Another kick and lesson from Covid
It has been a physically and emotionally tough few days. While my wife Sarah and I were slowly recovering from Covid, we discovered that Sarah’s 88-year-old mother had sadly also contracted it.
Sarah’s mum is in our support bubble and the rules left us in a dilemma as we were unable to leave our house to see her, although that was fine initially as she seemed quite normal. When our isolation period ended and as soon as we were allowed to visit, it was clear she was not 100 per cent and really not herself.
We experienced first hand the pressure that our over-stretched NHS is under as, after numerous calls, an ambulance arrived to take her to hospital some eight hours after starting the process.
As a caring relative it’s awful being powerless when you want to know a loved one is being looked after and not inadvertently falling through a crack. With the best will in the world, someone that age is unlikely to make a fuss if unavoidably ignored.
Luckily a bed was found for her a few hours after arrival at the hospital and now, days on, after many tests, there are clearly other things afoot with her health.
The frustration of not being able to be there is bad enough but I can only imagine what it must be like for her as she doesn’t understand why we are not there and is probably feeling scared and unloved.
While we are all hoping she has a full recovery we’re also in awe of just how hard it must be for the doctors and nurses as they don’t have the support they usually would from visitors. They are having to make difficult judgment calls when they don’t know what the person was like before they were ill. I, for one, feel only respect, support and tolerance with whatever course of action they feel is best as we are all in their hands right now.
If nothing else good comes out of the Covid era I do hope that we all become tolerant and trusting of others as without this we will look back rather than forwards. And forwards is the way to go. Until next week, Kev
As soon as we were able to visit, it was clear she wasn’t herself