'And so began the coronacoaster...' - Trinity Hospice nurse Kirsty reflects on the five weeks she spent away from her family to protect them

Kirsty Jones, 42, from Thornton, lives with her husband and two children and during a time when her husband was ill she made the difficult decision to leave her home to protect her family while also caring for Trinity's patients.

Following more than five weeks of being away, she said it was 'emotional' to be reunited with them.

"We were video calling everyday but obviously I couldn't touch them so when I was dropping off shopping or washing I couldn't go near them so the best thing was that after five weeks I was able to have a group hug with them which was so nice.

"Five weeks away and being at the hospice there is no physical contact with anybody and in my job it's especially difficult as it's such an emotional job which involves consoling people. So I had no physical contact with anyone, not even my family, it was just so difficult so it was really lovely to finally go home and give them all a hug."

After returning back to her daily routine with her family, Kirsty had time to reflect on the time she spent away from home and wrote down what she describes as her 'coronacoaster'. Kirsty has kindly shared the story with the Gazette.

I’m Kirsty and I'm a nurse on the inpatient unit at Trinity Hospice. I live with my husband, son Sam, 16, and daughter Hannah, 12. My husband has an underlying medical condition like so many other people in the UK.

On March 19 he was sent to work from home for 12 weeks as his condition made him vulnerable to the coronavirus. By pure bad luck and timing he also then became unwell with his condition and was jaundiced, fatigued and generally unwell.

And so began the Coronacoaster....

The following couple of weeks were really scary with blood tests, antibiotics and an urgent MRI scan. My husband’s consultant at Blackpool Teaching Hospitals Gastroenterology Department was brilliant and also referred to a specialist team in Leeds for their opinion.

We were just trying our best to avoid a hospital admission during the frightening rise in transmission rates of Covid-19.

While waiting for the results of tests and scans, I had a decision to make about returning to work. I had been given compassionate leave by my manager but that couldn’t be for long. My options were to go back as normal, go off sick or go to work and stay elsewhere.

I wasn’t keen on the first two options, so on Wednesday, April 15 I set off to the early shift with my suitcase and said goodbye to my family at the doorstep. I didn’t know how long it would be for at the time.

Initially I was going to stay with a colleague but had a change of plan once we thought about it properly, and so accommodation was arranged through the NHS by my manager and I went to a flat in St Annes.

Initially it was a novelty. I hadn’t enjoyed as much peace and quiet in over 16 years! I read books, coloured in (thank you Day Therapy Unit), watched what I wanted on TV, and spent ages looking at my phone without being told I was unsociable! The nights were a bit tricky though, too dark, too quiet, funny noises, pigeons in the roof tapping about and woo wooing at the window, but I learnt to live with it (night nurse and ear plugs!).

I spoke to my husband and the kids everyday, sometimes we had nothing to talk about but face time is great and sometimes we would just stare at each other with funny filters on. At least I could look at them.

Work was a different place when I went back. Different protocols every day, new equipment, uncertainty, anxiety, separation and sadness. But the team spirit was still there and we managed to still have a laugh in the face of adversity, and we created some beautiful moments for our patients and their loved ones. The loo roll video was great fun!

Donna from complementary therapy offered relaxation therapy and I enjoyed a session of guided meditation.

Staying away from home helped me to keep focused at work. I just had myself to worry about, work and back, that was it. Keeping motivated on days off was challenging. It was easy to sit about all day so we made an 'Isolation Motivation' group on WhatsApp from the unit and shared what we were doing on our days off.

This was anything from gardening, dog walking, walking, running and cycling, although sometimes getting out of bed and putting the washer on was as motivational as it got. We shared pictures and cheered each other on, inspiring ourselves to make the most of our time off. It helped me massively to keep going, so thank you to all in the group, you are brilliant!

Back at home, Sam’s GCSEs were cancelled, Hannah was homeschooling and my husband was trying to keep to a bit of work. I went home to drop shopping off for them and usually stayed a while and talked to them from the car on the drive. Sometimes I took a sandwich and had my lunch with them.

It was difficult not to go too near, but I knew we couldn’t risk it, I didn’t want to be the one to bring the virus into my house. And I always put treats in with the shopping so it wasn’t all bad! Sam also had two interviews for an engineering apprenticeship while I was away.

I felt guilty not being there to support him but I needn’t have worried as he nailed the interviews and he starts in September! To say I’m proud is an understatement.

In the fourth week, my husband had a follow up phone consultation which shows his bloods are resolving, and hopefully, for now anyway, we can keep our fingers crossed for a full recovery.

I had a run of shifts before my half term annual leave, so I stayed in the flat until I finished so I could go and isolate at home for a while. I arrived back home after the late shift

on Thursday, May 21.

I was excited to go home and relieved to be at the end of another emotional week. Unfortunately the new routine includes dumping my clothes in the garage and doing a walk of shame to the shower but I’ll learn to cope with it!

It feels strange, it’s like the house has stood still, but yet I’ve seen, done and felt so much in my time away. I just want to stay in, but the family are desperate to go out. Would I do it again? 100 per cent I would.

We look after the things we love the most, whatever it takes. I’d really like to thank all my lovely colleagues for their support, friendship and virtual hugs when times were hard. We have all had moments where we have felt scared and overwhelmed but it is a privilege to work amongst you.

We still have a long way to go.......but look how far we have come! (Thanks to Paul Berry for the lovely book).