I have a lung condition and diabetes, but my symptoms were less severe by day seven

Sarah Hall, 26, is a secondary school teacher based in north London

LAST week, I spent my birthday recovering from coronavirus. I’m a type 1 diabetic and have a condition called A1AT that affects my lungs and liver. I started feeling tired just over two weeks ago but I thought that was just from the pressures of teaching. But then I felt freezing and the next day I developed a cough so I was advised by work to isolate for 14 days.

By March 18, NHS 111 strongly suspected I had the virus. I struggled to breathe and felt constantly dizzy. But I tried to keep calm, drink plenty of water and keep as busy as I could.

By Friday March 20, I think I’m feeling better … oh how wrong I am! Friday afternoon and I’m sweating.

Then – bam! Blackout. Vomiting. Coughing fit. Stop breathing for a second. Over the next few hours I fluctuate quite rapidly between feeling better to feeling horrendous. By the end of the day I’ve been sick four times and I’ve had multiple dizziness or blackout episodes. I’m unsure whether to go to hospital. I feel as though I’ll be wasting valuable resources and I may be an infection risk to vulnerable patients.

Through all this I have to somehow continue working. If you are unwell you shouldn’t even work from home. It has taken me approximately 10 hours today to complete one lesson and the work to go with it.

At 7pm on Saturday 21, I ring NHS 111 again. I’m in a really bad way. We wait nine hours for an ambulance to arrive and face-to-face assess me.

At 2am, I get my third callback. I feel like the person on the phone is trying to convince me to cancel the ambulance. My boyfriend speaks to them because I am so breathless. They tell me it will be a long wait and do I really want the ambulance? I do.

The fourth call comes at 4am and the woman admits the ambulance is hours away and it’s best to make my own way to hospital. At 5am, we pack my bag and head to the Royal Free Hospital by car.

On Sunday 22, I test positive for coronavirus. I was severely dehydrated so had some fluids ordered, and was sent back home. By day seven of the virus I felt better and the symptoms started to lessen. My birthday on Tuesday 24th was ruined though – I couldn’t blow out candles!

It’s not pleasant, but I have a lung condition as well as diabetes and I conquered the virus.