~by Julie Kipp, former Yale and Bagley correspondent for the Scranton Journal, courtesy of the Scranton Journal
The road to recovery for Covid Long Haulers is truly a long haul.
Today, January 12, 2021, is three months from the day I received my positive diagnosis for Coronavirus and I am still battling symptoms. After further research I have learned that the more symptoms a person exhibits in their first week of illness, the longer the recovery will take. I experienced 16 symptoms in the first eight days. The doctor who saw me in the emergency room on Oct. 18, during my second trip to the ER because I was getting worse, said my recovery would take months and he was absolutely correct.
The worst symptom now is the fatigue. After returning to work fulltime, my evenings are spent resting in my recliner when I get home from work and my weekends involve taking a nap on Saturday and Sunday afternoons. Running the vacuum or mopping floors are absolutely exhausting. Some nights I struggle to stay awake past 7:30 and some nights I will lay awake past midnight unable to get to sleep. There are nights I wake up and can’t get back to sleep due to the insomnia, another symptom that contributes to the fatigue. Almost every day I have to force myself to get out of bed.
The second worst symptom is the cough. I am personally responsible for helping to keep the Halls cough drop company in business. The dry cough hasn’t gone away, but over time it has gotten better. I’m very thankful that it is no longer painful, doesn’t wake me up at night very often anymore, but it is still so annoying.
The headaches have almost completely subsided; when I do get a headache, they are usually very minor. The brain fog continues. Not being able to think of a simple word, such as fuse or Hershey Kiss, is frustrating. Having to do simple mathematical problems on paper because you are not able to do them in your head is aggravating.
Last but not least is smell and taste. Imagine not being able to smell coffee unless the cup is directly under your nose. Or the smell of foods you have prepared for years now being unrecognizable while you are cooking. Foods with chocolate or cheese still do not taste good.
Chocolate not tasting good over the holidays I consider a blessing in disguise, but I so look forward to the day when pizza and macaroni and cheese taste good again. Foods with salt, like potato chips, taste like pure salt that totally overwhelms tasting anything else. Having gone from not being able to taste anything in October, now on a scale from 0 to 10, my taste has come back to a seven.
Since my first article, myself and others have developed another symptom of the virus which is hair loss. It is disheartening when you wash your hair, comb it, and strands just fall out.
In my prior article I wrote about a friend of mine who developed pneumonia after contracting Coronavirus and had to be hospitalized. Her name is Roberta Gilson of Guthrie Center, and she is still battling some of the same symptoms that I am. At times her headaches are still extremely painful for her; she may have a headache part of the day or from the time she wakes up in the morning until she goes to bed at night. Some mornings her fatigue is so bad that when she wakes up, that she stays in bed and goes back to sleep for hours. She is also experiencing hair loss. Her diagnosis came two weeks before of mine.
In early December, I learned my last living aunt had to be hospitalized due to this horrible virus. In the conversations I have had with her since, she continues to tell me, “I am so thankful to be alive. There were a couple of days I didn’t think I was going to make it.”
I also learned one of my cousins had to be hospitalized and went home on oxygen due to the damage the virus did to her lungs. Four weeks later she was still on oxygen and hoping to be able to breath totally on her own again in two more weeks. Last week I learned that a man originally from my hometown, only 50 years old, had lost his life to this virus. On Monday, Jan. 11, I learned that my college roommate’s little sister Wendy had to be hospitalized.
Many people have asked me if I would get vaccinated when it becomes available, my answer is always a resounding, “Yes!” A vaccination is so much easier than months of suffering from the side effects of coronavirus. Now I can only wish it had been available before I got sick.
I know that people are getting burnt out from having to wear masks and social distance. I understand where they are coming from because I am getting burnt out, too. Even after having the virus I am still wearing a mask and social distancing because I do not want to contract any other illness while I am still fighting symptoms of coronavirus.
Kevin (my husband) and I, my sister, my brother, and their families did not gather for Thanksgiving or Christmas due to the pandemic. As a person who absolutely loves Christmas, this was depressing for me. I implore people to hang in there for just a few more months. These safeguards protect the people we love. These safeguards are so important to protect our healthcare workers who are literally putting their lives on the line, day in and day out. You may need these people to save your life if you contract this virus.
