Happy to be here in your fair land on holiday. But sadly my husband got hit with covid right after we arrived. Not sure if it’s the beastly new variant or not, but was happy we brought antivirals with us. Always hard to deal with illness abroad. So far, I’m ok, the last thing my cranky tachycardic heart needs is Covid. Hope to be out of isolation soon and get to visit with family and friends. My heart is getting great workouts hiking uphill every day to the shops near where we’re staying. Thanks for the great weather! ❤️
an unwelcome welcome to the UK - Atrial Fibrillati...
an unwelcome welcome to the UK
Written by
lovetogarden
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71 Replies
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Sorry to hear that news. Do you think your husband could have caught Covid on the plane? Hope he's not hit too badly by it and wish him well.
In retrospect, there was one flight attendant who may have been ill. I didn’t interact with her at all, but he had to. Might have been that. He went out for a walk in the nearby fields today, so a marked improvement! We had to scramble today to find another Airbnb to isolate in for a few more days until we feel comfortable seeing vulnerable family. It’s been quite the trip so far! So close to London and we won’t get into central London at all. Oh well!
• in reply tolovetogarden
I shouldn't worry about missing out London! There are far nicer places close to where you plan to be, as I'm sure you have discovered! I live in the Chilterns, 30 miles from London, but very rural, I run a B&B and when we get people from the city, they are surprised how quiet and beautiful it is so close to the capital!
lovetogarden• in reply to
Oh, that is a lovely area. We did stay in your region a few years ago, at an Airbnb on a horse farm. Lovely countryside walks. And yes, I’m not too bothered about London. Have been there many times over the years and frankly, I’m no longer that enthused by big cities like London and NYC. Though we had hoped to meet up in London with friends who live south of London. And I always love going to Kew.
Central London is pretty awful. I have no idea why Americans want to visit it so much. It's dirty, noisy, expensive and over-crowded. So many lovely towns to visit. Don't feel hard done by for missing London.
Oh, no worries, I’ve been to London many times, not really missing it this trip. But I did want to meet some friends in London. And sorry to be missing them. I have a love-hate relationship with big cities, lots of theater and restaurants and museums. But also so much noise and energy exhausts me. I love country villages too.
Sorry to hear your news. Hope he makes a speedy return to health. People seem to be less ill with it now, hope the same is true for your husband.
Thanks. He’s starting to feel better. But has had far worse symptoms than I had in June.
Hope your husband makes good recovery and you get to enjoy your stay. Which part of UK are you based?
Thanks Jalia. We’re in North London now, have friends in the area. Managed to Ed some of them before Covid was apparent, both outside visits thanks to the gorgeous weather. Have family in Lincolnshire, so headed that way after a few more quarantine days. ❤️
Enjoy Lincolnshire, my home county, although I live I. West Yorkshire now. Hopefully I will return to live in Lincolnshire soon.
It is a lovely area, isn’t it. And one that really isn’t really part of the tourist consciousness. In widowhood, my mother-in-law moved up there from near London to be nearer to her sister, who had moved there to be near her son. Just a funny coincidence that I’ve spent the last few decades visiting Lincolnshire. Hope you get to return there soon. Though Yorkshire is pretty gorgeous too!
I hope he’s feeling better soon and have a lovely time over here. All the best.
Ron 👍
Thanks, he’s starting to get there! Hope we’ll still get to see some friends. And oddly, we’re meeting a bunch of UK friends in Finland later next week for a music festival. If all goes well that is!
Sorry to hear that. Hope you're both out of quarantine soon.
Thank you! xx
Oh that's so unfortunate- what a shame! Sadly it IS on the increase again and I know several people which got it during air travel. Nice Post holiday present for some 😞. Hope your husband's soon better.
Thank you, he’s feeling a bit better. The antivirals seem to be helping. Hope he doesn’t have the antiviral rebound, that extends the isolation days.
My husband also just tested positive for COVID after our recent holiday so watch out folks and take precautions. It did give him an episode of AF which cleared once he was in recovery. There are 2 new ‘variants of interest’ BA.2.86 was identified 17/08 in US and now rampant in Europe and US but just getting started in UK.
