Ruth Castellanos
Some of us long-haulers refuse to suffer in vain. If we can do anything to raise awareness, then that’s what we will do.
It’s been hundreds of days since I recorded the first fever and shortness of breath that I had and which later became knows as this monster virus called COVID. More symptoms followed like burning lungs, lethargy, extreme body aches and tremors to name a few. All though I’ve never felt my lungs burn they way they did, I truly thought that I would get better after a couple of weeks, I kind of did, I gardened again (in pain), continued to work (out of breath and in pain), but the fatigue, tremors and pain became unbearable. I thought I needed to get more rest, and maybe I needed medication for a couple of more weeks, but those couple of weeks turned into months.
Navigating the onset symptoms of the virus was one thing but navigating the COVID Post Viral Syndrome has been by far the worse thing I ever experienced in my life. I have literally spent all summer at home recovering, only going out to doctors appointments, I visited a couple of friends and my mom (in-laws) a couple of times and each time I had to go lay down and cry of pain and exhaustion while at their houses.
I’ve had to navigate the medical field to help myself because I was told that what I’m going through “is outside of family practice.” I was left with out referrals, without help because they don’t know who to send me to. I had to find it help on my own. I’ve had to push and pursue appointments, tests and treatments of many kinds. I’ve spent thousands on my health out-of-pocket to try and get healthy again. Because I can’t just sit here and wait to hopefully one day get better. I am doing everything humanly possible to help myself and if I find something that helps I share it with my COVID Long Haulers community.
The virus has changed us all, but there are those of us who have gone through it and continue to suffer. I now know more people who are going through this and haven’t been able to go back to their normal lives. For some of them it has been a few weeks. For some it’s been longer than my personal journey. I’m glad I’m not alone in this but I’m sad that we are in this together. We are all looking for help and answers, unable to return back to our normal lives, hoping for the day that we can feel and be ourselves again.