So, transition out of hospital into the community that was certainly much more of a jump where I guess in the hospital system you certainly felt very, I guess, look after, suddenly I think…yeah, back home then I think that the support level dropped off quite a bit.

So, I think the…for me some of the biggest things was really the level of physio support, working out how to get better, because you want to get better and, of course, you're discharged enough to walk around and things but really…and you've come down with Covid so it's a lung side of things. So, you would have thought or hoped that you would have some continued physio exercises around building up lung capacity, all of that type of thing. But that didn't really happen.

So there was a little bit of handover, well, the local physio was more around mobility and I think it felt that it was more aimed at the more elderly side of the spectrum and making sure that they were just getting enough mobility that they could move around a bit and weren't…enough that they were mobile as opposed to working out how to get you back to the same level of capacity, capability that you were before.

Fortunately, my mother-in-law is a sports physio, so she was able to…we were able to go through various breathing exercises, lung exercises, which I think helped me, yeah, definitely helped me a lot and meant that my recovery and lung capacity went back very quickly. But if I didn't have that then I wouldn't be doing any exercises at home on breathing, it would all been about getting my ankles working. So, I think that was a… I felt that that was a missed opportunity.

I think at some point the system, the hospital system, did catch me again in that did get invited to…so I think when the Covid…I think had a conversation with one of the…when I came back for some checks up and then they did mention this and then they referred me to the Covid clinic at which point I could have more of these conversations. But at this point I was actually getting much better, this was a couple of months down the line and actually I'd already made big improvements so the Covid clinic probably helped less at that point than it could have if I went right at the beginning.

But I have a feeling the Covid clinics weren't really set up until afterwards because I was one of the earlier phases and then they got going for people who got sick after me.

Yes, this is definitely a feature of these very early admissions sometimes in hospital, yeah. But, yeah, nevertheless it meant that you were virtually without any support at home in the initial month?

Yeah, it was definitely, definitely the case, I think we had people come around and look at my ankles and then did these exercises and then I think that was the point it was a physio, and then the next time around was a physio's assistant.

So, I said, well, I can do these exercises, can you give me something else? And he's like, well, I can't because I'm not the physio, so I'm not allowed to give you any other exercise. Oh, okay, well, can we arrange with the physio to get on with it. And then another month or so later someone comes and so on the one front that is positive in the fact that by then I think things were improved significantly so maybe they didn't…maybe from a resource perspective it was that they use their resources well in that they didn't need to spend any time on me. But at the same time there could have been opportunities, better opportunities.

In some ways when you’re on a ventilator the family has the, is going through more of a worse trauma, it has a worse time of it than the patient because on the one front the patient is having a bad time of it because they’re almost dying but we’re as, we’re asleep. So, I mean, we, you can talk about that experience and, at some point which I am sure we will. But, but you’re asleep, it’s the, the family that is worrying and concerned and doesn’t know what’s happening with their loved ones and, kind of, need just, kind of, just concerned and worried about that information.

And so, I think to have some amazingly, shockingly well qualified staff manning the phones and being available and call, being able to, kind of, call back the family, I guess, on one front it stops the family, kind of, clogging up the switchboards and keeping on calling, calling back. But it gave them, I think it allows the family to, kind of, be connected and, kind of, realise that, and just know, yeah, I guess their welfare to be managed as well, and as best as we can, through the, such a traumatic period. And the staffing was amazing, I think you had, I guess, world expert surgeons manning the phones.

Maybe their specialty was in, in knees and not lungs and stuff but the, but they’re certainly, and then able to ha, give the right level of comfort and information, I think they were, they adjusted the way they interacted depending on the, I guess, the family and the questions. I guess some people wanted more qualitative, yeah, how are they doing? Other people were more interested in, well, what are, again, what are the numbers? Tell me really what’s going on. And then…

And did your wife talk to you about her contact with the family liaison?

Yeah, yeah, so that, most definitely, they were good and then actually, not only my wife and in my family as well, my broader family was able to, kind of, get the information and channel that in. And of course, everyone is connected every, and we’ve got some, some family members which are also part of the, or part of that medical profession and so to be able to have all of those questions answered as well because you can go and say, well what is this particular level? And that, and you get, have that right, that information, and it was extraordinarily helpful for the family, they, they go through that, you know, difficult, difficult time, but at least they are, you’re not wondering what’s going on you’re just, you feel as if you are, kind of, are a part of it, you can feel that you’re being looked after as best as one can. You’re being communicated to, yeah, it’s I think it was hugely helpful for the family.

I think, yeah, it was, some of its matters, well, not matter of fact but just, you know, this is the state of affairs it’s that you’re on, you’re maxed out on the CPAP, the oxygen levels are still not in a good place, are not going up. I think this followed a night where it was, where the oxygen level did go down to quite kind of, low levels and then eventually, kind of, stabilised back up again. But it was, that, I think that was a bit of a, certainly quite a scary moment where, you know, you’re, yeah, you’re not able to breathe and they can’t really do too much about you, about it. And people just are turning up the pressure and things, and can’t remember how it got stabilised, but it eventually did. So, there was a bit of that conversation the following day to say, okay, you’re at the maximum and, yeah, if not [inaudible] we, kind of, need to give your body some help, give yourself a rest. I think that was the, captured in those kinds of terms, yeah, it’s, yeah, time to, let’s give you some help.

And then really suggest, like, taking over and put you, put you on the ventilator. Really, really that, that side of things, it wasn’t, it wasn’t much more than that. There was, I think there wasn’t that much dwelling on the fact that there’s, kind of a risk that you’re not going to, you’re not going to wake up. That l, kind of, got more from, yeah, other, kind of, news and social media less from, less from the staff, the NHS staff.

But I guess that’s, you don’t want to, at that point, you’re, kind of, they’re, kind of, thinking well if you’re not going to be on a ventilator then you’re, it’s going to get, you’re going, the prognosis is very poor you need to be, you need to be put on it. And so, they’re trying to give you as much help as much encouragement as possible. So, yeah, I think then that must have been, like, the conversation.