Personally I am isolating with my husband as both new variants are highly infectious. BA.2.86 was identified in US 24/08/23 as a variant of concern as "BA.2.86 may be more capable of causing infection in people who have previously had COVID-19 or who have received COVID-19 vaccines," the CDC risk assessment stated. Dated 24/08/23
Medscape article link medscape.com/s/viewarticle/...
Should also say that it doesn’t appear to cause serious illness and hospitalisations haven’t gone up. I am testing clear, I haven’t kept my vaccinations up to date whilst my husband has. I could be eligible for anti-virals but having read the issues with rebound, not sure on the present treatment protocols and as it doesn’t seem to be making my husband seriously ill, I just hope to survive the 24/7 living in close proximity in a small house for the next 7-10 days!
Gosh more variants, hadn’t a clue we had thrm here in France…….hope it skips u, and hubby is better soon
Sue
Thanks Sue. me too! Fingers crossed, and my dose of antivirals at the ready! We came prepared! 😀
Very impressed you have antivirals. I might have been spared both my AF and chronic fatigue had I had some to take when a bout of shingles struck and I got the pain before the rash and couldn’t get an appointment with the GP for almost two weeks! Do hope they work for you if needed.
Oh my goodness, 2 weeks to get shingles antiviral? That’s unconscionable! I know the health care systems in both our countries are impossibly overwhelmed, but some things really do need immediate attention. So very sorry. And yes, we knew we couldn’t get antivirals here, so we brought them with us. The one I have to take isn’t even valuable here. Paxlovid, the usual one, doesn’t mix well with Multaq/dronedarone.
Yes, it certainly has put an end to my previously active life but, at 79, I have outlived both my parents and still able to enjoy some things.
so sorry. 😢
oh no, I’m so sorry you’re in the same predicament. And that it gave him an afib event. Glad to hear he isn’t desperately ill. We did bring antivirals since I knew they’d be hard to get here.
It just dumb luck that we’re in an Airbnb that is perfect for isolating from each other as much as possible. Well laid out with lots of spaces to be in and separate bedrooms and baths. We have to move to another one tomorrow, since our original planned next stop had to be cancelled. The latest variants are concerning, but as you say hopefully not causing hospitalizations.
Good luck to you and your husband. xx
And to you, much harder when you are in unfamiliar territory.
Thx so much, we’re doing ok. How is your husband feeling? Mine is feeling much better. Just finished the antivirals today. Grateful to have Boots and a grocery store within walking distance. And signed up for a free month of Amazon Prime giving me an equally free month of Deliveroo delivery. Also Waitrose delivery. Relishing all the delivery options, we live in the countryside, so don’t have all these fun options! Husband is from the UK, so he would normally drive. No one wants me driving on the left!! 😀😱
My husband didn’t test positive til my day 10 but ours was a very mild form which we wouldn’t have known we had if we hadn’t tested after our daughter told us she’d tested positive! We’ve both had all the jabs but of course we are all different! Do hope things work out well soon for you both.
I often wonder how long Covid had been around before it was officially announced. I live in South Africa and in Sept and Oct. 2019, I visited family in the UK. I stayed with a sister in Henley on Thames and another In Oswestry, Shropshire. Not wanting to overstay my welcome, and since my stay was several weeks, I decided to take a coach trip to Ireland in between stays as it is years since I visited the Emerald Isle. There were 17 of us on the coach, me and 16 Americans who had been all over Europe and even Russia, before coming to the UK. On day 2 of the trip one person started coughing, soon , the whole coach was coughing, some were badly affected and needed to spend a day in bed. I often ponder whether this was the beginning of the Covid pandemic, it seemed so much more contagious than an ordinary cold or flu and we had plently of space- 17 on a 40 seater coach.
One of our neighbors had a similar experience, very sick after a trip to Italy in fall 2019. I remember getting a brutally bad bug here in England the summer of 2019. Horrible coughing. But nothing like when I had Covid. Hard to know.
My sister fell ill after coming home from a trip to Jordan in late 2019, she feels sure it was Covid.
