April 2024: After months of spending every day on my couch, typically lying down, I decided to improve my space by purchasing new end tables. When they arrived, I had to ask a friend to carry them from the package room to my apartment where they sat in their box until I had a good day. With frequent breaks to breathe and calm my heart rate, I managed to assemble the end tables over the course of the day, by the end of which, my arms were weak and weary from tightening the screws and maneuvering the 10 lb. tables.
August 2025: The tables worked so well that I got a second set for the bedroom. This time, I carried the box myself from the package room to my apartment. While the effort raised my heart rate and left me breathing heavily for a time, my body did not feel overtaxed. Assembly took only 90 minutes, before and after which, I did casual Saturday puttering like emptying the dishwasher and putting (delivered) groceries away.
Conclusion: I am not cured of Long COVID . . . I don’t know if there will ever be a time when I can say that . . . For example, run of the mill infections continue to hit me harder and longer than before Long COVID . . . Yet, over the course of the last 22 months, which featured the give and take of illness and rehabilitation, my body has healed sufficiently for me to feel like a functional human most of the time.
Feature image credit: progress by Mick Apps from Noun Project (CC BY 3.0)
Carolyn Ristau 