26th December: Boxing Day. My mum’s symptoms were a lot worse. Shivering, weakness and feeling very tired and battling a high temperature. Luckily, we had a thermometer in the house so we could check her temperature which was really high at 39-40 degrees. We called 111 to find out how we go about getting a test, however, all the test centres near to us were fully booked up; fortunately, we managed to get a slot at Greenwich where you can administer the test in the privacy of your car and drop off your sealed tests upon exiting the test centre. Impressively, we got our results the following day, so it’s very quick!
27th December: Results day. My mum received her results via text just a day after doing the test, the text said she should self isolate for 10 days. So, we took all the necessary steps which included sanitising, antibacterial wipes, regular temperature checks etc
28th December: Our mum’s condition was getting a lot worse with her temperature still very high at around 39/40 degrees, feeling extremely weak and tired. This next part is for all the parents, please parents tell us your medical history or medical problems!! I know as parents you want to protect us but it actually hurts us later on!
My mum has type 2 diabetes and also high blood pressure so she’s high risk. My mum has a blood pressure and blood sugar monitor, however, we had no idea how to use them because my mum never told us🤦🏾. A lot of my mum’s weakness was actually due to her blood pressure and blood sugar being way too low which we later found out.
Before I forget, my mum also had no appetite, so if you recognise this in your situation, it’s not uncommon. Our mum would ask for food or would crave something, but when given it she would only be able to have a few bites.
In the evening my mum had just finished eating and we checked her temperature which had peaked at 40 degrees. Moments later my mum began to feel dizzy and look funny as if she wanted to be sick so I began asking numerous questions to engage her, not knowing her energy levels had plummeted, she could hardly say a word.
Hoping for a response, I asked her, are you going to be sick and she nodded so I quickly rushed to get her a bucket, a few moments later we noticed her face change and her eyes become wide, my mum was having a seizure. My brother, whilst trying to keep composed, and the energy positive called 999. I completely understand hospitals and medical staff are overwhelmed but the time it took and the constant questions the operator was asking us my mum had snapped out of the seizure which lasted about 2/3 minutes. She had no recollection of what happened.
The operator told us the ambulance would call us to check we’re all good (they did… but by the time they called to check in, nearly 2 hours had passed and we were left to our own devices of tapping into our own networks for advice, recommendations and the hand of God. The seizure we believe was most likely due to her high temperature and a dramatic drop in blood pressure.
The next few days my mum’s condition was still bad. Feeling weak, tired, barely able to talk, loss of appetite and high temperature. I slept on the floor of my mum’s room to make sure she was okay during the night. We had now got into quite a good routine, my brother would take my mum’s blood sugar and I would do her blood pressure. With my mum being diabetic we’ve tapped into our culinary skills to prepare healthier, lighter meals, some of which include, homemade fruit juices and soup; food that is easier to digest – meat seemed to be her trigger to feeling sick.
