Day Thirty Five - Anxieties and Rainbows

Too many cooks is the cliche that springs to mind today as I try to find the relevant information about poor auntie Pat. Three cousins all offering information which isn't necessarily all as clear as I'd like it to be. My sister talked to one cousins's husband. He reckoned they didn't do a hip replacement so much as a re-alignment to fix the femur. I have to say that sounds more plausible if she had broken the femur. He also said the care home are happily waiting for her to be discharged from the hospital which indicates that they are okay with her having tested positive for covid-19 which puzzles me. Surely anyone with the virus would be most unwelcome in a care home? No one is sure why the hospital are holding her which is ominous but it might be because of the raised temperature. 

Then there was an email from another cousin. Not the cousin who told us of the coronavirus positive test yesterday, a different cousin, his sister in fact. She says,

 'Just spoken with the hospital and Auntie Pat is up and about and, although has tested positive for Covid 19, she is not symptomatic having neither a cough or temperature.  She is now in Kings Ward C

She has a little low blood pressure and is on an IV and has a loss of appetite, but has had a little something to eat.

The main worry was that she appeared vacant and not engaged.  I mentioned the small strokes that she has had with recent anaesthetics  and the nurse agreed to recommend that the doctors look into this tomorrow.'

So, no longer a raised temperature. Sounds better than yesterday. But inconclusive. A waiting game I fear and a jigsaw puzzle of details. 

I didn't sleep well last night worrying about Pat but that didn't stop me getting up and walking at 6 this morning. Chilly but somehow I needed to move. The wind has persisted today which has made being outdoors something of a battle. So I hunkered down and did what I do when I need to escape - writing and reading. One phone call from a friend and some text messages from my sister and that's the extent of contact today. I'm okay with that. I'll have an early night and steel myself for tomorrow's news and updates.

Because of the personal stuff I haven't kept a check on the broader aspects of the lockdown and the virus, nationally or internationally.I think that's interesting in itself. When it starts to hit closer to home you stop looking outside of that. So I had a brief trawl through some of the news. Apparently our convalescing PM is cautious about easing lockdown restrictions. Perhaps having the illness has helped him see sense at last. Still too little,too late. But someone has thrown a spanner in the works by suggesting the lockdown was likely to do more damage than the virus. Hmm, not sure how you quantify that one. A comparison with lives lost because of the virus and lives lost because of the lockdown? That's a no brainer. I think there will be a great divide. Those people who have been personally affected by the virus, by contracting it themselves or loved ones or losing someone close will be fully in favour of maintaining a lockdown. They will have experienced first what this virus is capable of. Those who have not been touched at all by the virus other than to have their lives disrupted and inconvenienced will long for the lockdown to be over. 

Another study of the virus suggest that high air pollution levels could raise the risk of dying. That's offered by one study. Another says it is too early to prove a direct relationship. Too early, exactly. We still do not know the full nature of this virus. So we proceed with caution. But I see people getting fed up and beginning to throw caution to the wind. A friend drove round to see her granddaughter. They stayed in the car maintaining a good distance and watched the children play on the front driveway. So although lockdown protocols were breached it doesn't sound as if the behaviour was irresponsible. Afterwards they went straight home but the friend said she wished they could have gone for a longer drive. But, to me, that indicates the seeds of discontent beginning to cause someone to alter their behaviour. This is a person who was scared to leave the house a couple of weeks ago. Interesting. 

Let's end on a cheerier note. I do seem to have been glum lately, I saw this at the end of my road on my walk the other day. 

My sister thought the blue and the indigo were a bit 'wonky' but I thought the overall effect was lovely and uplifting. People are gradually putting these up everywhere. I've seen people with bunting and flags too. Folk finding ways to get through this.