Thread by @DavidLat

1/ It has been exactly 9 months since I started having #COVID19 symptoms, which eventually worsened to the point where I wound up in the hospital, then on a ventilator.

Many folks ask: how am I doing now? Here's an update (thread).

#COVID #coronavirus

2/ I'm doing very well, thank you. I don't really have any of the long-term symptoms experienced by so many #LongCovid sufferers (as discussed in, for example, this recent @NYTimes piece by @PamBelluck).

nyti.ms/340H1gJ #COVID19 #COVID

3/ It took me a long time to get here. As I wrote in July for the @LATimes, recovery from #COVID19 "is not like switching a light on or off. It’s like a dimmer switch, where the light gets brighter, then darker, then brighter again."

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4/ I would say that I had serious symptoms for more than two full months after getting discharged from @NYULangone on April 1.

Specifically, I had a terrible cough, plus shortness of breath, for all of April and May, into June.

#COVID19 #COVID

5/ But at some point in June, the cough and shortness of breath went away -- quite suddenly, actually. I'm not sure why.

Was it the maintenance inhaler I had been using since getting out of the hospital? Or just the passage of time?

#COVID19 #COVID

6/ The ventilator damaged my vocal cords, and it took longer for my voice to return to normal -- but I think it's fairly normal now.

(But it's not quite the same -- and maybe it never will be. My husband thinks it's deeper -- maybe not a bad thing.)

7/ I might still be considered #LongCovid, though, because my lungs still don't look normal on a CT scan.

At my last pulmonologist visit in September, the scan showed some lung scarring and "ground glass opacities" (haziness that shouldn't be there).

8/ My pulmonologist said the lung scarring shouldn't bother me much on a day-to-day basis. And I don't think it does.

We have another follow-up in a few months. He said my lungs might improve further, or might not; we'll see.

#COVID19 #COVID

9/ I do have greatly reduced cardiovascular endurance. My limit for jogging without stopping is about 2 miles/20 minutes, after previously being able to run for miles, and I had to build up to even this (I had to use a wheelchair when I first came home).

10/ But I'm not sure how much of that is #COVID19 and the lung scarring, and how much is just deconditioning and being out of shape.

As I continue to do more walking and jogging, I'll learn how much improvement is possible and if there's a ceiling.

11/ In the hospital, I lost 15 pounds. In the weeks after getting out, I gained it all back, and then some. I weighed as much as 172 pounds at one point (and I'm 5'7").

I was eating a lot to deal with depression/anxiety, and I wasn't able to exercise much.

12/ I have now returned to exercise, and I have improved my diet. I'm now around 164 pounds, down 8 pounds from my high point. (And I've also gained 2 pounds of muscle, which is good; I lost muscle in the hospital -- see photo.)

13/ For me (everyone's #COVID19 experience is different), exercise has been good. I feel healthier and happier, less anxious and less depressed.

I have been taking it slow with exercise (see this @NYTimes piece by @drjordanmetzl).

nyti.ms/3nJKTtR

14/ I went for my annual physical in October. My cholesterol and fasting blood glucose (blood sugar) were a little high.

I think this is a function of my unhealthy diet and weight gain, not #COVID. I'm going back in January for a follow-up.

15/ One anxiety-producing thing about being post-#COVID19 is that you wonder every time you have some malady: is that from #COVID?

Sometimes I have this weird itchiness (no rash). Covid? Or allergies?

Sometimes I have joint pain. Covid? Or getting older?

16/ On the whole, I feel good -- and lucky. I don't seem to have many of the serious aftereffects that so many post-#COVID19 patients experience (crossing fingers, knocking wood; there's still so much we don't know about this disease).

17/ Again, everyone's #COVID19 recovery story is different, and I don't claim that mine is exactly like anyone else's.

On the bright side, I think my story shows that, at least for some (very lucky) subset of us, things DO get better.

#COVID #coronavirus

18/ I don't think I'll ever be exactly the way I was pre-#COVID. But that's okay.

I'm still here -- which so many others cannot say. May they rest in peace.

bit.ly/3qxvMGh