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May is a lovely time in Northwest France. The temperature is warm and the flowers are everywhere. It still rains every week
which keeps the place green. It's nice.
09.05.2020
John and I picked up our government-issued cloth masks on Saturday in preparation of the Monday lifting of many of the confinement
restrictions in France. The distribution was at a stadium near our home. We have often heard cheering crowds during soccer games there.
11.05.2020
John and I both got sick. He has had hay fever for months but now he has more stuff going on. I have some kind of respiratory thing.
Today is the day many of the restrictions are lifted and our parks are now open.
13.05.2020
I participated in a zoom video conference meeting with my atheist friends from Eugene Oregon. They are a great group of
people. Really great. I was coughing a bit and complaining about having become ill when I wash my hands at least once an hour,
wear a mask and try not to touch anything. All that and I still got a bug.
18.05.2020
I saw my doctor today because I've been sick for a week with extreme fatigue and for 4 days I've had daytime apnea
which I've never experienced before. My doc gave me a prescription for an inhaler and she set me up for a CovID-19 test based on all my symptoms.
20.05.2020
I got a long Q-tip shoved down my nose because for the CovID-19 test. It was a uncomfortable. It was outside in the
open air with a line of about 10 people nearby.
22.05.2020
I got my test results. Negatif. However, my doctor thinks my Covid-19 test result may have been a false negative.
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With the parks re-opening we were able to enjoy the flowers again. |
On the first thing that the workers did was to cut the grass. |
The guy sitting to the right lowered his mandatory mask in order to read his phone.??? |
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That's Ruth under her mask keeping social distance. |
Keep your masks on for friends and family. | Ruth bravely takes her COVID-19 test. |
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In a socially distanced line outside the post office. |
Bear knows to wear his mask. |
25.05.2020
In addition to the other symptoms my blood pressure shot up past 200 and the apnea became worse. I had already taken my medication for blood pressure which usually keeps it at about 125/70 but I took them again.
That brought down my blood pressure some but it was still very high. In the early morning
I called SoS Medicins for advice and they sent a medical van (smaller than their regular ambulance) to get me. SAMU which stands for
Service d'Aide Médicale Urgente (Urgent Medical Aid Service) is the French ambulance service.
When the medical vehicle arrived at the hospital they took me into the "Reanimations Center", an ominous beginning to an unusual 12 hour
stay. Reanimations is intensive care, not a sci-fi movie. Because my doctor thought my CovID-19 test may have been a false negative I was treated
in the CovID-19 ward. So after a 12 hour stay I thought, "If I didn't have CovID-19 before my chances of having it just jumped".
I was tired, groggy, in a little pain and generally disoriented during the trip to the hospital. The first very noticeable thing after
I arrived was that all the medical personnel were in their 20s and 30s and all the patients were over 60. I was away from my room 3 times
for tests (xray, CAT-scan and one other thing but I forgot what it was). I also had my blood drawn several times and all the blood sample
tubes had a CovID-19 label on them. The first test I had, an xray, was before I reached my room. That radiologist was my first encounter
with medical personnel after getting to the hospital. He was a joy. He was thrilled to be able to speak English. I asked him if he was
French because he didn't speak English with a French accent. He was happy with that assessment and he launched into a comedy routine about different
English dialects in the UK and around the world. The guy looked a lot like John Oliver. He sounded a lot like John Oliver and his comedy was easily
something John Oliver might do. I now refer to him as my Patch Adams/John Oliver radiologist.
As I was wheeled to my room there were signs on every door. in the elevator and on some walls reading "Zone COVID-19". It felt a bit like going
through a Halloween House of Horrors on a gurney and seeing danger signs about a pandemic everywhere. I got past that unease fairly quickly.
My doctor was super nice. In the afternoon
I had a CAT scan. They put an iodine solution in my veins that was hot. It didn't hurt but it was uncomfortable. I felt it flow up
one arm and down the other and through every part of my body moving slowly at first and then the feeling of heat rapidly dissipated.
So my day was test, test, test, blood draw, thermometer in my armpit, blood pressure read ... And I slept a lot and took Tylenol
(paracetemol in France) every few hours. It was a typical hospital experience including the horrible food. I didn't know that horrible food existed in
France. Well, rum balls are awful here, but other than that ... Maybe they thought all Covid-19 patients had lost their sense of taste.
After I came home I've been sleeping a lot and very slowly I have been getting better.
John got many more masks for us from Amazon.fr.
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| CHU Rennes - Pontchaillou Hospital | Normal ambulance | Labels on blood tests |
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| CAT scan | Urgent care room | Signs - including one for reanimation. |