Interesting isn’t it. I guess we’ll never know for sure where it started. Just wish it would stop, which of course it won’t. We’ll just learn to live with it, like other bugs.
There is evidence from blood tests that SARS Cov2 was circulating in France and Italy in late autumn / early winter of 2019. Antibodies to the virus were found in blood tests taken in early Dec here in France. As it takes 2/3weeks to form antibodies that would point to infections in Nov . I strongly suspect my husband caught it just before Christmas 2019. There is a great deal of anecdotal evidence from many countries of people having it from early autumn. There is a website that deals with the evidence for this but I can't remember the name!
That’s really interesting!
I had what we now know to be COVID symptoms whilst on holiday in Maderia, along with several other guests in the hotel we were staying in Feb 2021. I just thought it a bad cold but couldn’t explain the loss of smell and taste and congestion in my ears which has never really gone away completely.
Hope you regained taste and smell? Sorry the ear problems persist. Such a strange virus, the way it morphs.
Came back quite quickly first time, Oct 22 I got it again & it was much worse and smell & taste never really recovered. Gone very dim this time but not gone completely. It is such a strange virus, completely different symptoms each time.
Oh no! I’m so sorry. I’m glad you have some taste and smell, but wish it had come back completely. We have a friend in a similar boat. He was just starting a microbrewery business when it hit him, no taste or smell and had to stop the business. 😢
Do you mean Feb 2020? In 2021 all the world knew about covid!
Feb 2021 I had what I now think was COVID. We were just starting to hear about it but UK had no policy. I wasn’t diagnosed- we were on Holiday in Maderia when I went down with a ‘bug’ - fever, sore throat, aches, pains, headache and complete loss of taste & smell. I wasn’t that ill with it, just off colour for 3-4 days. Oct 2021 I was very ill.
In Feb 21 the pandemic had been going for over a year and the vaccine roll out had already begun. The first people were vaccinated in Dec 2020 in the UK.
You are right - I have COVID brain fog! It was 2020
Good to know your husband is on the mend, but sorry to hear your visit here has been badly interrupted. It’s so annoying when that happens after all the holiday planning and preparation - I find that almost as exhausting as the travel these days! Hope you make up for it with special times to come!
Thank you, so true. We’re both questioning how much travel we want to do in future. It is extra exhausting with Covid still haunting us all. We’re planning a New Zealand trip next winter. It’s pretty much planned at this point, but totally cancellable.
Cancellable - what a perfect word to run alongside holiday plans! Same here - hotel, train tickets, car hire, Airbnb for our forthcoming trip to Scotland all cancellable - though fingers crossed won’t need to!
Good planning! An autumn trip to Scotland sounds lovely. Hope it all goes to plan!
I have read that the "new variant" has caught the media's attention but is, essentially, another variant akin to Omicron. I should think you'll both be fine. Two neighbours did have a rough time with Omicron covid last year which proved to me that this is not an easy virus to define. Our own experience with it was nearly two years ago and we were both okay with it, but I would not want it again if I could avoid it.
Steve
Wow, you did get it early on. Glad you did ok. I don’t know which strain I had in June, but antivirals helped. Though I did get antiviral rebound, perhaps because I couldn’t take Paxlovid and had to take Molnupiravar, which apparently is a bit less effective. But Paxlovid and Multaq/dronedarone don’t mix well.
We didn’t get it till the Christmas of 2021, which was quite late on. In fact, we thought our cautious approach had worked to keep us away from it, but no. I wouldn’t want it again!
Enjoy your stay in the UK. It looks as if you’re in for cool but dry weather, which can be ideal for sightseeing.
Steve
Thanks, I’m really enjoying the perfect weather at the moment. Our first days here were so hot! I hadn’t packed any clothes for hot weather. Lol, it’s England, but a warm England. I should know better, I’ve been here many times in beastly hot weather.
You are welcome!
Whereabouts are you? - it really is a green and pleasant land ..... because of the rain!
There is a lot of covid about at the moment - several people in my village have it and I am trying hard to avoid it before going on a painting weekend.
Hope things perk up for your husband.
We’re now in North London and hope to visit with friends and family in Lincolnshire at the weekend. Hope you can avoid it and go on your painting weekend! That sounds like a wonderful time!
