Coronavirus Update

[Syren]

Hey all,

As those who know me on Facebook already know, I may well have the Coronavirus. Me and one of the guys at work I sit next to are both sick, we’re both “self isolating” for a week (which, on the bright side, means a week away from a job I hate) and neither of us know quite where we caught it. Neither of us are confirmed cases but we both have symptoms and I was told to use the online service which told me to call my doctors who told me to use the online service, so clearly the medical services are a tad overwhelmed and underprepared.

Anyway, I *thought* on Friday this would mean more time to RP. It has not. Between coughing so hard I gag pretty much every time I move, genuinely finding it hard to breathe after said coughing fits or doing anything like going up and down stairs, and seriously just wanting to sleep all the time (yesterday I was awake for 4 hours, fell asleep on the sofa with my dog for 4 and a half hours, and then went to bed 3 hours later) I don’t think I’m going to get anything written. I have two RPs started but I don’t know if I’ll finish either, so if I don’t, please join me in blaming my employer. ?

Hopefully I’ll be better in a few days and I’ll update you all just in case you get anything similar. All I’ll say is that it’s no joke. The cough I have is by far the worst cough I’ve ever had in my life. I’ve coughed until my chest aches from it, and then kept coughing, so all the advice about staying safe and washing your hands? Do that!!!! I’ve had serious stress and anxiety issues all year which has meant my health has not been great in general, but that doesn’t just mean the vulnerable get sick as my workmate is a tank and he’s also been taken down by it. Just be careful all of you! ❤️

[HardyGirl]

Is it weird if I feel a little better knowing that our health care system isn't the only one that's fucked up?

Take care of yourself.

[BME]

Take care of yourself!!

[Lucas Knight]

Ever since I found out you were deathly sick, I was worried about you. Personally feel you need to be in hospital rather than at home, especially if it is the Coronavirus. Just take of yourself, Alexis. We'll talk more tomorrow, will give you a call.

[ThatWasley]

I really wish you'd take my advice and call 111, Lex and find out for sure. I know you hate using phones, but it's important to know and if it IS coronavirus, they can help you. Please be careful and take care of yourself.

[Simple77]

Please be careful Alexis and take care of yourself.

[Syren]

Howdy y’all,

Thought I’d update you on this, since my sleeping pattern is totally fucked considering I keep falling asleep at random times (which has made for some interesting middle-of-the-night chats with Jon). 

So, i still don’t know if it IS Coronavirus as neither me nor my friend at work have been tested. Basically, testing in the U.K. at the moment is limited only to those in high risk groups, which I don’t qualify for. Considering it’s almost 2 weeks since I started coughing and considering my cough really hasn’t improved that much (every time I take a deep breath I start coughing, and every time I go up the stairs I start coughing, and those coughing fits last as long as until I lay down again and my breathing returns to normal) I have, however, attempted to take Wasley’s advice given to me on Facebook first of all, but so far no luck. Since I’m not in a high risk group I need to just “self isolate”, which I’ve been doing with my mother who I’ve also infected. She’s handling it slightly better than I am, but she has all the same problems just to slightly lesser degrees (although her cough is now getting worse). 

She is also - on top of Wasley and Jon - telling me to call people though considering how long it’s been, but when I call my GP they tell me to call 111 and when I call them they just tell me to self-isolate until my symptoms go away. So there isn’t much help out there. The bad news is there have been deaths in my/our (including Wasley) local area now, which is just further proof of how goddamn terrifying this whole thing is. 

If there is anyone out on here who’s still telling themselves that it’s fine and still going out and acting like this isn’t a worldwide clusterfuck then you definitely need to stop. Honest to god you do NOT want this. I’m in my 30s with no lung problems and I’m struggling. If by going out you spread this to someone with asthma etc then you’ve basically killed them, because it’s fucking nasty as hell.

Also, ❤️ to Jon for his texts and making me laugh (although laughing makes me cough, but I’ll allow it) because the last week and a half has not been fun. And I’m now on season 7 of Modern Family, which I started watching when this began, and I’ve watched all 3 seasons of Rick & Morty on Netflix, so if nothing else at least I’m getting to catch up on my TV binging. Plus Disney+ is out later so yay! 

Take care all. Stay safe!

Edit:
Oh, forgot to mention this earlier, but for those in the U.K. who know me and know I work at Next, I have a request: don’t shop at Next anymore!!!

Despite the various warnings from the government, Next are STILL telling IT staff - who CAN work from home - to come into the office. Their latest emails say things like “you don’t need to work from home every day, try to come in 4 days a week”. The reason for this, apparently, is that they don’t want to invest in any actual new hardware and they’re worried about too many people logging in from home, which is a fucking joke beyond words. My last day there is Friday (I’m moving to a new company who are even doing my induction training from home, and not because I’m sick, because they’ve banned anyone from coming into their office) and if the IT staff there weren’t already pissed off, they DEFINITELY are now. An email went round today about my last day being Friday and I’ve had two people ask me if my new place is recruiting still, and they’re willing to take pay cuts just to leave.

Unfortunately I can’t post this on Facebook while I’m still employed by them, but the way they’re dealing with this whole thing is a fucking joke. So, if you ever get tempted to shop at Next, go shop somewhere else instead because they’re a bunch of cunts who twice in 2019 drove me to the point of getting sick notes because I couldn’t handle it anymore, and now are telling their staff to keep coming to work and not work from home in a time of international emergency. 

Beyond a goddamn joke!