Long COVID presents long road to recovery

Rupinder Kaur came to Canada in 2018 her warm beige skin shining bright in the sunlight ready for a new challenge with the goal of climbing the ladder of success. 

It was life as usual for Kaur who made her home in Hamilton, Ontario. 

Then one day… everything changed. 

“I have ongoing symptoms even today,” said Kaur. “The main things for me are heart related. I black out often and there’s a chronic fatigue aspect. I’ve struggled with depression.”  

Kaur was at work when she started to get an upset stomach.  

  “I just thought it was anxiety and nerves, since I had just heard the news about coronavirus in Canada, so I paid it no mind,” Kaur said. 

Soon after, she started to feel some neck and back aches, but she ignored them and waited for them to go away.   

 “Since I’m 25 and in good health, don’t smoke, and have never had a medical condition before, I didn’t think I had the coronavirus.”   

As a precaution, she decided to self-isolate in her apartment for a week and a half to avoid getting anyone else sick, especially her mother, who came to visit her from India.   

 “My mother is my biggest inspiration, and why I was extra vigilant not to put her at risk.”  

She called ahead to the Hamilton hospital emergency department, and she got a full work her chest X-ray showed a potentially critical case of double lung pneumonia.  

 “I went into panic mode. I remember asking if I could go home to my mom – but I knew I couldn’t. But the doctors and nurses were just phenomenal.” 

  Then finally she was sent back home with the hope of getting better in the upcoming days. Unfortunately, her mom was infected by her.  

“The trauma of losing my mother, which I will never forget, was the most life-threatening one I have ever experienced. She travelled to Canada to see me and ended up becoming captured by COVID.”   

In that time, she was unemployed as she had to leave her job due to ongoing symptoms. 

“I was unemployed for one year. My financial condition went down because I was not able to work at that time and mom was also with me.” 

The world has changed drastically since then. The pandemic caused havoc on global education, isolating some students in Canada and others abroad, forcing them to pay high costs for late-night Zoom lectures.  

Christian Gomez is an international student who encountered many difficulties throughout COVID.   

 “When I came here to Canada in September 2019 in Brampton, I was managing my things well until March 2020,” said Gomez. “Since then, my life changed for the worse.”  

 His inability to manage his expenses without a job prevented him from surviving in Canada. His parents did their best to support him with what they had.  

“My parents were helping me with what they had. And, I had to call my friends until I was able to find another job again.” 

 Gomez suffered from emotional and mental instability losing his grip on his finances. 

“There were restrictions that didn’t allow me to come back to Argentina,” said Gomez. ”So I was missing my family every day.”  

It took a long time to recover everything, get back on track, and get into the right frame of mind.  

“At that time, many people were struggling with many issues like not being able to see their family. It was a long process for international students, and I think it’s hard for them in situations like this.”  

Jasleen Kaur is a doctor in Brampton. She said “many people  are now presenting with what’s known as “long-covid.” 

“Long COVID can affect any system in the body. So, long COVID can cause weakness, fatigue, breathlessness, cough, and difficulty concentrating often, leading to a brain fog,” Kaur said. 

 She said respiratory disease is influencing people’s professional and personal lives in different ways, turning the world upside down in every aspect. 

 “I would say this worldwide crisis has brought so much stress among individuals, couples and families,” she said. “When we investigate business life, millions and millions of people lost their jobs and Pandemic also created short term disruptions.”  

  Since doctors were the ones who put their lives in danger during the pandemic, balancing work and home was incredibly challenging for the doctors.  

 Both at work, and at home all we can do is make healthy choices wearing a mask, washing our hands eating healthy just to boost our immune system.   

 But Kaur said there are several ways of protecting ourselves from covid. 

 The best way to prevent acquiring this virus is by wearing a face mask using hand hygiene products social distancing is the main thing that comes into play. 

 As the world slowly learns to live with the virus many still feeling unsettled about what the future holds.