Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve had a CT scan of my lungs, a pulmonary function evaluation, a neurological evaluation the orientation for pulmonary rehab.

I won’t know the results of the pulmonary function evaluation or the CT scan for a couple of weeks when I have my return visit to the pulmonologist.

The neurological evaluation was interesting and somewhat reassuring. It involved all sorts of tests of various facets of memory, expression, and reasoning. Reinforced what I already knew – I’m not a verbal learner. Read me a list of 15 words and ask me to repeat them I may be able to do 6. Maybe. I do much better with remembering things I’ve seen. In discussing the results, the neurologist said the tests indicated no sign of cognitive decline. Considering my age (and the fact that I’m currently at the exact same age my father was when he started showing signs of dementia), I find that very reassuring.

It doesn’t help explain or provide any way of dealing with the occasional bouts of brain fog. That seems to be a problem mostly during relapse phases and can interfere with my ability to write. I’m not sure there is any cure for that, so I mostly roll with it, as irritating as it is.

The last thing was the intake evaluation for pulmonary rehab. They did a bunch of standard tests, including taking my blood pressure several times, testing oxygen, grip strength, and ability to walk for six minutes. They talked about the kinds of exercises I’d be doing and taught me one interesting breathing technique (pursed lips breathing) to try when I was having trouble.

Like several of the other docs, the people I talked with at the Pulmonary center felt that their rehab program would help me get back into shape, at least as good shape as possible. Over the past few weeks I’ve been feeling increasingly better, so I’m hopeful. I may never be able to walk the distances or at the speed I used to, but if I can get to the point of being able to walk several miles without collapsing, I’ll be grateful.

Unlike some of the other docs, I’ve talked with, the nurse and the therapist at the rehab center were entirely sure (based on my symptoms) that I had had Covid last year. The things I was telling them about my condition and issues matched very closely to what they’d been hearing from many other Covid19 patients. They can’t offer a cure but they do feel like they’ve been able to help some of those others.

I’ll report back after I’ve had the next appointment with the Pulmonary doc. But in the meantime, it still feels good to be tackling the problem and doing what I can to get back closer to normal.