I’m late in getting this posted and I don’t really have a good excuse other than that I got deeply into my fiction writing for a while and didn’t want to come out of it.

But the battle with Long-haul Covid is still on, and I’m still fighting.

I had the appointment with the pulmonologist a couple of weeks ago now. Basically, all my tests have come back mostly normal.  The pulmonary function test results are within normal parameters. The six-minute walk showed nothing too alarming. The CT scan indicated some minor, probably non-Covid-related damage that shouldn’t interfere with anything. As far as the tests go, I appear to be quite healthy.

But the pulmonary doctor does realize that I’m not. Unfortunately, other than treating the symptoms there’s not much they can do. He was sympathetic as he explained that there appears to be something more behind a lot of the Long-haul Covid symptoms people are experiencing, but they don’t know what that is yet, which means they don’t know how to treat it beyond trying to mitigate the symptoms. Those are different for different people, so he considers each case individually.

I do like this man quite a bit. He takes me seriously and is trying to look at the big picture, which hasn’t always been the case with some of the medical people I’ve consulted. I know from being on forums with other long-haulers just how rare and valuable that is. Too many have had their varied symptoms dismissed as just depression, anxiety or hypochondria.

The doctor had already referred me for pulmonary rehab. I have an inhaler and a prescription for steroids, should I need them. Along with monitoring my condition and calling him if I have a serious setback, that’s the sum total of treatments recommended based on results from the tests.

Next I’ll report on the pulmonary rehab.  I’m hopeful it can help.