Enduring Long Covid

There was a time when nothing about my illness made sense. I didn’t know that watching my favorite TV show could leave me exhausted. I didn’t understand why I stopped returning my friends’ phone calls. I thought exercise would help me recover, but instead it led to one of the longest crashes of my illness. And after moving my belongings in 2023, I entered what I now call my “upside-down world”—a p...

In this episode of Enduring Long COVID, I share what happened after my second COVID infection and my attempts to continue working as a registered nurse. I believed that if I could just find the right job, my health would stabilize. I transitioned from bedside nursing to the GI Lab and eventually to a work-from-home position, hoping each change would finally allow my body to recover. What I didn’t...

In Episode 4 of Enduring Long COVID, I share what happened after I returned to work believing I was recovering. Although I was still experiencing shortness of breath, exhaustion, chest pain, brain fog, and an elevated heart rate, I continued working as a bedside nurse during the pandemic. My physician requested a reasonable accommodation to prevent further COVID exposure, but the accommodation was...

In Episode 3 of Enduring Long COVID, I share the story of what happened after the initial infection. Like many people, I believed I was recovering. After weeks off work, specialist appointments, cardiac testing, neurological symptoms, and persistent exhaustion, I kept waiting for life to return to normal. Instead, the symptoms continued. I discuss the brain fog that led me to tell a neurologist, “...

In Episode 2 of Enduring Long COVID, I share the story of the day everything changed. What started as unusual exhaustion after a shift at the hospital quickly became a series of symptoms I couldn’t explain, severe fatigue, shortness of breath, brain fog, a racing heart, and a body that no longer seemed to function the way it always had before. I take you back to the motorcycle class where I strugg...

In the first episode of Enduring Long COVID, I share why I created this space, my journey from registered nurse to Long COVID patient, and my hope for building a community where people living with chronic illness feel seen, heard, and understood.