A Coronavirus Quarantine Journal, Day 8 (UPDATE: Test Results In, All A-OK -- No Virus!
Hmmmm. Day 8 of this quarantine didn't start out quite as expected. We awoke early, had our (instant) coffee, but it seemed we were a little quiet...not the usual chatting.
Eventually, things got rolling:
Ross: I hate to say it, but I think my throat is a little scratchy this morning.
(Pregnant pause, meaningful spousal glance)
Dianne: I've been feeling the same...
Ross: And I've got a little sniffle, too, and feel a bit tired. Wonder if I'm catching a cold.
(Pause again, another meaningful glance)
Dianne: Yeah, probably a little cold.
(Pause)
Both: Bugger!
Being the responsible, law-abiding folk we are, our next action was a call to the Nurse's Station to report our symptoms. Ross emphasized that these were slight symptoms, and that we'd had similar symptoms occasionally, since the wildfires in New South Wales in November, but felt we should report them, all the same.
The nurse said, "Yes, probably just a cold, but let's go over the other symptoms: Difficulty breathing? No. Aches and pains? No. Changes in ability to smell or taste? No. Coughing? No. Lack of Energy? A bit." She told us we probably were just catching a little cold, but she would discuss our symptoms with the doctor, who would be arriving soon. She said that the medical team is taking a very conservative approach, and that we should expect that he would want us to be swabbed, and she would call to confirm that once she's spoken with him. She told us the procedure would be this: the nurses, wearing full protection, would knock on the door, to alert us they had arrived. We should have a chair by the door for us to sit in, as we can't enter the hallway and the nurses don't enter the rooms. She advised having a couple of tissues on hand, because the procedure can be "quite unpleasant" and we might "splutter a bit".
Oh, great! In due course, she called back to say the doctor did want us to be swabbed, and the nurses would arrive at our door within the hour. Oh, ok...no pressure. The knock on the door came, and there they were: two very friendly, professional, efficient young nurses, decked out in their yellow plastic personal protection. After a minute or two of verifying our names, dates of birth, etc., the one administering the swabs told us we would have both throat swabs and nasal swabs in both nostrils. She said the throat swab might give us the sensation of needing to cough, and if so would we please try to cough into the tissues and toward the room, not toward the hall. With the nasal swabs, she said we might feel a need to sneeze, and if so, would we please try to control it until she had finished, but if we were too uncomfortable to let her know and she would stop for a moment.
Ross went first, and was a champ...no coughing or sneezing, though he was glad for the tissues when it was finished...your eyes and nose do seem to run a little bit.
I was next, and definitely had the cough urge, but managed to control it till the swab was finished. Same with the nasal swab...but once she finished I did sneeze...very satisfying!
All in all, we both would rate the procedure not as "quite unpleasant", but as "mildly unpleasant and a little bit uncomfortable and odd" but definitely no biggie. The nurse was incredibly skilled, and reassured us during the whole process: "You're doing great. Breath through your mouth. Breath, keep breathing, only 4, 3, 2 seconds left, and I'm removing the swab now." Really excellent technique and reassurance skills. The whole swabbing process takes no more than 30 to 45 seconds total...she was a real pro!
The nurses told us the results usually take 24 to 48 hours to come in, but that they are prioritizing the quarantine hotel results so we will probably hear sooner.
Dramatic start to our day, for sure!
We both woke up this morning feeling better...no more scratchy throats, but still a little sniffly. No more fatigue, though. We will hope to hear our swab results in the next few hours, and will update the blog (and Facebook) once we hear. We feel very optimistic that we don't have Covid-19.
Now back to our regular programming...
Having switched to Continental Breakfasts, we are starting our days a little lighter, which is a good thing. Some Special K cereal and milk, orange juice, mandarins, and our usual Viennoise pastries. We gave the yoghurt a miss. Not exactly a low cal brekkie, but not as heavy on the tum. We decided it would be a nice time to break out the brie to add a bit of extra flavor to those pastries. Excellent Adelaide Hills Ash Brie, and aptly named, too: Udderly Delicious!
We finished off our half-bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, then watched entertaining stuff on our computers before heading off to Dreamland.
The perfect end to a surprisingly busy day!
Eventually, things got rolling:
Ross: I hate to say it, but I think my throat is a little scratchy this morning.
(Pregnant pause, meaningful spousal glance)
Dianne: I've been feeling the same...
Ross: And I've got a little sniffle, too, and feel a bit tired. Wonder if I'm catching a cold.
(Pause again, another meaningful glance)
Dianne: Yeah, probably a little cold.
(Pause)
Both: Bugger!
Being the responsible, law-abiding folk we are, our next action was a call to the Nurse's Station to report our symptoms. Ross emphasized that these were slight symptoms, and that we'd had similar symptoms occasionally, since the wildfires in New South Wales in November, but felt we should report them, all the same.
