service you might think.  But because I'd heard nothing since I got the cancellation letter I'd not been for any blood tests.

So Wednesday saw me having to break my curfew "shield" to hotfoot it to my local hospital to get my bloods done.

It was quite an eerie experience.  The usually very busy roads were quiet.  The hospital car parks were deserted and the usually overcrowded pathology lab waiting room was so empty I initially thought it was shut.

Anyway, I now await a further phone call to see if I'm still healthy.

last week a view of my garden, this week a view from it

The most worrying aspect of all this was that the phlebotomist I saw was not wearing any extra personal protection equipment.  She had the usual latex gloves but no mask, eye protection or protective gown.

She told me that although these items were available, she'd been told not to wear them unless the patient had told her they were symptomatic.

This I find ridiculous.

For starters, many people display no symptoms of corona virus.  And secondly what about my (the patient's) protection?  It's possible the phlebotomist was carrying the virus without knowing.

Now I know and greatly value the job our NHS staff is doing right now.  Some of them have paid the ultimate price for their unstinting and unquestioned care.  So they deserve to be protected at all times.

But so do we.