Day 134 - Saturday 1st August

 Covid really is a sneaky and persistent nuisance. My friend has been in hospital since Tuesday; she has multiple blood clots in all lobes of both her lungs. Apparently, it's a fairly common post-covid complication. We had been in touch regularly since she couldn't come over last saturday, and she's been getting increasingly breathless and anxious. Of course, those things can be connected, but something wasn't right. Her oxygen saturation has been wavering between the high 80s and low 90s. She called her GP, but when she told him she'd stayed in the house while it was being dehumidified after the flood he was dismissive and accused her of not taking her health seriously. Of course, this just made her upset and did nothing to solve the problem.

It came to a head on Tuesday; she called me about 9pm to say she had just nearly passed out and could I come over. I told her that I would, but that she was to call an ambulance. She said she couldn't get down the stairs to let them in (she lives in a town house) and I reassured her that I would get there as soon as I could. When I got there she was tearful and scared, and I tried to keep her calm while we waited for the paramedics. They took ages because the road layout has changed and they were relying on satnav as they came from Slough. They checked her over thoroughly and although they were calm and professional I could see that they were concerned; I wasn't surprised when they said they were taking her to hospital. I'd already packed her a bag in case, while we were waiting. I wasn't allowed to go with her.

I went home but remained on standby in case she needed picking up; at around 2am she let me know they were keeping her in. I dropped over her bag the next day, handing it to a nurse at the door to the ward. I was in the office the following day and was surprised when she messaged to say she was allowed one visitor for one hour. I had already arranged to go to her house after work and change her bedding so she had a lovely clean bed to come home to, so I went straight from there. She was on oxygen, just the little nose tubes, and seemed quite positive. I had to wear PPE but kept my own mask, a comedy one.

On Friday her friend came up from Devon to see her, and today our mutual friend. She and I have been working out how to provide support when she comes out of hospital. I'm going to visit again tomorrow, and hopefully after that she'll be home. 

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