Exactly a week ago today I had my first half of the AstraZeneca vaccine for Coronavirus. Something I am extremely grateful for. At number 4 on the JCVI priority list due to being ‘extremely clinically vulnerable’, I am very relieved to have finally had it. At the time of writing I have had zero negative reaction to this vaccine.
As I have tried to document here, we have, like most people, been in lockdown since the beginning of March 2020. I can however only write about it from my own and my family’s experiences, and this is an attempt at that.
As a quick summary, from March to August 2020, myself and my family spent five months shielding inside our home and garden. We then spent the time when shielding paused in August through to the next lockdown, effectively trying to shield as much as possible anyway. We then locked down another couple of times, which of course includes our Welsh ‘Firebreak’, and being in Tier 4 lockdown right now across the whole of Cymru/Wales.
We did manage a couple of excursions to deserted places after the first five months of total lockdown. We managed to find some dark sky to take images of Jupiter and the moons Io, Ganymede, Callisto and Europa. We also managed to see the Red Arrows at RAF valley and we visited Newborough Forest and the RSPB Nature Reserve at Cors Ddyga. I’d like to say it was for exercise, but my daughter got most of it from pushing me around. It amounts to very little time properly outside, on average, for almost the last year.
During this time we have been supported and helped by many people and it remains something we are eternally grateful for. Whether they be local people helping us with food and supplies from the local shop, or people picking up my prescriptions, there’s been virtually no end to the kindness of people willing to help us. Friends posted hand sanitiser or made it for us because we couldn’t get it ourselves, and we uncharacteristically ordered our shopping online. I did have to call the Red Cross a single time as we were left stuck with no-one to help (my GP surgery Practice Manager was unwilling to help us), but overall we were bowled over by the ability of people to selflessly support others. True community spirit.
Cabin Fever
Without trying to play into a stereotype that’s obviously more complex than I will be able to talk about here, we are, in this household, quite introverted as it were. We are very comfortable in our own company, we enjoy not going out to socialise and we have plenty of hobbies / books / conversation and even dare I say Xbox games to keep us occupied; which all sounds lovely, right? We never ever say the word ‘bored’, it just doesn’t compute.
This might sound ideal; social isolation and a world of pursuits is, after all, an ideal scenario for people like me to flourish. Loads of time to do what we love while not being interrupted with inane social chatter. We are however a family that still loves the outdoors. Before the onset of my lack of mobility, I could be regularly found climbing, cycling, walking and generally just being an ‘outdoorsey’ person. Even in a wheelchair, this is possible with support.
And, true; in the beginning, lockdown was quite nice. The weather was just getting warmer, the garden became accessible, and we started to catch up with a lot of things we’d wanted to do.
However after only a short amount of time, it became really stressful. It became more apparent that this was going to be around for a good amount of time and that as I have both respiratory issues and I’m immunocompromised, it would affect me significantly. Were I to contract the Coronavirus, I would be permanently affected. One way or another.
We’d gotten into a routine early on of obviously wearing masks when someone dropped something off at our home. I still wear a mask even though I am exempt.
Later in the lockdowns if I had a medical appointment, we would have to sanitise regularly (door handles were particularly present in our minds), if someone handed me something it would be sanitised first by my daughter and when shopping or deliveries came, it would again have to be sanitised item by item before I could go near it. Post? “Nope you can’t have that, it needs ethanol first!”
While this seems like it might be manageable, it actually felt very restrictive. Of course I was willing to do this because it’s better to be safe and after all I’m still alive, but, it ended up feeling, and still does feel very limiting. It’s on par with when I first used my wheelchair, except rather than then, when I could still try and be independent (albeit constantly sat down), now I just end up sat waiting for everyone to do everything for me. I literally sit waiting for things to be done for me, unable to touch, access or help with any of it until it’s been through my daughter’s strict quarantine process.
I have always been a fiercely independent person. My mobility being massively reduced was difficult, but this has grown to feel impossible. Being stuck inside has compounded it and I definitely started to feel like I was losing hope.
Until I had the vaccine last Tuesday.
Now; I’m told that it will take a few weeks before it’s effective, and even then until the second dose is received I will be mostly unprotected. I dare say this is going to be the case until most of the population is vaccinated and population immunity is achieved.
All of these measures will carry on for a while, no doubt about that at all, but at least now it feels like there may be an end in sight. It feels like there may be hope and possibilities again and that we can eventually carry on.
Fingers crossed;
Emma
Nota bene: This whole pandemic has been attrocious, and no more so than for the people who have either suffered with this virus, or for the grieving families left behind. Emergency services are stretched to their limits and the economy is likely to crash, putting more people in danger.
Please, if you are able; accept the offer of a vaccine, wear a mask and continue to social distance for as long as it’s possible.