Me, my Long Covid, and Me
I can't talk about myself without talking about Long Covid.
I didn’t want to write about this stupid thing. Writing about Covid brings out the crazies: anti-vaxers, the truthers, and the conspiracy theorists. To all of you, I’m asking nicely: please just don’t.
As my health declines, my mood is not improving. I’d prefer to keep all of this private. It’s like the the rainbow business, though. The cost of privacy is a failure to hold solidarity with my vulnerable and suffering siblings. I see you, friends!
My Covid started with a headache in September, and that headache never really went away. I had flu-like symptoms that only lasted for a week or so. The sore throat and fever came and went. The headaches, tinnitus, and fatigue have gotten progressively worse.
The worst headaches are triggered by stress. While on medical leave from work, I was able to keep the stress pretty low. Lately the headaches and ringing are continuous no matter what I do. A lot of people have worse symptoms than me, but sheesh. This is certainly no picnic.
I can write for an hour or two, and then I get to lie down. I can do my little bit of coaching. I cannot exercise. I can take a walk if it’s downhill, but I might need to get an Uber home. If I do anything more stressful than making a sandwich, my head starts to pound.
Every now and then I’ll have a miraculous day or two where I feel pretty good! For the last two weeks it’s been so bad I can hardly do anything at all.
I’m getting good medical care. I have Top People working on it. If you’re a qualified medical expert, I welcome your suggestions. If not, don’t forget to Like, Join, and Subscribe!
Somebody at work asked me “When will you return to work?” If you’re asking somebody this in an effort to accelerate your own accumulation of wealth, or to minimize the cost to your company’s benefit program, please find a way to avoid asking the question. I might have been a little discourteous in my response to this person.
Another person asked me “When will you return to work?” This person was asking out of their genuine care and concern. As I mentioned, I am in a terrible mood because of these miserable headaches. Honestly, I might have been a bit of a grouch to start with. I don’t remember. Anyway, I was a bit nasty to this person. I may have removed their lovely head from their delightful shoulders. I’ve been feeling terrible about this for weeks.
To make up for it, I’ve started asking the doctors “When will I get better?” This is not a very nice question. I already know they have no idea. There are no answers for people with long Covid. On Friday the neurologist looked me right in the eye and said “It’s really a quite a new thing, you know?”
As I wrote in my earlier piece on chronic illness, 7% of U.S. adults have reported experiencing long COVID. That’s 17.3 million people, a little less than 10% of the workforce. 80% of those reported symptoms that impact their ability to carry out day-to-day activities.
I’m one of those people. Me and 17.29 million others, many of whom probably have it worse than I do. We’re all going to do the best we can with what we have to work with. For me that means writing a little bit when I’m able. Coaching a little bit when when I can. Trying to minimize the harm I do with my personality to bystanders the rest of the time.
Stay safe, be well, and good luck.
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