{"id":2181,"date":"2021-05-15T19:26:57","date_gmt":"2021-05-15T19:26:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/?p=2181"},"modified":"2021-05-15T19:26:57","modified_gmt":"2021-05-15T19:26:57","slug":"long-haul-covid-testing-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/long-haul-covid-testing-testing\/","title":{"rendered":"Long Haul Covid \u2013 Testing, Testing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright size-medium wp-image-2171\" src=\"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Covid-300x294.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"294\" srcset=\"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Covid-300x294.jpg 300w, https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Covid-768x752.jpg 768w, https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Covid.jpg 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/>Over the last couple of weeks, I\u2019ve had a CT scan of my lungs, a pulmonary function evaluation, a neurological evaluation the orientation for pulmonary rehab.<\/p>\n<p>I won\u2019t 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.<\/p>\n<p>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 \u2013 I\u2019m 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\u2019ve seen. In discussing the results, the neurologist said the tests indicated no sign of cognitive decline. Considering my age (and the fact that I\u2019m currently at the exact same age my father was when he started showing signs of dementia), I find that very reassuring.<\/p>\n<p>It doesn\u2019t 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\u2019m not sure there is any cure for that, so I mostly roll with it, as irritating as it is.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019d be doing and taught me one interesting breathing technique (pursed lips breathing) to try when I was having trouble.<\/p>\n<p>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\u2019ve been feeling increasingly better, so I\u2019m 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\u2019ll be grateful.<\/p>\n<p>Unlike some of the other docs, I\u2019ve 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\u2019d been hearing from many other Covid19 patients. They can\u2019t offer a cure but they do feel like they\u2019ve been able to help some of those others.<\/p>\n<p>I\u2019ll report back after I\u2019ve 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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Over the last couple of weeks, I\u2019ve had a CT scan of my lungs, a pulmonary function evaluation, a neurological evaluation the orientation for pulmonary rehab. I won\u2019t know the results of the pulmonary function evaluation or the CT scan <span class=\"excerpt-dots\">&hellip;<\/span> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/long-haul-covid-testing-testing\/\"><span class=\"more-msg\">Continue reading &rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[202],"tags":[208,207,209,205],"class_list":["post-2181","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-covid19","tag-neurological-testing","tag-pulmonary-function","tag-pulmonary-rehab","tag-pulmonologist"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2181","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2181"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2181\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2182,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2181\/revisions\/2182"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2181"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2181"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kmccullough.com\/kblog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2181"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}