So sorry to hear this. Hope your husband recovers soon and fully and you don’t get it and you can both enjoy your time here. 🌸
Thanks! fingers crossed and tests at the ready, I must say I’m tired of wearing a mask in the house and avoiding my husband. 😢
Isolation isn't a requirement now.
It isn't but nice to know that some folks don't want to risk passing it on.
Exactly, sure wouldn’t want to expose anyone if it can be helped. I’m just grateful our Airbnb host didn’t throw us out! Really don’t want to be sleeping in our little hire car. 😂😱
I still wear a mask when I'm shopping, using public transport and to hospital appointments. I haven't even had a cold for 3 years 😁. Here's to a speedy recovery so you can continue your holiday.
You’re smart! And I’m certainly going back to masking more often now. I only saw one other mask on today’s daily foray to Waitrose.
The NHS still recommends it though, and wisely so. And since all our friends and family are older (like us!) there’s no way I would expose them to this. We’re working hard to keep me from getting it.
Really hope your husband makes a full recovery and that you avoid catching it. Thank you so much for isolating and helping reduce the spread of the virus. The Zoe app shows over a million active cases in the UK at the moment. I've seen reports of people who had it last year and again in the last month, who say the symptoms this time are a lot worse.
Rates of hospital acquired COVID are significantly higher than they were earlier in the year.
People on their third, fourth, fifth infection are developing long COVID when they got away with it with their earlier infections.
The long term cardiac and neurological implications of this virus are terrifying. It damages the lining of your blood vessels, starves your organs of oxygen, and causes havoc with your immune system.
But nobody talks about it any more because it's "over".
Thank you, glad to help stop the spread. Will check out the Zoe app, have heard of it, but haven’t looked. The long term complications are very concerning, in addition to tachycardia, I also have autoimmune issues. Had it in June, the antivirals worked well, but did have rebound and felt worse during that, thankfully nothing long term. My husband’s symptoms are very different.
As you say, no one is paying much attention, “it’s over”. Not by a long shot, it will always be with us, just like the flu. I’ve had trouble convincing our cousin here in the UK that she shouldn’t be planning a big party when we visit next week. I think I’ve finally gotten through to her.
We've communicated in the past (our love of gardening). Wish I were there too as I love the UK. Enjoy all those hilly walks! Keeping fingers crossed for both of you for a happy ending to it all.
How was your garden this year? Am I remembering correctly… Ohio? Or Indiana? Wasn’t the heat dreadful! I hated to leave my tomatoes this year, the big ones were finally starting to ripen when we left. 😢 But great to be here too. We did see some friends before we had to isolate. With luck, we’ll see some more! Thx for your good wishes.
Yes, Ohio -- good memory! Mine was great this year, especially the butterfly garden. Tomatoes abound, and so are the pumpkins. Enjoy your time there!
Oh, a butterfly garden, how wonderful! I put in a section of native plants this year. Needs some more work and plants to fill in where things failed, but looking forward to cooler fall weather to do that. Stupid dronedarone keeps me from doing much in the heat. Well, I’m happy the dronedarone works on the tachycardia though.
I guess we each have to deal with our "cross to bear, " i.e. your dronedarone, but at least it's doing its trick. Maybe you can get some late perennials in when it cools down so they'll flourish next year. I pick my tomatoes early before the raccoons get them!
I hope he’s feeling better soon, and that you don’t get it! My husband caught it during a flight to Malta last November, and coughed for the whole week. We found deserted beaches for him to cough in peace. I didn’t get it
I caught it at the beginning of August this year, and had really bad cold symptoms for 2 weeks, but he didn’t get the same symptoms, so we’re presuming that different strains affect people differently. Incidentally he has had boosters, but because of heart problems with the two original vaccines, I haven’t had any further ones.
I like your approach, find some deserted beaches and enjoy! Glad you didn’t get it at the same time. Glad you did ok with your recent bout of it. I had it in June, did ok with antivirals, but felt miserable when the antiviral rebound hit. Still, not as bad as some dreadful colds I’ve had in the past.
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