The nurse said, "Yes, probably just a cold, but let's go over the other symptoms: Difficulty breathing? No. Aches and pains? No. Changes in ability to smell or taste? No. Coughing? No. Lack of Energy? A bit." She told us we probably were just catching a little cold, but she would discuss our symptoms with the doctor, who would be arriving soon. She said that the medical team is taking a very conservative approach, and that we should expect that he would want us to be swabbed, and she would call to confirm that once she's spoken with him. She told us the procedure would be this: the nurses, wearing full protection, would knock on the door, to alert us they had arrived. We should have a chair by the door for us to sit in, as we can't enter the hallway and the nurses don't enter the rooms. She advised having a couple of tissues on hand, because the procedure can be "quite unpleasant" and we might "splutter a bit".
Oh, great! In due course, she called back to say the doctor did want us to be swabbed, and the nurses would arrive at our door within the hour. Oh, ok...no pressure. The knock on the door came, and there they were: two very friendly, professional, efficient young nurses, decked out in their yellow plastic personal protection. After a minute or two of verifying our names, dates of birth, etc., the one administering the swabs told us we would have both throat swabs and nasal swabs in both nostrils. She said the throat swab might give us the sensation of needing to cough, and if so would we please try to cough into the tissues and toward the room, not toward the hall. With the nasal swabs, she said we might feel a need to sneeze, and if so, would we please try to control it until she had finished, but if we were too uncomfortable to let her know and she would stop for a moment.
Ross went first, and was a champ...no coughing or sneezing, though he was glad for the tissues when it was finished...your eyes and nose do seem to run a little bit.
I was next, and definitely had the cough urge, but managed to control it till the swab was finished. Same with the nasal swab...but once she finished I did sneeze...very satisfying!
All in all, we both would rate the procedure not as "quite unpleasant", but as "mildly unpleasant and a little bit uncomfortable and odd" but definitely no biggie. The nurse was incredibly skilled, and reassured us during the whole process: "You're doing great. Breath through your mouth. Breath, keep breathing, only 4, 3, 2 seconds left, and I'm removing the swab now." Really excellent technique and reassurance skills. The whole swabbing process takes no more than 30 to 45 seconds total...she was a real pro!
The nurses told us the results usually take 24 to 48 hours to come in, but that they are prioritizing the quarantine hotel results so we will probably hear sooner.
Dramatic start to our day, for sure!
We both woke up this morning feeling better...no more scratchy throats, but still a little sniffly. No more fatigue, though. We will hope to hear our swab results in the next few hours, and will update the blog (and Facebook) once we hear. We feel very optimistic that we don't have Covid-19.
Now back to our regular programming...
Having switched to Continental Breakfasts, we are starting our days a little lighter, which is a good thing. Some Special K cereal and milk, orange juice, mandarins, and our usual Viennoise pastries. We gave the yoghurt a miss. Not exactly a low cal brekkie, but not as heavy on the tum. We decided it would be a nice time to break out the brie to add a bit of extra flavor to those pastries. Excellent Adelaide Hills Ash Brie, and aptly named, too: Udderly Delicious!
Our menu for Sunday was included in the breakfast bag. All these decisions!
It was actually right about here that the above-referenced drama took place, with the resulting medical dealings.
And then, for another thrill-a-minute event, our clean linens were delivered. We had a ton of fun making up the bed and replacing our towels with clean ones. The used ones were bundled up in big black plastic bags and set outside our door, which gave me the idea of taking these next two photos, to show you how curved the hallways are in this building. You can see the used linens stacked up in the two rooms to our left, a delivery of bottled water to a room toward the end of the corridor, and a paper bag delivery or pick-up for either another room or waiting to go into the service area, which is that short corridor on the right, which is where clean linens and supplies are kept, I think.
Looking to the right, you can clearly get a feel for how steep the curve is. Apparently these doze-y pillocks to our right haven't made up their beds and changed their towels yet. Yay for the left end of our corridor!
After all that strenuous exercise, wrestling the sheets on the bed, we were ready for lunch. A real treat it was, too: Poached Salmon with perfectly cooked broccoli florets and potatoes. We passed on the potatoes and headed for dessert -- a surprise for me. Ross was unflummoxed: "Oh, lime jelly," he said. "Lime jelly?" said I? What's that? Turns out it's what we "Murricans" know as Jello. With just one textural difference...it has a tendency to cling to your teeth and tongue rather than just slipping right down your gullet. I feel it's important to pass along these cultural differences. So important, don't you think?
After our eventful day, we took it quietly for the afternoon, awaiting the exciting dinnertime. It's just a thrill a minute around here! This time Ross had Lamb Curry and I had Vegetarian Fried Rice. Both were good, though I would really have enjoyed some soy sauce to go with mine. There were little containers of very spicy Fish Cakes, too...we both sampled them and they were very tasty, but a bit too spicy for us. Dessert was Tapioca with Mango, which Ross enjoyed but didn't appeal to me...tapioca looks a bit too much like fish eyes for my taste...
We finished off our half-bottle of Sauvignon Blanc, then watched entertaining stuff on our computers before heading off to Dreamland.
The perfect end to a surprisingly busy day!
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