the one where I get covid

POP QUIZ!

What has two thumbs and COVID-19?

 

This guy!

A little bit of backstory. When we last met I was feeling horribly smug about how easy (sort of) I found the lumbar puncture procedure. 

Well. 

Obviously this led to a SIX DAY headache. 

Steve's top tip: drink as much water as possible. Yes, the nurses told me to do this. But how do you know when you've drunk enough water?

(Apart from noticing when your head stops pounding, anyway)

I eventually got it right when the Divine Mrs. D bought me a water bottle that has hour markings on it. It's surprisingly easy when there's a sort of game involved.

Anyway. 

All during this time it became obvious that COVID was burning through Little Ms. D's school. Before Christmas they were encouraging the wearing of masks, keeping year groups apart and staggering times of the start and end of the day. Obviously a pain for parents with more than one kid but at least it cut down on the crowds at the school gates. 

However in January, everything reverted back to how it was before, including no recommendation about mask wearing. We thought it was insanity and it appears we've been proven right. 

We've been getting loads of messages from the school of confirmed cases, across all the year groups. So it was clear that something wasn't going well.

And at the start of last week - just when I was dealing with my post-LP headache - we found out that one of Little Ms. D's best friends had a confirmed case. At the end of the week she was going for a sleepover at my folks' house so we thought we'd give her a quick lateral flow test, which came back positive, same as the PCR test she did the following day. 

Both me and Mrs. D did a Lateral Flow test that weekend - both negative - but when we did the PCR tests, although Mrs. D's was negative, mine was positive. 

It is, to put it mildly, a massive pain in the arse. I was getting ready to get my COVID booster jab and my flu vaccine, prior to changing my MS medication. Ever since this damn thing started, we've been so bloody careful. And I still got caught out. 

I don't want to come across like Donald Trump *shivers*, but I feel like I've got a bad cold. Having said that, the brain fog is strong, and the fatigue is - dare I say it? - relapse-like. But that ain't happening. 

Infuriatingly, people continue to swan around without wearing masks. And you can't even blame them, can you? Not when the UK government keeps telling people that it's all over. 

Plus it appears to be really going for that whole herd immunity thing, and is more concerned with the economy and getting back to a normal which didn't really serve the needs of the majority of people in the country.

excellent service, would recommend

image borrowed from spine-health.com

So my first ever lumbar puncture was... fine, actually. 

I'd been really worried about it - like two-sleepless-nights worried. And I don't think that's entirely unreasonable. There's just something undeniably weird about the idea of someone putting a needle into your spine. 

What really took me by surprise when I got to the hospital was that I didn't lie down for the procedure. I just sat on the edge of a bed and leant forward onto one of those wheeled bed-tables. 

After a bit of feeling around and the SHARP SCRATCH of the local anaesthetic, the actual needle which went in between L4 and L5 felt more like someone was digging a knuckle into my lower back. There was one odd moment where there was a burning sensation in (apologies, there's no other way of saying this) my balls. Unsurprising when they're rooting around in a cluster of nerves, I guess. 

The most disturbing bit was the noise the student nurse who was observing made when she saw the fluid coming out. A bit worrying, but then I did make a point of not seeing the size of needle they were using. I assume it looked worse than it felt. 

After coming out of the gates at a tremendous pace, things then slowed down to a dribble when filling the second and third vials. But after about 20/30 minutes it was over. 

This was when the headache kicked in. Man, that was something else. The doctor explained why it had started and the reason was one of those blindingly obvious things that you feel stupid for not thinking of yourself (if you're an idiot like me). 

As in: Spinal fluid goes around the brain. If you remove fluid and the subject stands (or in my case sits) up, the fluid will flow down, leaving the brain exposed. Fixed by a big old glass of water and two paracetamol, followed by an hour lying down with observations every 15 minutes. 

Which also included the collection of a freakish amount of blood. Obviously they needed to take some blood as part of my LP procedure. But the MS nurse thought that, while I was there and cannulated, it would be worth doing all of the tests required for each of the three DMTs I'm looking at. Pretty smart. And it saves me having to go back to the hospital for more tests further down the line.

So after filling TWELVE VIALS of blood, and being observed while walking, I was allowed to go home.

My final thoughts? It really wasn't anywhere near as bad I thought it would be. But, y'know: needle; spine; puncture. 

One thing. While I know that's the way a lot of people come to their initial diagnosis, I'm SO GLAD that mine didn't come through this procedure. At that point, everything was so unnerving and unknown.

My first MRI was bad enough. But I would've totally freaked out if the doctor had said, "Just to make sure we know what we're dealing with, I think we should drain off some of your spinal fluid." 

Having said all that, if you're in the position of needing to have a lumbar puncture procedure, in my experience it really isn't that scary. Talk to the doctors and nurses, explain your perfectly rational fears, and take comfort from the fact that you're not alone.

For example, one of my MS Nurses said that the one time that she nearly fainted while training to be nurse was when she witnessed a lumbar puncture.

As I said: needle; spine; puncture. It's not natural, is it?