In the weeks and then months following the initial COVID infection, my phone camera roll slows. It goes from beaches, outside and friends to the living room, bedroom and small snippets of work.
I visited my GP about a month after getting COVID. He told me what I expected to hear. That it would get better. That people were getting COVID and it was taking them a couple of months to go back to normal, but it would happen. And of course. I believed this – why wouldn’t I right?
From there, I was stuck. From someone who was constantly moving, I was now barely surviving on the couch, trying to do as much work as I could from my laptop in the limited hours I could stay awake for. I had severe nausea and fatigue. I was waking up at 10am, and was back in bed by 3pm.
I kept trying to push through. I’d tell myself I was getting better, and try do something. I’d end up in hospital, or an urgent care of some sort – and then, back home in bed.
One day in September, over the course of a day, my vision just got worse and worse. I got floaters in my eyes – and the TV that was clear that morning was now blurry. Once I could work up enough strength for my partner to drive me to an optometrist, they told me I needed glasses. I went from 20/20 vision to full time glasses over the course of a day.
The end of the year just shows nothing but the same. My camera roll consists of pictures of food (in the lounge room), pictures of outside (from the lounge room) and then the occasional picture of the hospital, urgent care or my partner.
Throughout this time, my days all looked the same. Eat Uber Eats – usually Hawaiian pizza, which I had the weirdest craving for ever since I got sick, take about 30 suggested supplements and then sleep on the couch, watch Netflix or do a bit of work on my laptop. Every single day was the same. Wake up at 10am, back in bed by 3pm. Over and over again. Severe nausea, severe exhaustion.
I’m sure, if you’re reading this and you’ve got long COVID, you’re waiting for the good news. The recovery news – or at least the “something got better” news. And sorry, that’s not coming in this post, but you’ll see why if I get around to publishing more.
I want to give a special mention to my GP at the time, Steve Hall. I learnt recently that he had passed away in 2024. Steve was one of the best GP’s I’d ever encountered and an all around great person. And it was terrible to hear he was gone.
I’d like to give a not so special shout out to Browns Bay Family Doctors who made very little effort to notify his patients, and apart from a small message after his passing, managed to get rid of any mention of him very, very quickly.
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