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    COVID Long-Hauler: My Life Since COVID
    COVID Long-Hauler: My Life Since COVID
    COVID Long-Hauler: My Life Since COVID
    Ebook122 pages2 hours

    COVID Long-Hauler: My Life Since COVID

    By Salam Kabbani

    ()

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    About this ebook

    Salam has done everything she can to not contract COVID-19 including getting vaccinated, socially distancing, and taking all possible precautions. When the delta variant spread, she ended up with a breakthrough infection that upended her life.

     

    In this memoir, the author provides the reader with an honest and at times satirical

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherGlobal Bookshelves International, LLC
    Release dateNov 22, 2022
    ISBN9781957242057
    COVID Long-Hauler: My Life Since COVID

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      Book preview

      COVID Long-Hauler - Salam Kabbani

      Prologue

      This is a memoir of my life since I was diagnosed with COVID.¹ I say since, not after, because this book is being written at a time when I am still dealing with post-acute sequelae of SARS-CoV-2 (PASC)² ¹⁰ also known as long-COVID, post-COVID conditions, or long-hauler syndrome. I will use these terms interchangeably throughout the book for ease of understanding.

      I am a clinical pharmacist. I will not be providing any medical advice or information in this book. Some of my symptoms resolved with medications; however, I will not share the medications because I do not know who will be reading my book. A medication that helped me may be contraindicated for someone else and harm them instead. If you are experiencing any COVID or long-COVID symptoms, 11 please contact your primary care provider for medical advice. If you or a loved one are experiencing suicidal thoughts or ideation due to

      COVID, please call the suicide prevention lifeline, which is available 24/7, at 800-273-8255. Starting July 16, 2022, everyone in the United States can call, text, or chat at 988 to be connected to the lifeline.

      Additionally, I will talk about approximately how many COVID survivors are likely to experience PASC symptoms. The literature currently shows a wide range of 5%-80% of COVID survivors. These are all estimates based on current literature, which is very scant. You may be reading this book 10 years from now and the data may look very different, so please do not use this book as a medical reference, because it is not.

      My story is unique to me. Some of you may have been experiencing PASC for longer than I have, and it may be worse for you. To that, I say that I am deeply sorry, and I hope you eventually improve. Some of you may have never gotten COVID, and to that I say kudos. Others may relate with some parts, and not so much with others. No matter, I hope you find some joy and benefit in this recounting of my long-COVID life.

      I am sharing my story because I want all the long-haulers out there to know that you are not alone. You are seen and you are heard and you matter. And together we will get through this, no matter how long it takes. One of my all-time favorite fable twists coined anonymously is the saying, This too shall pass. It may pass like a kidney stone, but it will pass. This is how I feel daily, living with PASC.

      Introduction

      If you want to make God laugh, tell Him about your plans. -Woody Allen

      This is the new tagline of my life journey. I am obsessed with the field of infectious diseases, and because of that, I am EXTRA cautious about getting any type of infection and spreading germs. So, you can imagine my excitement when I first heard about boosters becoming approved eight months after the second dose. I mean, I had gotten my second dose January 8, 2021, and this was sometime in late August, so I was ecstatic that I would be one of the first people to get an extra boost to my immunity. After all, I am a front-line warrior, so getting that booster is both necessary and altruistic, because it allows me to serve others while protecting myself and them from the virus.

      I was working on a Saturday and helping someone in the drive-thru who revealed he had left the hospital against medical advice (AMA) and was COVID-positive. This patient informed me of this after he had given me all his paper scripts, and his mask had been down the whole time. Of course, I started panicking. I cannot tell you the amount of stress I started to feel knowing I was now in danger; not to mention so were my employees. So, after the patient left, I did everything shy of burning the place down to ensure we were properly sanitized again, and of course, his scripts were quarantined once they were scanned into the system.

      About an hour after I had seen that patient, I started feeling some chills, but I figured it could have just been the stress of my interaction with a COVID-positive patient.

      On Monday, I was having an incessant cough, and I remember explicitly telling my patients and employees, Don't worry, it's not COVID, it's just the smoke from all the fires around us. For reference, I live in northern California, so every summer we are surrounded by wildfires that render our cars and lungs ash-filled reservoirs.

