I'm done with COVID but it's not done with me

My family got COVID and this is what helped us through quarantine

Our quarantine ended at the very end of August, we all tested negative and returned to our semi-pandemic kinda life. The kids were back in school and I returned to the rat race that is a freelancing stay-at-home mom. Except there was a catch. Return to normal in my case includes High Intensity Interval Workouts 3-4 times a week. Post COVID, my workouts left me winded and with a dry hacking cough. The past couple of months I’ve been on a post COVID-19 journey that seems to never end. The one thing to be grateful for is that I’m the only one in the family still struggling.

So if you’ve had COVID-19 and things feel “off,” these are some things to think about.

My initial symptoms were shortness of breath, a dry cough after exercise, and a heavy feeling on/in my chest after exercise. This seemed as good a time as any to visit my primary care physician. She got busy writing referrals to rule out a pulmonary embolism (blood clot). I started with:

After a couple weeks, the inhaler helped with exercise but I was using it once or twice a day and the heavy feeling in my chest was getting harder to predict. A quick email exchange and my PCP wrote a referral for pulmonary rehabilitation.

I had scheduled a follow-up from my first appointment to see how things were going. Clearly, they were not improving and unfortunately the pulmonary rehabilitation clinic wasn’t racing to get me scheduled.

Ruling out a pulmonary embolism, the next step was to rule out any cardiac issues, specifically myocarditis (inflammation of the outer lining of the heart) and pericardial effusion (fluid around the heart). At this point I had also started experiencing some dizzy spells and indigestion. Now it was time for a visit to the cardiologist. That visit led to:

If you’re lucky, returning to exercise after COVID-19 is no big deal. I know my husband has had no issues. If you’ve read this far, you already know I was less fortunate. Movement is something I need for my mental health and why I’ve been going on this journey to figure out what’s wrong. If I am in fact dealing with myocarditis, then exercise is a big 'no no.'

So my workouts look a little different these days. Walking, strength training, nothing that could potentially put a strain on my heart. There is a long waiting list for radiology right now and I’m hoping to get the MRI before December, but until then, I walk. At least I’m moving and any movement is better than nothing.