A type one diabetic walks into a doctors, puts on a face mask and waits awkwardly.
Lockdown’s been a laugh, hasn’t it? Sitting inside all the time, missing out on summer, watching as people ignore all the rules even though they’re in important political positions. All fun and games.
The thing I’ve found hardest is being trapped within the same four walls. Our flat is only little, and while I love it, I also love to leave it occasionally so I can appreciate it all the more when I get back. The only times I’ve left it in the last three months have been for my daily exercise and for the occasionally daring shop. Tesco really gets your heart pumping when you have to defy its one-way system because you’ve forgotten something.
So, when I got a phone call telling me I had to go to the doctors for a diabetes check-up, I was frankly giddy with excitement. Government-approved time outside of my home, lucky me. It felt like Christmas, only with the added threat of catching a disease with no known vaccine.
Now my doctors, well, let’s just say they’re rough and ready. They do their best, but nothing is polished. The walls are plastered with posters dating back decades, there are wire cages protecting the windows, it’s built into the ground to protect against ram raids and you risk your life walking the needle-littered streets to get there.
But they’re ever so friendly, so I like them.
Their Covid protection wasn’t exactly like the sort I’d seen on TV. There were no fancy circles stuck to the floor telling you to keep your distance. There was no queueing system, no hand sanitiser on tables, no heat gun to check your temperature. Instead all they had were two ‘cleaning in progress’ boards in front of reception to stop you getting too close, both of which were rendered useless when the receptionist stepped over them to hand me a mandatory face mask. I guess they must know what they’re doing. They’re the professionals.
I can’t say the risk of catching Covid made the experience any more enjoyable, but having bloods taken by a woman in PPE certainly made it more exciting. It felt like I had a real disease, not a boring one like type 1 diabetes.
I got my results back yesterday - over the phone, as my regular nurse is shielding due to her asthma. Everything was good, and so it should be. If there’s one positive to have come out of lockdown it’s that my blood sugar has never been better. In fact I’ve filled many an empty evening by tracking my levels and seeing how different food affects them.
Each to their own, don’t judge.
I doubt I’ll have have another diabetes appointment like it. At least, I hope I won’t. It’d be nice to get back to a sense of normality again, wouldn’t it?
Have you had to go to the doctors during lockdown? What was it like for you? I’d highly recommend it, if only for the trip out.