-
Queen Elizabeth shares her COVID experience; 'It does leave one very tired and exhausted, doesn't it?'
The Sky News reported, the Queen has revealed she was left "very tired and exhausted" by her bout of COVID-19 during a virtual meeting of hospital staff in London.
Her Majesty tested positive for the virus in February and had what Buckingham Palace described as "mild cold-like symptoms".
Speaking at the virtual official opening of the Queen Elizabeth Unit at Royal London Hospital, the Queen said of coronavirus: "It does leave one very tired and exhausted, doesn't it? This horrible pandemic. It's not a nice result."
The Queen, 95, was speaking to Asef Hussain, one of 800 people treated at the north-east London hospital, which was built in five weeks during the pandemic to meet demand.
Mr Hussain was the third member of his family to go to hospital with COVID-19 when he fell ill in December 2020.
His brother died, followed by his father, who passed away while Mr Hussain was on a ventilator.
The Queen marks the opening of the Royal London's Queen Elizabeth UnitThe Queen, as Patron of the Royal London Hospital, has paid tribute to NHS key workers, hearing about their experiences of working on the front line of healthcare during the pandemic. Her Majesty also marked the official opening of the hospital’s Queen Elizabeth Unit, which is one of the biggest critical care units in the country; the 155-bed Unit was built on the 14th and 15th floors of the hospital in just five weeks, in response to surging patient numbers due to the outbreak of Covid-19. The team at The Royal London Hospital quickly adapted to meet the scale and demands of the challenge before them, and The Queen spoke to staff who cared for over 800 critically ill patients on the unit, and their families. Speaking from The Queen Elizabeth Unit, the NHS staff described the difficulties of caring for patients who could not receive physical visits from their loved ones, and their own sacrifices of leaving their families at home, in order to do their vital jobs safely.
Posted by The Royal Family on Sunday, April 10, 2022
He told the Queen that his wife, Shamima, called 999 after he struggled to catch his breath.
He said: "I remember waking up one morning and just finding it really, really difficult to breathe."
"I remember waking my wife saying that I feel like there's no oxygen in the room. I remember me sticking my head out the window, just trying to breathe, trying to get that extra oxygen."
Queen Elizabeth recovers to carry out virtual engagements
Mr Hussain was on a ventilator at the hospital for seven weeks and is still recovering from the illness, only having recently stopped using a wheelchair.
His wife told the Queen that there were 500 friends and family from across the world praying for her husband, to which the monarch joked: "So you have a large family, or a large influence on people?"
The Queen listened to other stories from patients and staff, with one nurse telling her: "We held their hands, we wiped their tears and we provided comfort."
Senior sister Mireia Lopez Rey Ferrer, who has worked in the hospital since 2008, described her team's commitment to their patients.
British Vogue magazine puts Queen Elizabeth on cover to mark Platinum Jubilee this year
She said: "As nurses we made sure that they were not alone."
"It felt at times that we were running a marathon with no finish line."
"I look back to the last 18 months with great pride, pride not only in the care we provided to each and every single patient, that was in one of our hospital beds, but pride in each member of staff that every day they left their families at home despite their fears and worries and they came to work."
UK study says even mild COVID-19 can reduce brain size
The Queen also spoke to the construction team that built the unit on the hospital's 14th and 15th floors, telling them: "It is very interesting, isn't it, when there is some very vital thing, how everybody works together and pulls together - marvellous isn't it?"
When members of the team said it was the "Dunkirk spirit", Her Majesty replied: "Thank goodness it still exists."
Source: skynews
