Back to the front

I have been back at work.  In my job, where we are now, we have yet to hit the peak, but we are dealing with more with COVID19.  At the moment, there is not much that we can do, but the more that are affected, the more we will be able to do in the community, which means that we will be exposed to it more.

At the moment, my wife faced more risk when it came to exposure when she went to the supermarket to stock up on supplies.

What I need to do is to focus on what I can do now, not on those who have died helping others and not on the storm that is to come.

Day 14 in isolation

Today is my last day in isolation.  I have mixed feelings about this and was anxious for most of the morning before I started my work from home which distracted me.  I spoke to one of the others at work has to socially isolate due to the medication they are on who made me feel better.

I know that we screen people at work before they are seen, and that there is probably a greater chance of catching COVID19 from someone at the supermarket than from someone I see right now.  Well the logical part of me says that.  The issue arises of what to do as someone becomes more unwell.  Also, the numbers of those affected by this disease will increase and when that happens, the chances of me seeing someone who is unwell with this will go up.  We do have PPE to wear if needed, but it is so flimsy, I am not confident that it really offers any protection.  Hence the GIF.

But I feel sorry for myself.  I have just watched the news which has shown a team working in ITU in London.  They are at much higher risk than me and are still seeing and helping people.

On a more positive note, played throw and catch with my daughter who is looking forwards to being able to go out for walks again.  And have watched The Clone Wars with my son.  One bright side of all this is that I have had time to spend with my family.  Something which I am now going to have less of.

Day 13 in isolation

As I type this, I have heard news that Boris has been admitted to hospital due to COVID.  I wish him well and hope he gets better soon.

I do not like the way that people like me in the NHS feel exposed by the amount and quality of PPE that we have (let alone those who care for people in the community).  And needless to say, I do not like the way that he made the suggestion that the NHS would get a huge dividend after Brexit, let alone the cuts made to it while we was a Tory MP, and the lies and manipulation that have occurred about the NHS while he was been in power.  And as noted before, the inability of our nation to test for COVID19 properly is down to cuts made by the Conservatives (though locally, this was while he was out of parliament).

But, he did not act like Trump and Jair Bolsonaro when it came to COVID19.  He listened to scientific advice on how to manage it with the limited resources available to the nation and when that advice changed he adapted.  His stepwise manner in bringing about the lockdown was well executed though could possibly have been done sooner.  And he was also lucky, the decision of the Premier League to cancel matches after Arsenal was struck down by COVID19 helped in not spreading this horrible disease like happened in Spain and Italy.

So, like many who do not agree with him politically, I do wish the best for him and a speedy recovery.

But back to the family, today was spent relaxing and doing bit around the house.  I have ordered the last two scrubs that I could find on the internet in my size that should come back soon.  And we made use of the garden today playing throw and catch again.  We need to use it more really, but it really needs to be cut!  And as you can see from the title, I will be back at work soon seeing patients face to face.  And while I am keen to help my colleagues, I am feeling more nervous.

Day twelve in the Big Brother house

Today has been both fun and interesting.  My wife and I had a long chat with my son about how he has appeared to learn how to avoid work.  He was not keen on this chat but had to be reminded of how well he had done in his sats last year.  Watching Star Wars, there are lots of quotes about the importance of hard work.  He has so much potential and it is heartbreaking when it appears that he just wants to squander it when so many others do not have it.  Educationally, he has the potential to be a Jedi, or he can take the quick and easy path to become part of the Sith.

Anyway, we spent some of the sunny day playing throw and catch.  I tried to repair our lawnmower only to find that I had bought the wrong spark plug on line and could not change it anyway as I lack the tools to do so.

We watched Knives Out, a pleasant film and one with an ending that I had guessed wrong.  And now I am watching how a little green alien is brainwashing a bounty hunter with my son.

Day eleven in the big brother house

School is out for my daughter.  Technically it is out for my son as well, but he has yet to finish the work that they set him.  Which means that he will have to work into his holidays.

My wife has been reorganising the house and that has meant more recycling.  Not all can be recycled and we have been burning what we cannot recycle as our shredder has broken.  However a comment was made on the WhatsApp group for our road.  As shame, as technically we have to stop...

COVID19 and testing

This has been copied and pasted from Dr Rant on Facebook.  This is important to share as the government has claimed that it will test more.  I suspect that this will be testing for antibodies and from what I understand, while the test can give answers in 15 minutes, it can take up to 28 days to develop the antibodies which means that I will not be able to be tested before Tuesday which means that I will not be returning to work early.

Dear Readers. I've had a message in a bottle (stool sample bottle, actually) from BMS Rant, a distant relative who runs an NHS laboratory. This is regarding the Government's assumption that there is spare space in labs, and that they are all twiddling their thumbs...

"I'm so angry at the coverage regarding testing.  

Labs don't have spare space.  As a service, we have been understaffed and underfunded FOR YEARS.  We've been forced into consolidation of workload across 29 central sites as a result of a top-down re-organisation of pathology.  There are dozens of small labs across the country that have been stripped of the ability to carry out all but the most urgent of tests, resulting in the loss of lab space, expertise, equipment and staff!  Now take a stripped back pathology service and add a pandemic!  FUCKING MAGIC!  

Do you know why your COVID tests are taking ages?  They're being put in a van and taken to the local "big lab".  My local big lab is running the COVID tests for at least FIVE hospitals, and their attached local areas.  What the FUCK do you think is happening in labs like that?  I don't know the exact number of testing labs, but 15,000 tests across 29 sites is nearly five hundred a day, rising to nearly 1000 if we make good on the government's target.  And these labs haven't randomly acquired extra analysers capable of testing for COVID, or randomly acquired enough experienced BMSs to run brand new, technically intricate tests, or that they're not having to self-isolate, or going down with COVID themselves from handling these things.  The rest of the workload hasn't magically disappeared either!  

I'm lucky.  My small lab is in the process of being closed, so we have two analysers capable of testing.  The government haven't taken them yet.  But here's the thing - this is a brand new virus.  There are many different suppliers of test kits out there.  Your current analyser determines the test kits you can run.  And everyone and his dog wants COVID testing at the moment, so there are supply issues.  And even when you've sourced a kit for your analyser, you can't just run a test for a brand new virus without proving that it does what it says it does!  In other words: false positives and false negatives!  That process takes time and remember - we're stripped of staff, resources, time etc. etc. etc.  

My little lab is in the process of validating one test from one supplier right now.  But it might not work - after all, it's brand new!    It might be better to send stuff up to the big lab for a better result.  After all, what's the point in running a test that's going to call your COVID positive patient negative?  So which is worse - have a shit result now, or a safe result in 24 hours?  

Labs aren't lazy, or inefficient.  We're just as fucked as the clinical areas - trying to do our jobs safely and efficiently, after years of being squeezed and squeezed and having to do more for less.  I want to do my bit.  I'm desperate to contribute to this.  I didn't enter the NHS for the money or the glory.  But for FUCKS sake - I don't have spare, validated kits, analysers or trained staff in my pocket, and neither do those poor bastards, working flat out in the big labs.  Put yourself in our shoes before you take a massive shit on us!"

Day nine in the Big Brother house

Not much again today.  My daughter is still hard at her school work and my son and wife rearranged an unused corner of the house.  I am still watching Clone Wars with my son.  It is odd as the episodes appear to be out of order.  In addition to this, am coming to the end of the Friday Night Dinner episodes with my daughter. We are to run out of those on Netflix soon.

Yawn...