Coronavirus (COVID-19) Discussion Thread

[SvennoJ]

Local story about the impact of letting it get this bad again:

Doctors are all at their limits, impossible to get a hold off or get them to return a call. The Pharmacy changed my wife's blood pressure medicine she's been on for over a decade. She noticed the differently shaped pills and called the pharmacy, which said the old producer is no more, this is the same. Well it wasn't, it didn't appear to be working and she got all the side effects listed with the new medication. Next to very high blood pressure her pulse was also racing, 155 heart rate with 165 over 123 was the worst measurement.

She had been calling the doctor, and after many attempts finally got the assistant who took note and would have the doctor call back asap. No call came, tried again next day, can not reach. She called Telehealth which said to call the doctor, then said go to the hospital. So she went there (looked half dead by the time) and was met with a very frustrated triage nurse, saying she should have gone to the doctor... Also she would be wasting her time here waiting for 4 hours. Well it didn't take that long, she was fading away in the waiting room and apparently looked so bad, 20 minutes later a nurse took one good look at here and took her straight to a room.

Six hours of tests and trying to get her blood pressure down they finally had success. There she got to listen in to the staff rightfully berating a family of 5 that came in with Covid after going on holiday to Colombia. Their defense, we didn't think it would happen to us... Anyway the staff was very careful keeping everyone separated and was donned in full protective gear. My wife could only tell the difference between them by their ear rings. Sanitation stations everywhere and have to dispose of the masks at the exit.

They said they should really keep her over night but send her home as the safer option. With new medication she now has to mix with the old and keep monitoring while keeping absolute rest.

Another close call thanks to the health care system being terribly stretched thin. Home schooling piling on the stress, silently swapping medications, not being able to reach anyone, can't get a doctor's appointment, finally have to jump into the fire to get help.