      That afternoon, I heard my then-store manager talking about how one of our own employees tested positive, and how he was not going to tell anyone due to patient privacy. Now this, of course, was a load of crap, because any person who has been exposed to COVID has the right to know they've been exposed. It is especially important for contact tracing. So, I did my due diligence as a pharmacy manager, went back to the pharmacy, and told everyone to get tested, especially because said employee's vaccination status was unknown, and our front-end management did not enforce masks covering the nose.

      The next day I was at home, unsuspectingly enjoying my day off, when I started to get some nasty chills. I figured, hey why not just be sure and do an antigen test - after all, I often find myself eating lunch in the breakroom with several employees, so better to be safe than sorry. Well, my test was pos1t1ve, and thus began the longest journey of my life.

      In this book, I plan to share my COVID story. Some of it will be pure facts. A lot of it will be my emotions and feelings up until now, because yes, dear reader, as I write this, I am still suffering from long-COVID and on disability. You will hear my perspective both as a healthcare worker and as a patient. I am writing this book because I know that I am one of MANY individuals impacted by the SARS-Co V -2 virus, and I want you to know that you are not alone. It may seem like it. I know I often feel that way, because long-COVID is a capricious beast that sneaks up on you when you least expect it. But you aren't alone. I hope this book feels like a warm hug and makes you feel seen and heard.

      Chapter One: September 2021

      The Quarantine

      I tested positive on August 31, 2021. I thought this was going to be a 10-dayer -just like everyone else at the time - and then I would be back on my feet. Although I live in the same city as my parents, my mom was on the other coast with my grandma who was hospitalized with pneumonia at the time and my dad was also out of town- so all around, the timing was 10/10.

      I don't recall the first few days being that horrible. In fact, I remember being able to go about my at-home activities fairly normally. Then things changed, and I started to deteriorate very quickly. I had several days where I could not talk because my voice was mostly gone, and it hurt that much to say anything. The chills that presented before I tested positive kept worsening and, to be honest, are still with me as I write these words in February 2022. Everything was hurting. To make matters worse, two of my employees also tested positive, so I was worried about what was going to be facing me back at work upon my return. My pharmacy has just shy of 500 scripts to fill every day - which is a high volume for reference - on top of anywhere from 70-150 vaccines per day and sometimes upwards of 50 COVID tests per day. So, you can imagine the added stress of knowing what was awaiting me. In addition, this was right around the time the first booster shots were going to be approved for the public. So, I knew I had to regain my health in 10 days because when I went back, I was going to roll up my sleeves and hit the ground running.

      Except things kept getting worse. No amount of cough syrup was making my cough better. I was definitely taking more of my prescription cough medication than I was supposed to, but nothing seemed to touch my cough. My oxygen saturation never really dropped below 94% and even when it did, thankfully, it wasn't ongoing. But, my chest and lungs ached when I was breathing, when I was lying down, when I walked - pretty much when I did anything. I never spiked a true fever, but the ongoing chills were exhausting.

      The best part was two weeks of uninterrupted diarrhea. I mean guys, when it rains, it pours. And if you are wondering, the pun is always intended. Of course, this was accompanied by some nausea and vomiting, as well as severe fatigue and muscle pain. Naturally, as my symptoms progressed, my provider extended my quarantine to 14 days, which gave me some hope for recovery before returning to work. At the time, the CDC guidance was to quarantine for 10 days, but my provider wanted to be sure I wasn't contagious since my symptoms were really bad.

      Things No One Tells You

      Being quarantined for 14 days sounds pretty straightforward, right? WRONG.

      * If you don't have a washing machine at home, you run out of clean underwear very quickly. So, you end up having to spend money on express shipping for new undies, and then you feel gross wearing them without washing them first, but really, what's the alternative?

      * You also have to buy clean towels. Unless you are super rich and bougie - and if you are, please adopt me and pay off my student loans - you probably don't have enough towels to circle 40 days. Okay, I didn't shower every day for 40 days because I was pretty much disabled, but let's say on average five days a week ... That's a whopping 28.57 towels. I have about six and I'd like to think that's average. So yeah, my dad dropped off a few clean ones once he was back in town, but then I had to order more. Now, I wasn't quarantined for 40 days, but I had no strength to carry a laundry hamper -or anything

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