What Are Your Thoughts On Covid? The Loaded Question Asked To A Longhauler.

When people ask me what my thoughts are on Covid, I struggle with where to begin. I tend to hope that telling them my story as a Longhauler will give them a good foundation of the severity of Covid-19 and the impacts on people post acute infection and that they will take my educated words and advice more seriously and truly hear them to understand them. Covid doesn’t have to be a complicated topic, yet it is because it has evolved into so many sub categories: Life and Death, Politics, Chronic Illness and Healthcare, School Preference and Finances. So, where do I begin?

I am a Longhauler. I was first sick starting on March 15th and was officially diagnosed on March 23rd. I was a first responder and my coworkers also fell ill. Six weeks later, I was not better, despite being told this was a two week, flu-like illness. Fast forward to 7 months post infection, and here I am, worse than I was before at acute onset. Here I am unable to work, struggling to function in daily life, struggling to care for my son as a single mother and struggling to understand how we ended up here. As a first responder, it is natural for me to want to help others, and be medically inclined to get better so I can do that, but I can’t. It seems the harder I try, the deeper I dig my hole. As a first responder, I have seen the wonders the medical community can do and has pulled off. I know the…