IOWA, USA —
COVID long-haulers—individuals with long-lasting virus symptoms—are often a silent section of the population, suffering alone and without much lep.
Two central Iowa women are sharing their stories about getting sick and the hope that keeps them going.
Mona Everson used to love being active on the weekends: running errands. visiting with friends.
Stuff we all do.
But for about a year now, she doesn't do those things anymore because of COVID-19.
"My weekends, I kind of do a lot more sitting. We used to be, 'Oh, I've got this, I want to do this.' And boy, now I find you know, I'm very comfortable like hanging out not doing a whole lot because it's just like, 'Oh, this feels good not to be as active.'"
"You just kind of miss where your body was before all this happened."
Her experience with coronavirus started like many others She initially thought it was allergies, but tested positive. She stayed home for almost two and a half weeks because of low blood pressure.
When she came back?
"I started having chest pain, shortness of breath, erratic, rapid heart rates ... erratic heart rhythm," Everson said.
The symptoms have been off and on for months now.
Everson has shared her long-hauler experience with a nearby friend, Cindi Sweedler, who also got COVID almost a year ago.
Sweedler spent time in the hospital.
"I was admitted in December and got home about two and a half weeks later," she said. "While not home, I was able to stay at my daughter's so they couldn't climb stairs in my own home and I had oxygen at home for five months."
Everson anticipates having permanent lung damage from the virus, something she feels every day. A "heavy pressure."
Both women feeling isolated in their long-hauler experiences, saying doctors don't know what to do with them.
"My pulmonologist, all the specialists, they just flat out, say, 'You know, we don't know what it is that we should do to treat it'. You know, they have all these things available to them, but they just don't know what to do," Sweedler said.
"And so then it's, it's really frightening.
"There's a lot of people out there that that are long-haulers that kind of probably feel forgotten."
The University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics has a post-COVID-19 clinic for people like Everson and Sweedler, and Everson is actually enrolled in a long-hauler study at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota.