We did the short walk into Central Park - under Tier 4 the Cafe is take-away only and the queue was too long to wait for coffees so we just circumnavigated the lake and went back to the car park. Slight rain on the way back but not enough to worry about.
Myeloma? I barely think about it much of the time, apart from remembering to take the tablets and the constant monitoring of the state of my bowels. It's all about COVID-19, and with the new more transmissible strains, the case and death numbers at horrifying levels, some hospitals close to breaking point - well, that's what you think about most and what dictates what you can and can't do. And it's now getting closer - although no close friends or near neighbours have got it yet, there are now several slightly more remote people we know who have gone down with it. Fortunately none too seriously, so far. But the paranoia level is definitely turned up a notch or two.
As for vaccination, our GP's website hasn't been updated since December 15th when they announced plans to work with the rest of the local Primary Care Network at a medical centre on our side of Chelmsford which is apparently appropriate for social distancing etc.. No detail at all on delivery of either the Pfizer or the Oxford vaccines, no hint of appointment dates or anything of that kind. This morning I had an official COVID letter from Matt Hancock which clearly states that the extremely vulnerable (i.e. me!) will be vaccinated before the general population, which goes against the usual information that over-70s with underlying conditions will be in Group 4 after frontline health workers, care homes, over-80s, and over-75s - all whether vulnerable / extremely vulnerable or not. That's from memory, I may not have got it quite right. I just hope that just for once in this whole pandemic the government knows what it's doing and will get everything right.
To get back to the point, there seems now to be general agreement that myeloma patients should have COVID vaccination, on the basis that it can't do any harm and any level of protection is better than none. Still little if any specific information available on the efficacy of any of the vaccines for the variously immune-compromised. I shall certainly get my shots at the first opportunity.
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