So since I last wrote we did another week in isolation, it was hard, and I was still utterly exhausted all the time and getting awful headaches most days.

I had another really tough day on the Friday (our last day of isolation) and woke up knackered and weepy and just couldn’t stop crying all morning. My lovely mum came down to stay for a few days, as it turns out 26 days in total isolation trapped in the house with a small child was enough to break me completely. After a few days of rest while my mum helped out with my daughter, the kid went back to nursery at last and I took a few extra days off work to really try and rest properly without a small child around. The doctor also prescribed me some antibiotics in case the headaches were related to sinusitis or a secondary infection, as my temperature was still going up and down a lot and something clearly still wasn’t right with my body.

I don’t know if it was the rest, the antibiotics, or just time, but I finally started to feel properly better, and I have now felt well (and normal) for two weeks, and my temperature has been completely back to normal ever since the antibiotics.

So I am hoping this is the end of it, though I am being super cautious about exercising and taking it all very slowly just in case. Frankly I’m a bit terrified of overdoing it and having another relapse, even though I think I’m probably fine now. Might start with some gentle yoga and see how it goes… So far I am confident I don’t have long Covid, though I don’t know what it looks like or if you can continue to relapse later on, so we’ll see.

Though I must say, as a side note I’m starting to see more and more people talk about how exhausted they are after having the vaccine and it’s getting annoying. On one of my single parenting groups on facebook, someone posted that you should “get a load of shopping in and have someone on standby to look after your kid for a few days so you can go to bed” after having the vaccine. I literally snorted my derision at the very idea, after getting through 6 weeks of hell, feeling the worst I’ve ever felt, and not daring to call anyone to come and help me in case they caught Covid and died, I’m finding it VERY hard to have sympathy for people with “vaccine side effects and mild fatigue” – sorry but fuck right off and suck it up.

We have also now finally had some good news about the “roadmap” out of lockdown and it seems that there is finally some light at the end of the tunnel! It’s a huge relief, just as the sun has started to reappear, and spring flowers are blooming everywhere, to know that the end is in sight, and the UK’s vaccination plan is moving at warp speed, so more and more of my loved ones are vaccinated and safe, and we are slowly moving towards a time when my friends can actually come over and be inside my house! Luxury!

The summer of 2021 is starting to look like it will be the sweetest summer ever, as people shake off the fear and isolation and can finally socialise and hug each other once again! I can’t wait for a little bit of normal after such an incredibly long time. What a year it has been, my god. It’s almost exactly a year since we first entered lockdown, and this time last year we were spending hours and hours queuing for groceries in a strange sense of panic that there would be nothing left when we got inside (and there wasn’t if you were looking for pasta or rice or flour or toilet roll….)

God I hope this is the end of it all, at least for a while.