My positive lateral flow result is really negative

Day 11

My 10 long days of quarantine with Covid are behind me and I'm once more free to re-join society.  I'd hoped that, some time after the 5th day, I'd have tested negative for a couple of days and thus earned an early release, but it never happened.

The 'raging sore throat' that I reported on my last post responded well to Lemsip and gradually diminished.  By day 5 it had gone completely... but still the cursèd lateral flow tests showed that I was infectious. It really was quite an odd situation; physically I felt perfectly fit; only a piece of white plastic told me otherwise.

On day 11 – the day after I was legally 'free' – I did a lateral flow test, just to see what would happen.  A faint line at the 'T' declared that I was still positive, but the government's advice was clear:

You do not need to take any more LFD tests after the 10th day of your self-isolation period and you may stop self-isolating after this day. This is because you are unlikely to be infectious after the 10th day of your self-isolation period. Even if you have a positive LFD test result on the 10th day of your self-isolation period you do not need to take any more LFD tests after this day and you do not need a follow-up PCR test.

Every two or three days during my isolation, texts appeared on my phone from NHS Tracing, thanking me sincerely for self-isolating, assuring me that support was available if I needed it, and threatening me with a fine if I broke the rules and escaped my confinement. I suppose one would call that a 'carrot and stick' approach.  Perhaps I'm just naturally rebellious (yes, that must be it), but the repeated reminders were rather patronising and made me feel like a potential criminal.

As you have doubtless concluded from the tenor of this blog, I am actually a gracious, well-behaved lady who has never found herself on the wrong side of the law. For instance, in my long years of motoring I have never even picked up a parking ticket. However, being ordered to stay within the confines of my house and garden was a bitter pill to swallow for someone who lives but a few yards from the Forest of Dean, with its miles and miles of unpopulated paths. 

Photographs of my rambling garden rarely appear in this blog, so I thought that, for a change, I'd show you three that I snapped during my exercise.  Even in winter, my leafy garden path is a delight and I'm very pleased to see that some mandarin ducks have chosen to live on my pond. I do hope, though, that the croc leaves them in peace. Thankfully, he doesn't look very hungry.

Finally, here are some screenshots from my FitBit fitness tracker.  In my last post I showed the data up to Tuesday 18th January, which included two full days of my Covid infection. Unfortunately, the FitBit only stores 7 days of data and I forgot to record it until today. This data is therefore centred on the final day of my confinement, Wednesday 26th January.  Disappointingly, I don't think it tells me very much, other than that I'm in reasonably good shape.

Oxygen saturation has oscillated around 95%, exactly as it did when I was first infected. Since 95% is considered by many to be the lowest 'healthy' value, I'm left wondering whether it will improve as I return to full health

Breathing rate, which had peaked at 16bpm, soon settled down to more normal levels... until last night. That last one coincided with greatly increased blood pressure and might be down to something other than Covid and its aftereffects.  Suffice to say that my blood pressure was normal again this morning.

No problems here. Once again, the increased rate at the beginning of my infection soon returned to more normal levels.

Covid Positive

I suppose that it had to happen one day.  As Covid transitions from pandemic to endemic, we've been warned that we'll all eventually get it.  It caught me on Sunday evening. 

I went to bed a little earlier than usual, feeling groggy, then woke up in the morning with a headache and a runny nose. Since S-- had endured exactly the same symptoms less than two weeks ago, and had consistently tested negative for the duration of the illness, I felt confident that I would do the same. I was wrong.  Scarcely believing the result, I repeated it using one of the newer, simpler lateral flow test kits that only contain nasal swabs. This time the positive result appeared even sooner and clearer.

So now I'm grounded for 10 days, or 5 if I can return negative tests on days 5 & 6.  Since the symptoms appeared on Sunday, 'day 1' was Monday, and I'll retest on Friday and Saturday

Probably because I entered the initial data wrongly, NHS tracing has designated 'day 1' as Tuesday, but I'll stick to my way of counting. Of course, there's no guarantee that I'll be Covid-free by Friday.

The story so far...

Monday: runny nose, but boasting that I'm feeling rather good.  If this is Covid, bring it on!

Monday night: woke up in the middle of the night with a raging sort throat. Treated it a couple of times with Difflam Spray, which seemed to help.

This morning: feeling groggy, but put on my dressing gown and had a go at breakfast.  Hot coffee and Weetabix in hot milk worked rather better than Difflam. Went back to bed until 10-o'clock. 

This afternoon: wrote this post and amused myself doing some long-overdue cataloguing of photos. I've had a couple of Paracetamols, but my throat is still somewhat sore.  Mugs of hot tea definitely ease the nagging pain. 

A friend offered to lend me her oxygen saturation meter, but I've politely declined as my wonderful FitBit fitness tracker gives me this information.  Indeed, it's giving me all sorts of data to which I have hitherto paid scant attention.

That's interesting. 95% is generally considered to be the lowest healthy night-time value, so I'm only just okay. Notice, though, that it dropped a little lower than 95% on Wednesday 12th. I think that I'm usually around 96-97%, though I did admit to paying it scant attention.  

No surprises here. Last night's interrupted sleep, thanks to that darned sore throat, shows clearly.

A resting heart rate of 59bpm is unusually high for me, though well within the accepted 'healthy' range. I usually average about 53bpm. 

None of these data are cause for concern, but I'm fascinated by the way that they rise and fall.  Consequently, I'll probably bore my loyal readers with a detailed account of my recovery.  You have been warned!  

In the mean time, I console myself with the knowledge that I'm now as protected as I'll ever be against future bouts of Covid, with 3 vaccinations and the natural infection.

Christmas Biscuits

Have you ever noticed that when an elderly person offers you a cup of tea, they invariably also offer a biscuit or eight?  Now that I am well into my senior years, I know the reason why.  One simply has to ask the question, "What do you buy an elderly person for Christmas?"  Answer: biscuits or chocolates. 

It's been a good Christmas in which valued friends have been lavish with their gifts, including many tins of biscuits and boxes of mouth-watering chocolates.  Overflowing with gratitude, I did my best to tackle the over-abundance but they, together with much excellent festive food and wine, have conspired to push up my weight to its highest level since August 2016. Truth be told, though, my weight was hardly great before Christmas.

The obvious answer (for me) is to re-join Slimming World. Something within me still baulks at the thought of paying not to eat, but I know that it works.  However, I feel sufficiently motivated to lose a stone or so unaided, so I'm going to try, using Slimming World's methods. Back in 2016 I lost a stone in 10 weeks, so let's see whether I can equal that achievement. If, after a month or so, I'm failing then I'll unashamedly take a trip up the road to the Slimming World gathering in Yorkley.

And what of the remaining biscuits and chocolates? Well I hope our friends won't be too offended if they learn that several boxes of chocolates have already found their way to the local Food Bank. The biscuits will, of course, be offered in quantity to everyone who pops in for a cup of tea!