Hi folks,
My husband gave me an extra gift of Covid which I received two days before Christmas.
I rang nhs111 and received really prompt assistance. They went through a questionnaire about my health, blood cancer diagnosis etc then 30minutes later the Covid/ antiviral service rang me ( sorry I am not sure of the name they gave me.)They went through a more detailed set of questions. They wanted exact figures for my kidney results and rang me back. They also need my weight to assess how much medication I should take. I then received a call back. I got detailed instructions for taking the antivirals which are now in tablet form ( unlike the intravenous infusion which needed a hospital visit the last time.) In my large county of Surrey there were four places to collect the antivirals. Some were a long way from my home but the lucky thing was that one was only about 10 miles away. They phoned the prescription through to the pharmacy. My husband was able to collect it and I had my first dose maybe 3 hours after first phoning them. The results were superb I felt so very much better after two days and I was really poorly to begin with. More importantly I was protected from serious effects. ( had got atrial fibrillation after my first dose of Covid and was told by a cardiologist that it could likely occur if I got it again.)
Things you should know:-
- You should protect yourself if serious Covid effects are likely.
- Phone nhs111
- If you feel really unwell it is good to have someone else listening to the call. There are a lot of questions and instructions and I needed support.
- If appropriate have your recent blood test results handy and you will need to know your body weight.
- You may need someone to drive a fair distance to collect the prescription.
- The tablets seemed like magic!
I know Covid is still around but because people are not testing it is hard to know how much. Do keep some tests handy at home. You can look up online to see which pharmacies near you have them. You take some proof of diagnosis, address, nhs number etc in with you and they fill in an A4 sheet and give you a pack of five. If you had tests from a long while ago they may have dried out or be out of date. It is worth checking.
I hope that has reassured you.